How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

If you get Magnepans then you can spend as low as 10% of your budget on speakers :)... ha ha ha ha ha ha to everyone else...

Just having fun. But its actually somewhat true. If you look through virtual systems Maggies tend to get paired with much much much more expensive gear. Means they are very good value.

With 5K you can buy a wonderful amp new.

With 5K you can buy a terrific source used.

With 5K you can buy, with a lot of patient searching, a magnificent speaker, used.

Having the one and only 1 ohm speaker demands the system be built around that. My monos did coincidentally cost 5K, the Source just 1K, and the wires .005K. I only payed 1.5K for the speakers. With my preamp costing 5K too, that would make my speakers just about 9%,

Even at that, it is still the speaker I would build a system around , there being none other that interests me.

Heard the Sjofn Guru system at the RMAF 2007. Pretty good sounding system for $3000. That's the amp,cd player and speakers in the package.
Extremely hard for an individual blend a system that is that balanced and synergistic sounding. It' very difficult to mix and match components as was exemplified in some rooms at the RMAF.

If your wife finds out. she'll divorce you.That's about right

Personally, ive found source components and speakers have 90% of the weight in your sound. So that being said i would spend the money there. If its for a 2ch system get a good CDP or SACDP ill never forget the difference i heard after buying my first rega planet. Also speakers respectavely have alot of weight as well. Theres more to it then just features but you really have to audition and test them yourself to get the best fit. sometime people are more happy with the 300 dollar bookshelfs sound then the 10000 dollar floorstanding imports [rare but it happens] so just make sure you dont rule any company out until youve tried them with your test music. that also being said make sure you have a specific selection of music you know well and would be able to tell differences as minor as possible in the recordings. some say make it your top 10 fav tracks but id be careful, if your like me and VERY picky you may kill the joy in those tracks from endless auditions ;) good luck in the hunt.

p.s. be careful not to be bitten by the upgradeitis bug whilst you audition :)