Spending Most Of The Budget On Amplification?

[jandl100]

Without quality to begin with nothing down the chain can make up for that lack.

I agree with that, but I (very strongly) disagree with the implication that extra money necessarily gets you extra quality when it comes to electronics (e.g. amps and DACs).
After a couple of £hundred you are just changing the sonic flavour, imo and ime.
Sure you can get crap sound from cheap gear, but chosen wisely you can get top quality sound as well.

[Idlewithnodrive]

Speakers every time, then cart, TT, amps, DAC, CDP and just a few quid on cables, because you have to.

[Macca]

I agree with that, but I (very strongly) disagree with the implication that extra money necessarily gets you extra quality when it comes to electronics (e.g. amps and DACs).
After a couple of £hundred you are just changing the sonic flavour, imo and ime.
Sure you can get crap sound from cheap gear, but chosen wisely you can get top quality sound as well.

You mean second-hand prices?

[struth]

I wont embarrass anyone by mentioning how much my amp cost...new.

[hifinutt]

The spend allocated to each part of the system should be reasonably proportunate. You don't bung a two grand MC in a PL-12D for instance (unless you are nuts ).

This may oversimplify, but perhaps 30% on speakers, 30% on amplification and 40% on source

sounds good to me .

[jandl100]

You mean second-hand prices?

No. Well, yes, but ...
My DAC cost me £75 but is available new for around £150.
Pretty much the same for my currently plumbed in amp - you can buy it new for around £180, I think. It sounds fantastic (see today's comments in my Gallery blog).

I am totally happy with them.
-- which doesn't mean I won't change them in the future. That's what I do.

[Joe]

What do people think? Some say spend most on the source, others say the loudspeakers should get the most of it.

But is the amplification really the key to getting a good sound? Slowly dawning on me that this might indeed be the case.

Current system if you ignore the TT which is not my primary source, and cables, I've got 65% of the spend in the amps. Never had a better sound.

What's your percent spent on amps and what's your opinion?

Hang on a sec <finds fag packet to write on back of>. OK. Upstairs system, about equal amounts on source and speakers, amps cost about the same as source and speakers combined. Downstairs system, amp takes up the vast majority of the budget, approx 65% (though this includes a DAC, and the source was bought secondhand). I've tried various cheaper amps in the downstairs system, but none of them has quite 'clicked' in the way the current one does. (All my calculations ignore cables and secondary sources).

[dimkasta]

I agree with that, but I (very strongly) disagree with the implication that extra money necessarily gets you extra quality when it comes to electronics (e.g. amps and DACs).
After a couple of £hundred you are just changing the sonic flavour, imo and ime.
Sure you can get crap sound from cheap gear, but chosen wisely you can get top quality sound as well.

I agree that price does not necessarily mean quality. There are many overpriced pieces of crap out there.

But I do not know where to start disagreeing with the 200-pound claim. And note that I am deep into DIY and modding.

[nthall]

I always leaned towards throwing the money at the speakers and building around them over time. Once you figure out their strengths and weaknesses it's easier to pick components to compliment them.

I had $30 outdoor speakers wired up to a Class A 100 watt amp on the front porch of my old place. They sounded really good for a few days until the voice coils cooked off. That gave me second thoughts about the amount of difference good amplification can impose onto the worst speakers available. I had them wired with lamp cord too.

I guess I don't really have an answer. I think you can get there either way.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[jandl100]

But I do not know where to start disagreeing with the 200-pound claim. And note that I am deep into DIY and modding.

You could just say that you think I am totally wrong!

But I have owned (and often loved) multi-£k electronics. They can sound fantastic. But so can cheap gear at around the £100-£200 level. I know, because I have some.
Amps can be tricky, but with an easy speaker load you don't need a biggun' imo.
- even if you do need a biggun' - several of us a year or so back here on AOS picked up a used APart Champ One 300wpc power amp for £200. That, as they say, will do nicely. There are many others, vintage and not so vintage.

Speakers first, every time, and substantially so, if budget is not unlimited and you want to maximise sound/£.