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

By far the most expensive part of my system is the room.  Whatever you do, if you truly care about the outcome and not just being able to say "I have a cool system", then put a good amount of money aside on acoustics and some money and time into learning how they work, and learning how to do measurements and interpret them.  

Your spend on speakers as Al pointed out is going to be heavily impacted by your desire for deep clear bass. I personally, and studies have shown bass has a huge impact on perception, so I would not ignore this.

The speakers and room provide the vast majority of your impression of your system assuming competent amplification and source.


If you are going to include vinyl, you can't go cheap. Good vinyl is expensive and that leads to a different question, do you consider yourself a "vinyl" person or you mainly in the digital realm and quite happy with it. If you are in the digital realm and quite happy with it, then there are many competent DACs at reasonably prices you will like, and you could even look at integrated with DAC built in, though that makes upgrade tough.  If you are vinyl guy, then you may want a DAC that recreates more of that vinyl sound and that is going to cost more.

So .... back to what Al started. Tell us what your approx spend is, what music you like, and what you think about your "sonic" tastes.

The percentages in the magic formula change according to the size of your overall budget.  One size doesn't fit all.

It is true that, all else aside, it will cost more to get extended quality bass and quite a bit more for that in a large room compared to small.

That is because the amp and speakers both must work much harder to deliver extended bass and even more so for bigger rooms. 

I forgot to add in laptop and mic for measurements. Most already have a laptop and you can get a good mic for $75. You might need more for Room than I spent. My room was already pretty dampened and restricted on what all I can do since it isn't dedicated. IMO speakers and room are your most important considerations. Invest the most in speakers you like it's easier to upgrade the other items unless you have enough money to get everything you want at once. 

For my system.
1. Speakers $10,000
2. amplification including DAC $4000
3 .Source digital <$1000
4. cables<$200
5. Room $300

Is there a magic formula for spending on components in a system?  Even better: there are many such formulas, each with its adherents. And each formula is right for someone.

In other words, I agree with @almarg on this.