Why buy cheap speakers??

Billy Joel thinks that you get more mileage from a cheap pair of speakers.
I totally disagree with him - I think speakers are the most important part of any system & that most of your budget should be allocated there.
No matter what source you use - the end result is heard through "your speakers"!
I'm from the old school (per digital) & was taught to spend about 40% - 50% of my total budget on speakers.
In today's world - it might be more difficult to make due with the same ratio even though most used speakers can be found @ 50% of retail.
I now use 2 CD players + 2 turntables with 3 arms.
Once you set the basic foundation - speakers, amp/s & pre, the rest will come together rather easy as long as you can afford the next source.
Digital is a much easier add on that analogue, so I would suggest that you start there next & then start your quest for the right turntable, arm & cartridge (if your into vinyl).

Steven,

Personally, I believe this, as I found out substituing my B&K pieces in like I said in my post above, to hear what you say that you want to hear you have to drop your noise floor. That way you can tell what you really have in terms of components. The components are normally a lot better than people think, but the items that the components come with are there to meet a price point. HiFi+, the British magazine that may be the best audio magazine around right night is stressing this same point.

My belief is that you leave your components alone right now, and build yourself a base that is as neutral and as quiet as possible. This accomplishes something that will last you through the rest of your system changes, if you choose to change things down the line.

How do you build this base? You build it in giving yourself clean AC to send to your components. Then by using good, neutral and well shielded power cords, interconnects and speakers cables, your background noise will be quiet and you will be able to hear the microdynamics, the finger on a fret, etc.

This doesn't have to be an expensive trip at all, as I'm learning myself with each new day. Products are getting better and the price is dropping everyday.

AC POWER: I just sold my two power conditioners ($5,500.00 new) and bought a Topaz Ultra Isolation Transformer off of EBay for $300.00 that handles my whole system and lowers my noise floor 126 db. It sounds better than the two $5,500.00 pieces, and as the head electrical engineer at work explained, it sounds better for a good and proven reason.

AC POWER CORDS: I've sold all of my $2,500.00-$3,500.00 power cords and now I've personally chosen Silent Source Signature power cords that list for $1,000.00, but can be bought on Audiogon for around $400.00. They're well shielded, quiet as all get out and fast and neutral. I'm sure there are others out there like this brand, but I'm not familiar with any personnally.

INTERCONNECTS AND SPEAKER CABLES: I've found that for a very reasonable amount of money, the Supra Sword cables from Sweden are extremely hard to beat. There's a set of Supra Sword speaker cables on Audiogon right now ( my old set ) being offered by the Audiogoner that I sold them to about six months ago. The Supra Sword interconnect are supposed to be even better than the speaker cables, and each of these ought to be able to be had for around $400.00 a set.

So the bottom line is that I believe that you can build this base as you can for around $3,000.00 total, and this base will not require changing unless you just want to for years and years to come.

Starting with the Topaz Isolation Transformer for $300.00-$400.00 dollars will show you details right away that will amaze you, and if you use it on your TV too, it will sharpen your picture and make your colors more vivid.

Chuck

I am in the Speakers first camp too, Most electronics at High End level are good enough if you have really good speakers and source (TT, transport).
Cheapy speakers with limited bass are very easy to get right, bass is where the difficult part starts and really where music starts, even a female voice with excellent bass sounds much better and rich, with beautiful dynamics...

Now a speaker with no bass can sound very detailed.
A badly designed bass section will block and kill all detail and music mudding everything up.
This is why it is so hard to add a subwoofer!
But when Bass is clean and effortless and supports all other frequencies properly, you are in heaven!

IMHO Bass equals Horsepower sound-wise!

I have listened to a lot of systems with terrible bass sections that where really boring, when a good bass section is implemented it is hard to stop listening to music.

I too have an Isolation transformer and recommend it fully!

It would be terrible to get an excellent pair of speakers after you spent a fortune on electronics just to find out you made a couple of bad choices along the way and never noticed it...

There are some good perspectives and advice listed above. I agree with those that invest the largest percentage on speakers. You get more for your money by stretching the budget on speakers than the other components, especially digital ones. Try to keep the entire system balanced, as it's counter productive to have a glaring weak link. System synergy is important when trying to get the best sound for your money.

Hello StevenBell,
"...Why put $300.00 cables on $300.00speakers makes no sence what so ever?"

Did you just copied and pasted 1 of my first posts here at the A’gon? … J/k.

Well, as time goes by, my perspective has changed, and it’s going something like this: if you settle down with a girl /wife and you think she’s “The One”, money is not an option. If she deserves it, you’d want to buy her nicest jewelry that you can afford. You’d want her to look beautiful.

My friend’s been saving up to buy a $5K turbo kit for his car, I think that’s crazy.
But how about $1K for a power cord, my friend thinks that’s R.E.A.L.L.Y crazy!!!

With a set of revealing speakers and a decent electronics, you will /may notice some cables sound diff from others. A few cables sound warmer than others while others may sound more detail. They are the ingredients for your taste of music.