How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

Dr Diamond: Regardless of how Dave Wilson was able to "beat" the mega-dollar system, the fact that he did so says a lot about what one can do with a little bit of money and a lot of know-how when it comes to electronics. I've been trying to stress much the same point here for years. Sean
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I`m not going to tell what to spend speakers, amps, linestage, source, I will tell my experiance in the upgrade path. I probably would have saved many thousand`s of dollar`s if I would have purchased the one`s I really wanted in the begining rather than one`s I thought I could afford. But that`s the story of my life BUY HIGH SELL LOW oh well. David

As much as you can afford, plus 15%!!!

Sean,
I was just responding to the statement prior to mine, saying that it took "guts" for Dave Wilson to put on the demo.
I completely agree with you about "know how vs. the dollars spent."

I personnally altered my speakers according to instructions by someone far smarter than I. They now, in my opinion will beat out speakers costing five times as much. I also purchased an SACD player that, when tweeked, far beat out CD players costing more that two or three times as much.

Richard

lots of different points of view on here bout the way things should be...its hard to make up your mind reading it all.
this is what i did
i'd narrow your field of searching by finding out what particualar brands suit the music you listen to first off.
first off i chose an amp in my price range that suited my music i listen to(fast pace-toe tapping and plenty of head room for detail and bottom end and also volume ect)...i also like NO features real basic....i feel an amplifier is the HEART of the rig.
then the speakers...i wanted a monitor pair because they are more accurate for music to me( a sub may come later).....again find a pair that deal with rock music not classical(my preference)...do i want my speakers to calm my amp down or stay foward>? i choose to stay FOWARD!..i found a nice pair made by the same manufactor as my amp so i was lucky...i liked the sound,they were punchy detailed ect ect...
now i got a cd player that wasnt expensive but had reaped many many awards as a top shelf budget player....i chose one that was just a tad layed back than the rest of the system,jus to add warmth ect.........
added some cables...IC'S were $160 each..took a whle to find a matched cable...every thing but nordost made my rig sound like the tone knob was set fully anticlockwise..
so the price of my speakers and amp were the same and the cd player was a bit cheaper....
i would like to see what a nicer CDP would sound like running in this rig......
this hobby gets addicting and seems to take all my time up..i dont think it'll ever end either