How would you divide £1500?

[Ryan92]

Just wondering really. Say you has £1500 to spend on speakers, amp and source. How would you divide it?

I'd have said £700 on speakers, £500 on amp and £300 on source.

(I'm going to ignore cables as I don't want to start another one of those threads)

I just think it's a better way to see how each person values a component, rather than just listing them in order of importance.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Sb touch 150-200

Avi adm 9rs 1200

Or 900 second hand 9t and you have some money left for a nice nas.

Excellent sound quality and functionality as well as no clutter.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Depends on source but assuming new then 250 on bdp. 400 amp. 850 speakers. I %m sure most will say listen and these figures are not cast in iron. Buy my evos and you are nearly there

kiddin'. Good luck in dinding your system

 

[CnoEvil]

I'm not sure I can put a definite split on it that would cover every scenario.

Things like the size of the room, the synergy of the components, whether one goes for standmounts or floorstanders and if a streamer is chosen over a CDP, effect how the money is divided.

If you use something like a SBT, then your split is reasonable

 

[gregvet]

Off the top of my head, I would probably go for a linn sneaky, with some EB Acoustic EB2's (or KEF R100's) if buying new, with a £800:£700 split, but Im not sure how much of the £800 you would then apportion to source and how much to amp.

At that budget I would almost certainly be shopping around for second hand/ex demo bargains to try to get more for my money.

Who am I kidding, I am always doing that anyway

 

[CnoEvil]

At that budget I would almost certainly be shopping around for second hand/ex demo bargains to try to get more for my money.

Who am I kidding, I am always doing that anyway

Kef Refs don't come up that often! :shifty:

 

[plasterman]

I've spent just over that on paper, a bit less due to discounts, in the last 8 months.

B&W 685 £399

Marantz PM 6004 £310

Marantz CD 6004 £310

Rotel RA 12 £599

Cables

Chord crimson plus £40

QED Silver Anniversary XT biwire £50

Stands

Atacama nexus 6i £70

So It's amp and speakers first for me anyway

 

[gregvet]

Kef Refs don't come up that often! :shifty:

I have noticed!

 

[steve_1979]

£200 - £400 source (DAC + pre amp)

£1100 -£1300 speakers (actives)

 

[lindsayt]

£200 on new Dac - maybe less if I could find a decent one 2nd hand. £150 on 2nd hand solid state amp. £500 on 2nd hand speakers. £3.49 on interconnect. £2.20 per stereo metre on speaker cable. £600 on tt / cartridge / phono amp or as pocket money if vinyl source is not required.

 

[Frank Harvey]

There's too many variables really to be able to state a universal split, as the given budget can be 're-arranged' to suit the user - more can be spent on speakers and amplification if a larger room is in need of filling, for example.

As a rough guide, I would normally say a fairly equal split will give good results, but in these times of digital streamers, you can get away with spending less on the source, particularly now that you have amps like the Rotel RA12 with onboard digital-analogue conversion. Although, I suppose once you've bought a NAS drive to add to the streamer (Sonos etc), you'd still be looking about an equal split.

Equal split or not, careful matching is needed to put together a system that will work well together and be enjoyable. I would start by auditioning speakers and choosing the ones I like the most. Then, I would look at which amp is need to get the most from them. Then I'd look at the source and make sure the system is being fed a good enough signal to perform as it should. Doing it this way can't usually be done to a budget, but I feel it is the best way to end up with a more rewarding system.

 

[lindsayt]

My hypothetical £150 amp would work as well as any solid state amp with any speakers you're likely to find within the £1500 system budget. No careful matching required due to it being tonally neutral, high powered, high damping factored and with a sufficiently strong power supply to double output when going from 8 ohm to 4 ohm loads.

System matching's easy when you've got the right basic building blocks.

 

[Captain Duff]

As others have said it depends if you are looking at new or s/h, as some components and some brands depreciate less than others so the ratio of component prices can shift radically between a new and a s/h system, and it also depends on the source.

With a turntable based system (and if buying new) I would likely go for around a £1,000 on the TT (including arm and cartridge), then split the rest between amp and speakers. However, on a digital system I would probably weight things the other way around - perhaps as much as £1,000 on speakers and the rest split between a CD (or streamer/media player etc) and amp.

 

[cheyworth]

I've spent just over that on paper, a bit less due to discounts, in the last 8 months.

That mus be alot of paper! :rofl:

 

[Native_bon]

I would Get a cheap transport. Then an audiolab M-DAC. Balanced output into balanced input into krk Rokit 6 active speakers. Invest in good speaker stands & A very good coxial cable, from transport to DAC. Simples. Will out perform any speaker amp combo at the same price & even twice as much.

 

[busb]

As a very general rule - as much as possible on the speakers, most of the rest on the amp then the rest 2nd hand source. However, if you could get decent speakers dirt cheap or any of the three ex-demo then the equation shifts. Talking of ex-demo, my current speakers, CDP & last amp were all 1/3 off.

Hang onto your ATV2 & connect it to a DAC that has has an optical input or buy the new Dragonfly DAC that's USB only. Also your BD110 (if its what I think it is - Panasonic BRP) has a more than passable on-board DAC. Are you using iTunes?

 

[Ryan92]

Oh, I wasn't looking to upgrade, I'm more than happy with my AVI system.

I was just curious to see how people valued each component in a system.

 

[hoopsontoast]

It really does depend on the room and speakers you want. And if you buy new or second hand.

For example I have only spent £75 on the speakers but around £750 on the amps, but I would not generally recommend that to people as a guide as its a very specific speaker requirement. The CDP was free (around £300 normally) and the TT/Cart was around £200.

As a rule, I would say out of £1.5k-

Around £200 on digital transport (CD or Dac/Streaming) and split the rest on speakers and amps. If you have a small room, you could get away with smaller speakers (mini-monitors) and spend more on amplification.

Adding a Turntable would be a whole different ball game though.

 

[Anonymous]

I personally used:

- Source:

- Musical Fidelity M1 £400 (New)

- Airport express £70 (New)

- Optical cable £30 (New)

Amp:

- Primare i30 £800 (Used on ebay - could be less now - Can tell you more when I will have sold mine next week)

Speakers:

- Arcaydis DM1 £310 (New from website)

Total around £1,600, but could get to £1,500 by getting M1 off ebay and Primare for less.