Why do folks spend more on electronics than on speakers?

Thank you all for the great comments. This has been a very informative dialogue. I can understand the source first mentality and it does make sense in a way but then one is just pushing the limited factor down to the transducers. The argument for that seems to be, great speakers are cheaper than great electronics; not sure about this personally. I think most would agree that all the parts of the chain are important.

I have always been speakers first because they are so obviously different in sound that it is easier to land on a preference. Also, the space issue. E.g. choosing a speaker appropriate to one's listening environment. Another reason I like the speakers first approach is, if on a budget, it is more fun to me to over spend on speakers and then level up the rest of the system over time. Each new addition brings more out of the speakers and one feels real progress; IMHO. The inverse of this would be, I have awesome gear and then drop in the right speaker and I am done. For some, that might be more appealing but I like the journey as much as the destination.

What sparked this topic in my mind was when I saw some systems in the high four to low five digit range and way their resources were allocated. I wondered about the decision to go something like 80/20 pre/power over speakers. I have literally seen where someone has $10K+ in McIntosh or PS Audio driving a $1K-2K pair of speakers and I thought it odd. I get when you get to a certain level of speakers it’s hard to move up, cost vs performance wise, and spending on electronics makes more sense; I’m kind of there myself. What I don’t get is if the whole system budget is like $15K and someone spends 10%-20% of it on speakers. Are speakers in this price range that good? Maybe that should have been the question all along.

@jjss49 You put it quite succinctly.

spending money on a passion is like many things in life, it can be done smartly or stupidly, with planning, consideration and knowledge, or on a whim, by bad influence, and with ignorance

this balanced against each person’s sense of proportionality, priorities and capability to afford expensive things at whatever level

done well, in midst of a well prepped room, a well chosen, well understood existing system, smart money spent can and does make a huge difference

all the garbage threads and posts here aside, becoming informed on how to spend ’smart money’ in pursuit of music and its reproduction is at the heart of why this place exists and matters

@nyev  “I am upgrading all of my system to an “end state”…”

Yes, I have done that three or four times now.  😊😊😊

@audiotroy  “speakers determine the overall level of what you can  achieve”

Very well put. That is the right way to look at it. I wish I came up with it.

Gosta I agree, the 802’s may not be too mid-forward.  Just more mid-forward from what I am used to; it is all relative.

I did read a recent review of the 802 D4’s that noted the bass and presence would be lacking in any room larger than 430 sq ft.  If this was true, with the bass lacking, the rest of the range would be accentuated.