Which area of components to spend the most $ on? Boy I was wrong all my life!

Sources do matter, but I still believe that 60% should be spent on speakers.

I would prefer a set of high-end speakers fed by a cheap phonograph or junk CD player over a very expensive high end source unit fed into lousy, cheap speakers.

Even the cheapest DA converters can sound good on fine speakers.  A $200 Audioquest DragonFly Red fed by a $30 Computer CD-Rom on a computer can crush some very high-end transports.  Moving up higher to a Pro-Ject or Mytek DAC can yield even better results, still well below the cost of a set of high quality speakers, thus emphasizing my point that the bulk of one’s budget needs to be spent on speakers.

Hooking up the speakers with cheap lamp cord will also yield outstanding results.

The above examples are real world results, not smoke, mirrors and snake oil.

This is a great thread, thanks OP! It seems like every time I upgrade a component I perceive a meaningful difference (good or bad!). In a haphazard way (which is fun, it’s a hobby after all!) I get a better overall system, through trial and error and by focusing on pieces recommended by reviewers, these forums, and design engineers I admire (such as Nelson Pass, John DeVore, Cees at Metrum Acoustics). Synergy, as said above, is key, but only discovered by trying so many permutations! And how do you know you’ve finally arrived?!

Point is that in doing it this way, the % spent on each category is in constant flux so for fun I calculated what it is at this moment. I buy mostly but not always used gear which can skew it quite a bit (for example I got a great deal on a wyred4sound stp-se stage 2 upgraded preamp for a 3rd of its new retail), so I calculated it both ways based on new price as well as what I paid:

New pricing: speakers-37%, amplification-39%, source-19%, cables-5%

Used pricing: speakers-29%, amplification-34%, source-29%, cables-8%

Accounting for used pricing brings the percentages closer to parity, not sure if that is interesting or not, but there it is!

Ron

The actual problem here is: 

At my price point where is it most difficult to find good value for money? How will it work in my home? 

 I don't think there is any way of saying "allocate x% to source, speakers, amplification, preamp"  These things are all going to swap around between a $1000 system and a $100,000 system. How much money does one need to spend on a given component to make it not the weakest link in the chain. 

I still think room acoustics are the biggest most un addressed issue in hifi because it's so multifactorial and there's no easy way to talk about it like comparisons of x vs y amplifier.  

My system is a joke compared to other systems here, for sure, but I have implemented swarm subwoofers because I couldn't get the bass right in the actual living room I listen in here in the real world.  We're listening to a lot of folk and folktronica, this isn't the Weeknd or Lil Wayne but I had to spend my money on subs.  

I also couldn't position floor standing speakers or large boxes in a way that would get anything close to a good listening triangle.  I liked big speaker sound but had to wind up with bookshelves to get them in the right space relative to where we listen. 

If we listened in some ideal purpose constructed listening room with bass traps three layers of sheetrock and built in consultation with an audio engineer maybe we could say spend money on x, y and z in that order, but then again if we had that room the largest expense would almost surely be the room itself. 

I think, in some ways, a big question is what to spend the least on.  That's probably on working out your listening space and finding music and time to enjoy it with people you love.  Spending the least money doesn't mean the least attention. The real "front end" is less fussing and more enjoyment. 

@eisen0169....obviously someone out there has a brain!  Well said.  All the voodoo in the world thought up by GK will not help you obtain better sound. 

/skimrn,

what at are you going to do with the Oppo?

JD