[warnerwh]

I'm curious as to what people feel comfortable with spending on a power amp compared to their speaker system. In my case actual cost of my amp was about 25% of my speakers cost.  Retail would be 50% though.

[jon_010101]

I don't sweat it as long as it sounds good

My amps are likely worth more than my speakers on the used market, perhaps by a factor of 2, but both cost about the same for me.  

Think of all the people running $3000 Zu speakers with $100 homemade T-amps or gainclones... Or all the people running homemade $200 single-driver open baffle speakers with $2000 triode amps.

[kfr01]

Let's see.  $1200 for amp (used).  

$800, 2641 kit parts + $400 finishing parts.  

About 1:1

However, my speakers are diy and sound much more expensive than their total parts costs.


I have to say, the speaker upgrade was ---much--- more worthwhile, performance for dollar, than the amplifier.  

Were I to do it over again, I'd put even more money, time, and effort into the speaker.  Greatest gains to be acheived there, imo.

[bubba966]

$5,500 retail for the speakers, $3,000 retail for the receiver.

I think I paid around $3,200 for the speakers & $2,000 for the receiver.

[Bemopti123]

speaker:  $1200 for cabs + $700 for drivers= $1900 (competes with ANYTHING under $5K or even more.

amps=$300(used, monoblock opchip amps)+$600 modification costs= $900.

The speakers are forgiving enough of medium rated power, but there are speakers that ASK for a certain wattage and gobs of current, much, much more expensive proposition.

[JLM]

Retail: amp $1,000, speakers $1600.

These ratios could get really wacky with huge efficient horns running on small amps or cheaper power hungry speakers.

[JoshK]

These ratios could get really wacky with huge efficient horns running on small amps or cheaper power hungry speakers.

Or with active setups like mine....

Speaker drivers: ~$1700 (+$400 of so for wood)  Amps: ~$3000 for the eight channels of amplification.

[eric the red]

About 9%...GR Research Paradox 3 speakers overbuilt from a kit=$975.00 including shipping from Minneapolis. Sharp SD-EX111 integrated $90.00 new including shipping from Overstock.com

[gary]

Speakers: $2000 (Bastanis Prometheus... probably the most expensive "diy kit" out there)

Amp: ~$700 (Red Wine Audio Clari-T w/ upgrades)

Gary

[Gordy]

My diy amps were about 25-30% the cost of my custom built speakers. I'm only guessing, but I think that ratio would stay fairly close if they were available from dealers.

[Dan Driscoll]

My amp is a 5x200wpc Sherbourn 5/1500A that retailed for $1999. My main speakers are Vandersteen Model 2C's that retailed for $1595/pair, a VCC-1 center channel that retails for $550 each and Paradigm ADP-370 surrounds that retailed for $650/pair, IIRC. So the speakers retailed for about 1.4 times as much as the amp.

What I paid was $400 for the 2C's (used), $300 for the VCC-1 (used), $400 for the ADP-370's (discontinued) and $1100 for the 5/1500A (demo). Which means I paid the same for the speakers as the amp.

[meilankev]

If we are only talking only about the power amp, then my amp is about 20% more expensive than my speakers.  If we're talking about "power amp/preamp combo", then it is about double the price of my speakers.

Kevin

[_scotty_]

My amp cost me $700in parts plus my time or about 12% the cost of my speakers $5800 see link http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1144856693
If BelCanto used the parts quality I did in constructing their 2ch eVo2 amp
an  amp directly comparable to mine might have retailed for as much as $4000.
Scotty

[mcgsxr]

Hmmn, guess my audio pants are about to come off!

Speakers - USD$350 for a pair of Visaton b200 wide range drivers and some 3/4 mdf, and some piano hinges

Amps - USD$225 for my JVC EX A1 or USD$250 for my gainclone

So I guess I am running speakers worth about 120-140% of my amp, but none of this kit is in any way pricey - I have paid more for IC's in the past, than ALL of my gear today...

[Soundbitten]

my speakers were 4 times more than my amp

[hmen]

My pre plus my amp cost about 150% of what my speakers cost.

[zybar]

Amp lists for $7,000 new (McCormack DNA-500) and speakers list for roughly  $4,500 new (Salk Veracity HT3's in stock form with upgraded finish).

So my amp is around 56% more expensive than my speakers.

The equation gets more lopsided if I include my preamp/dac (modified TacT 2.2x).

George

[SWG255]

My VMPS RM40s cost about 5 times the amount I spent on my modified Carver ZR-1600. In the past though, my amp and speakers were about equal in price, both what i paid and retail. I covet a couple amps that will retail for about 40% more than my speakers though.

This is an issue endlessly debated by audiophiles, but i fall strongly in the camp that one should spend as much as possible on speakers and then match one's other components to them. This usually leads to spending about 50% more on speakers than an amplifier, and probably an equal amount if one combines the amp and preamp cost.

Of course, like any such "rule", your experience may be different.

[ooheadsoo]

My amp cost around $650 used and my speakers are either $350 for the visaton b200 or $630 for the mbow1.  If I include the channel islands vpc-1, then I suppose I spent 15% more on amplification.  Soon to change, I hope.

[mgalusha]

At retail my speakers were about 4x the price of the amps. I actually paid about 2.2x more for the speakers as I got a great deal on them and the amps were used as well.