People will recommend all kinds of things but the best recommendation of all is to only buy what you have auditioned in your system. The tighter the budget the more important this becomes.
The next best recommendation is to allocate significant funds to things like cones, interconnects, and power cords. Properly done you should have a good 20-30% in these. Home audition these as well.
Home audition is a PITA for sure. 30% I'm sure seems high. Its not. Just remember the goal is the sound not the money. You allocate say $600 for everything, that's $200 for a power cord, interconnect, and cones. Cones are easy, nothing beats BDR Cones. That's $60, leaves $70 each for power cord and interconnect. You put as much effort into finding the best of those as into the best speaker and amp. I've done this. It works.
The next best recommendation is to allocate significant funds to things like cones, interconnects, and power cords. Properly done you should have a good 20-30% in these. Home audition these as well.
Home audition is a PITA for sure. 30% I'm sure seems high. Its not. Just remember the goal is the sound not the money. You allocate say $600 for everything, that's $200 for a power cord, interconnect, and cones. Cones are easy, nothing beats BDR Cones. That's $60, leaves $70 each for power cord and interconnect. You put as much effort into finding the best of those as into the best speaker and amp. I've done this. It works.