Why do folks spend more on electronics than on speakers?

These are all great points thank you all for sharing.

@runwell, to your comment about speaker capability. Are you saying that it is more costly to get quality electronics vs speakers at a give price point? E.g. less expensive speakers are more capable than the electronics driving them?

One other thought, what about componet matching? Wouldn't going electronics first kind of limit what speakers one can use? While if one lands on a speaker they like then they can find the appropriate gear to drive it.

@mrteeves  it is mainly on technical development level.  So you spend $1000 could get a pair of decent speakers ,but you spend $1000 on amplifier, which is even can't call hifi.

When you need a lot more to catch the pace.

The main idea is the technical level and the amount of money  is just a expression of the technical level.

In other words, they are under development very unbalanced.

You have to spend more on electronic device to catch the pace of the speakers.

I can only talk for myself, but if I had not built my own spekaers my spend would be around 1/3rd in room acoustics, electronics and speakers.

I'm with you OP, spend way too much for your loudspeakers, then add better electronics as you go along. Good loudspeakers and mid-range electronics sound better than top electronics and mediocre loudspeakers. The reason being that loudspeakers have more distortion than electronics. YMMV. 

Generally, one has more electronics--turntable/arm/cart, pre amp, phono stage, and amps (if mono or for subs). Whereas you can only have one set of speakers. Meanwhile, do we also include cables, power cords and power conditioners?

I also go by the philosophy that the source is super critical, then other electronics a which can be more on par with speakers in terms of cost-to-importance. I also believe the more transparent your speakers the more they will show the upstream changes that you make and that’s where you can really tune the sound to your preferences.

However, I also think there's another camp of people who go for the "fun factor" when it comes to speakers. That's where they put their emphasis and, hey, speakers are like a sculpture--it's something everyone sees and remarks about.

In any case, that’s the way it’s shaped up for me. I’d say my speakers are almost the equivalent of my pre-amp and phono stage; no where near my front end source.

But, again, I think it comes down to the number of units you have--and how you want to define "electronics". There is just more "electronics" and it doesn’t usually make sense to spend way more on speakers if they rest of your gear isn’t going to make those speakers really sing.