How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

Hi there,
I am not affiliated with any company, just another music/audio junkie. I flew to Minn. to visit with Frank Van Alstine and listened for two days to various equipement that he makes by hand right in his house. I do own some of his stuff from years past when he recommended B&W speakers. He now doesn't and lets you listen to the Biro's next to the B&W's. The Biro's actually sound better, clearer, tighter etc... It is amazing that for $1,600 you can have that kind of sound and for $1,500 more you can ad the sub-woofer. If you think you can get better sound quality than his equipement for the $$$, you are not correct!
I have compared the Biro's without the sub to my Snell mk-2, c's and xa60's. I can get more base out of the xa's and the c's , however, the overall sound is not as good, I was shocked! If you ar looking for speakers and have quality electronics, consider van alstine as apposed to the mass marketed, then get the Biro's!!

Thinking back over 35 years of enjoying recorded and live music, I still find that the speakers are the single most important component--provided that one is talking about half-way decent components (say $500+ each).

Next in importance is the room: if you've ever been to a well-set-up recording studio, even a modest one, you'll know what I mean. The pros typically spend as much or more on room treatments than on components. The pay-off is awesome.

I spend 40-45% of my budget on the speakers, 45-50% on amplification and disc player and maybe 5% on cabling. Now I also use LP and listen to FM so there's additional component costs that I'm not including here.

So. . .if someone handed me $20K tomorrow and said it was mine--but only to use on upgrading one of my audio systems--I'd probably spend $1-2K on an extreme upgrade to my digital front end, but with the rest I'd buy the speakers I can't afford right now.

Engagement ring money...but get the prenuptial done so you get to keep the speakers!

Czik=Newbee; i've heard a NAD-Lynn chain the other day for 1 1/2k and honestly i was blown-away. I've got all that heavy-metal-crap for zig-thousands at home and here comes someone that does it for less than 20% ( cd-player and integrated amp from NAD / speakers and TT from Lynn (sondek). If your not runnig it at insane levels ... 2x35W thru minimalistic electronics in a 250sf scarcely furnished room : utterly detailed, wonderful soundstage, not overweight at any Hz, a thoruoghly enjoyable listening experience for hours! Go for it.

First, decide on what YOU like to listen to and then scour the magazines out there (all of them) to help narrow down your choice on speakers. Speakers first, don't forget. Don't rush into this. Let the hype direct you but trust your ears: listen carefully, as long as permitted, with music you are familiar with. Don't deal with someone who won't let you listen and never feel compelled to buy based on pressure. The good ones are used to seeing the earnest ones come back. Check out the latest issue of Absolute Sound and read the article entitiled "Steak and Lobster on a Spam budget'. Good way to start. In fact, I, myself might buy the amp or pre-amp made by TAD (mentioned in the article). Be wary of 'sonic jewelry': there's tons of mark-up in this industry and alot of those glossy ads underwrite the sales of those mags and therefore get favorable reviews. If you can, talk to someone who's been around in the industry (20-40 years) and glean what you can from them (eg: Pierre @ mapleshaderecords.com or Paul @tubeaudiodesigns.com.). There's a reason why there's so much buying and selling of used, high-end audio gear (your reason here). Good luck.