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What is proper ratio of money spent on amp/preamp/integrated vs speakers? 1:1?

Lately I'm finding more of a difference in SQ as a move up the chain in the amp/preamp/integrated market and not so much if I try to upgrade speakers.  Plus, buying and selling (and shipping) speakers is a PITA.  But having just upgraded from Devialet D200 to the dual mono D400 and loving it, it feels odd having $8000 (I'm in the used market almost exclusively) worth of power running $4000 worth of speakers, Dynaudio Contour 30's. 

I'm now wanting to upgrade again to the Expert Pro 440, but then we're taking about $10,000 and even more of a skewed ratio.
What is the proper ratio?  Thoughts?
mjmcubfn
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,835 posts
 

Yes Michael most stores are not 100% compromise free.

We don’t have the luxury of having a room with just one pair of speakers.

We can assure you our rooms sound very good.

We use a balance of natural acoustics and devices designed to break up standing waves as well as using passive room tuning devices such as resonators,  Tube traps, custom acoustic panels, Shakti Holographs and Stein Harmonizers which we are sure you don’t endorse, however, many people do.

Funny we didn’t see anyone at AXPONA using Michael Green audio products wonder why?

Doubly so in terms of your clamping racks want to tell Critical Mass what they are doing wrong?

It seems that their products were all over AXPONA and again nobody was using yours.

Used to use your products at SBS they were mildly effective, seems the industry has moved beyond you perhaps?

 Michael proof is in the putting, if you were such a genius at what you do your products would be everywhere.

We can end this conversation now, the market speaks loudly.





sameyers1
140 posts
 
To go back to the original question about whether there is a model ratio for component costs, I would suggest that the speakers should determine the amplifier chosen. Rather than cost, the key issue is the power required to properly reproduce the kind of music you like at the volume you like, in the room in which you listen.  Simplistically, highly efficient speakers require less power than less efficient speakers. Large listening rooms generally require more power than smaller ones.  More power is a safer bet than not enough. 

And let’s not forget the impedance of the speakers. Speakers rated at 4 ohms need amps that can deliver the required power at that impedance, not at 8 ohms. Furthermore, some speakers function at an impedance as low as 2 ohms at some frequencies. Inexpensive amps may well noticeably distort at such a low impedance.  So try to match the speakers you like (and can afford) with an amp that can drive them and bring out the best in those speakers. 

With respect to those suggesting that $500 is all you need to spend for an amp or that an iPhone will suffice as a source, perhaps they would benefit from auditioning somewhat better equipment. Or maybe they listen primarily to rock at high volumes and can’t differentiate between the distortion of the electronic instruments used in the recording vs. that generated by their audio equipment. Listen to an acoustic guitar through an iPhone vs. a modestly priced DAC like a Dragonfly and I am reasonably confident they will hear more lifelike and otherwise improved sound. 
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

Actually Audiotroy my products were there. They weren’t there because I was marketing them either. They were there because the designers have had them for years and have been using them in their show systems all along.

Isn’t that pretty cool to see 25 year old product being used in these systems. It’s also been pretty cool to see the private audio club events asking for our toys after all these years. One of them is happening this weekend in Malaysia. Love doing the private gigs!

http://tuneland.forumotion.com/t506-hifi-gathering-in-sabah

Audiotroy says "We don’t have the luxury of having a room with just one pair of speakers."

Tell that to your clients not me. I don’t know you from Jack. I just see what I read here.

MG

inna
7,304 posts
 
audiotroy, you are absolutely right about many people changing speakers without first making real effort to make them sound right. Yes, not only electronics but even a single pair of cables can make or break the sound. I could easily demonstrate it to almost anyone with my system. And I am not talking junk cables.
Well, when you got $250k JM Focal Grand Utopia, perhaps you don't need another $250k to make them sing their best, but I don't really know. I just know that some use top of the line Allnic or VAC electronics with them with apparently great results.
cd318
2,636 posts
 
I understand the desire for big amps - we British used to make do with 50 watt amps and laughed at the folks across the pond with their 200 watt abominations. We were still laughing when the Krell landed here UK side - then the laughing stopped.

Gradually a cultural change ensued and nowadays a 100 wpc amp is seen as a good thing - some would say 200 wpc are even better - but I think that depends upon choice of speakers. Still more power never hurts.

However it should be asked that apart from the power output of an amplifier, what other measurable differences are there? Have you seen how low the distortion stats are even in the most budget of budget amps? Magazines barley waste time printing them. And they have been that way for decades.

So what else is there? Sure there's all kinds of fancy topology out there, but  none that makes any kind of sonic difference above the threshold of hearing.

Basically you have a choice, get yourself a sufficiently powered transistor (sand) amp or delve into the esoteric world of tube/valve amplification. That's all folks!
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