£1K amp + £2K speakers or £2K amp + 1K speakers

[FennerMachine]

What is generally better?

£1000.00 amp with £2000.00 speakers or £2000.00 amp with £1000.00 speakers?

Where do you 'draw the line' on ratios and why?

Obviously there are exceptions, but what is the general rule from those that have demoed and/or owned many systems?

 

[Craig M.]

It depends! Some speakers just need a bit of a tickle, some need beating senseless with a f******* big stick!

If the amp has the power to control a given speaker, I'd spend the lions share on the speakers.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Seeing the title, I was going to say the same as Craig.

If you have any amp or speaker preferences, maybe a firmer answer can be given.

 

[FennerMachine]

I ask the question due to a reply on another thread.

I am thinking of getting better speakers to go with my amps but some have suggested getting a better amp for my speakers.

My current speakers retailed for about £700.00 from most stores.

The amps I have are old but the modern equivalents from Quad would cost a total of about £1500.00. I've heard what better speakers can do for my system and they sound good but not perfect (I suppose nothing does though!).

What would a better amp do for my existing speakers?

I suppose I could borrow an amp on home demo and find out for myself!

 

[Bigsounds]

I've heard cheaper amps driving expensive speakers sounding amazing, and I've heard very expensive amps driving budget speaker managing the same trick, there really are no rules, there are so many variables, amp power, room size, speaker efficiency that one need to take in to consideration.

 

[WishTree]

I agree with what Craig has said.

In an ideal if the amp does what it does, it should be pretty much out of equation. Let me give you an analogy here. Hope my assumptions are right..

Amplifier Design is like mechanial Steering of a car. One has to do a lot wrong to make it worng. Where as Speaker Design is like Electronic Steering of a car. A small correction can have a much bigger difference in the output.

So again, in an ideal world, Amplifier should be fit & forget but I guess there are several factors and the design + house tuning of various brands add more variables to the equation.

Also, speakers swapping is not realatively easy given the physical dimensions and kind of care needed to synerigse them in the room. So getting speakers that you like is more important and my budget goes more on to speakers.

Having said that, price of a component is, IMO, the marketing team's perception of how much consumer is willing to spend on their brand. Since I have lived with a Classe Amp & Jolida Amp, I can say that Classe is not so many times better than a Jolida Amp and given a right sensitive speakers both sing almost the same.

I had burnt fingers with cheap chinese brands as well as snobbish big named exotics. In the end I reached a place where, I let my ears decide and buy the components which will be supported by my dealer for next few years till the time I feel like I need a change.

YMMV.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

There is another option - where the amp and drivers are matched by design and amps built in - active speakers. The downside is the choice of styles is very limited.

In passive designs, I would go 2k for speakers.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

I'd go for £1500 refurbished speakers myself...

 

[BigH]

There are no rules it is what works best, you can have £800 speakers and £1600 amp or you can have the opposite, some will depend on you, your room, how much bass, how loud you want the music etc. As craig says some speakers need more driving than others. If I were you I would choose some speakers and then find a capable amp. You can of course spend £1,500 on each.

I would draw up a list of speakers, I think you have already heard some? Then try various amps to go with them. Have a look at WHF reviews.

 

[stevebrock]

Well my speakers cost 50% the cost of my amp, yes I will probably upgrade eventually to some Neat or Totem floor standers or something similar. However my amp and speakers are well matched and to me sound great I'm my room at home so don't want to lose the Rega synergy.