Is there a magic formula for spending on components in a system

Your experience is not mine 50% comes from the embeddings (mechanical,electrical,acoustical) only 50 % comes from the speakers, amplification and sources....

I am not surprized by your conclusion at all....Ignorance is bliss....

If you want to verify my saying takes any audio system, put it in a bad acoustical room, in a noisy electrical grid, with no controls of vibrations and resonance.... Good luck with the lamp cord....

Audio system at any price NEED TO BE EMBEDDED in these 3 environment.....

System synergy is hard to achieve but attainable at almost any $ figure - if I were a deep pockets retailer I would have say 5 differently priced systems with synergy I had verified in an untreated room. Many customers, maybe not quite most, would love to buy synergy without the cost of experimentation. My own journey to system synergy has been EXPENSIVE, I wish I'd found a shortcut sooner!

Anyways just my 3 cents.

My journey cost me peanuts....

Simple listening experiments+homemade materials or low cost electronic one.....

Read my thread for shorcuts .... :)

My main system; mostly used items except Dac and power cables:

Amp 30%
Speakers 25%
DAC + Power Supply 25%
Source 5%
Interconnects 10%
Power cables 5%

Not big into formulas, but I am big into what sounds good and works well together.