How Do You Allocate Budget In Your System?

[witchdoctor]

I have been wondering how members here allocate budget in their various setups. You have speakers, wires, amps, preamps, sources, dacs, room acoustics, videos displays, and tweaks.
Would anyone care to share their approach to budget allocation?

 

[MrBoat]

I have been wondering how members here allocate budget in their various setups. You have speakers, wires, amps, preamps, sources, dacs, room acoustics, videos displays, and tweaks.
Would anyone care to share their approach to budget allocation?

The old-fashioned way, mostly. I save for what I want no matter how long it takes and bypass the credit industry for all things fun and frivolous. I go for the best value/performance ratio I can find. This typically resides in the mid/upper-price range.

I traded a 3 pack/day cig habit for it in the later years. That's the gauge I use for expendable income.

I have a pretty minimal setup and a lot of diy stuff. As such, I should not have to buy anything else for the rest of my days, or my kids', for that matter.

ETA: Most of it goes towards speakers and for 2-channel. There is no specific budget rules as to how much gets spent on a specific area though. It's just worked out like that over the years.

 

[witchdoctor]

The old-fashioned way, mostly. I save for what I want no matter how long it takes and bypass the credit industry for all things fun and frivolous. I go for the best value/performance ratio I can find. This typically resides in the mid/upper-price range.

I traded a 3 pack/day cig habit for it in the later years. That's the gauge I use for expendable income.

I have a pretty minimal setup and a lot of diy stuff. As such, I should not have to buy anything else for the rest of my days, or my kids', for that matter.

Me too, one piece at a time and then upgrade as tech evolves.

 

[MalVeauX]

Hi,

The bulk of your budget should be the most critical speakers to the application, so for example if it's primarily a stereo music system, the L/R main speakers are your primary speakers and should get most of your budget. If your system is mostly geared for surround sound (movies, TV shows, etc) then the most crucial speaker is the center (so put a large budget on the center) and the sub(s) (yes plural). The experience you have in 100% of all content you watch in movies will be coming from the center and some some in the subs. If you watch a movie or show in full surround sound and unplug your center, you'll find the L/R mains are not doing as much as you may think they are--they sound very much like surrounds.

Treating the room fixes a lot of issues if they exist. Most rooms need at least some kind of treatment. Figuring out where your issues are and if treatment with help with it is important. It's almost free information for significant audible gains. There's no big learning curve to making acoustic treatment either. The materials are also affordable if you DIY (hence, almost free, relative to the gains you get).

This gets left out a lot, but your budget should also include getting high quality content to even playback. Clinging to some 128kbps Napster Days MP3's isn't going to get better with each gear purchase. Focus on sourcing high quality audio. Not all of it is the same at all, and there's no safe assumption (like vinyl being superior, that's wrong, or that it's a CD and lossless so its great, which is also wrong, because it could be mastered with the loudness wars and there's no dynamic range in the track. Source content is where you keep pumping budget into over time.

Put the least into your source equipment; this changes so fast over time that it's not worth trying to be on a bleeding edge if you are talking about budget at all. There's no future proofing this, especially with processors. The only source gear I would splurge on at all would be a high quality power amp. But don't throw money away, on a budget, on a DAC or pre or fancy cables. The only exception I would make is that if you're doing a surround sound system, room correction is pretty important and there's big differences between the latest room correction software and something from 10+ years ago; so getting the better AVR just for that software is often time important (very dependent on the speakers, the placement and the room itself).

Very best,

 

[lovinthehd]

Lol budgeting for tweaks? Wire needs a budget? Why don't you just elucidate your own methods? Personally I allocate whatever I want to what I want/need at a particular time....

 

[witchdoctor]

Hi,

The bulk of your budget should be the most critical speakers to the application, so for example if it's primarily a stereo music system, the L/R main speakers are your primary speakers and should get most of your budget. If your system is mostly geared for surround sound (movies, TV shows, etc) then the most crucial speaker is the center (so put a large budget on the center) and the sub(s) (yes plural). The experience you have in 100% of all content you watch in movies will be coming from the center and some some in the subs. If you watch a movie or show in full surround sound and unplug your center, you'll find the L/R mains are not doing as much as you may think they are--they sound very much like surrounds.

Treating the room fixes a lot of issues if they exist. Most rooms need at least some kind of treatment. Figuring out where your issues are and if treatment with help with it is important. It's almost free information for significant audible gains. There's no big learning curve to making acoustic treatment either. The materials are also affordable if you DIY (hence, almost free, relative to the gains you get).

This gets left out a lot, but your budget should also include getting high quality content to even playback. Clinging to some 128kbps Napster Days MP3's isn't going to get better with each gear purchase. Focus on sourcing high quality audio. Not all of it is the same at all, and there's no safe assumption (like vinyl being superior, that's wrong, or that it's a CD and lossless so its great, which is also wrong, because it could be mastered with the loudness wars and there's no dynamic range in the track. Source content is where you keep pumping budget into over time.

Put the least into your source equipment; this changes so fast over time that it's not worth trying to be on a bleeding edge if you are talking about budget at all. There's no future proofing this, especially with processors. The only source gear I would splurge on at all would be a high quality power amp. But don't throw money away, on a budget, on a DAC or pre or fancy cables. The only exception I would make is that if you're doing a surround sound system, room correction is pretty important and there's big differences between the latest room correction software and something from 10+ years ago; so getting the better AVR just for that software is often time important (very dependent on the speakers, the placement and the room itself).

Very best,

Thanks MalVeuX, I just got a Zidoo media player to store ripped 4K Blue Rays as an alternative to streaming, I agree how important source content is. What % budget would you say you to allocate to a processor in a HT? I often wonder how the prices of high end processors are actually lower than the stereo preamps. For example an Anthem STR Stereo pre is around $4500 but their AVM70 15.1 channel comes in from $3500 to $4K.

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

I often wonder how the prices of high end processors are actually lower than the stereo preamps. For example an Anthem STR Stereo pre is around $4500 but their AVM70 15.1 channel comes in from $3500 to $4K.

Scale of economy.

They won't sell as many STR stereo pre as they will AVM 70. So if they're only selling (and this is just for demonstration purposes) 1/2 the number of STR as AVM, they need to recoup their costs plus make a profit. It's always less money to make more units than less.That way the production costs get spread out over a bigger pool. Less units produced = higher price per unit.

As to the OP, I basically just buy what I want/need as I want/need it. I don't really have a budget per se. When/if I want to add/upgrade, I just do it. Within reason of course. I don't have an unlimited budget, nor have I allocated certain amounts to certain areas. My L/C/R have been the biggest expense, while my surrounds have been the smallest. Processor and projector 2nd and 3rd largest expenses. Subwoofers then amplifiers next, with everything else coming in way below that.

 

[Steve81]

I have been wondering how members here allocate budget in their various setups. You have speakers, wires, amps, preamps, sources, dacs, room acoustics, videos displays, and tweaks.
Would anyone care to share their approach to budget allocation?

By in large, I start with the speakers, and then select competent but not exotic gear to drive /connect them adequately. Speakers and subs in my system set me back far more than everything else put together.

To put it another way, I’d have no problem connecting a 5k pair of speakers to a $500 receiver if I’m confident the latter will get the job done. That of course depends on the speakers in question.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

It’s the same process with everything in life.

If you can get something very good and be completely happy with it for $100, why pay $1,000?

So you go component by component: AVR/AVP, Amp, speakers/subs, PJ/TV.

The first question I would ask is, what kind of system does everyone have and WHY do they think that way? Why did they buy and sell, buy and sell and end up with a certain system?

I think way too many people just follow the crowd and do whatever the fashion is currently.

There is no absolute right and wrong, but everyone needs to follow their hearts.

It’s not about allocating certain percentages. Just do component by component. You don’t need to spend $1,000 if you are 100% happy with spending $100.

 

[witchdoctor]

It’s the same process with everything in life.

If you can get something very good and be completely happy with it for $100, why pay $1,000?

So you go component by component: AVR/AVP, Amp, speakers/subs, PJ/TV.

The first question I would ask is, what kind of system does everyone have and WHY do they think that way? Why did they buy and sell, buy and sell and end up with a certain system?

I think way too many people just follow the crowd and do whatever the fashion is currently.

There is no absolute right and wrong, but everyone needs to follow their hearts.

It’s not about allocating certain percentages. Just do component by component. You don’t need to spend $1,000 if you are 100% happy with spending $100.

You just described my journey with processors. The tech changes so quickly I found that simply routing video through a separate HDMI video processor has kept me 100% happy for chump change instead of recycling prepros (HDMI 1.0>2.0>4K>8K>and on and on we go) for $$$$. I am ALWAYS tempted when I read reviews of the latest and greatest iterations (presently the Anthem AVM90 has me intrigued). But when I hit the play button on my current Marantz unit I just don't want to lose the sound I have now, regardless. Audyssey did offer an upgrade to the Pro room correction for $200 that was well worth it though.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

I just bought gear as the urge hit me. I will most probably not have to buy any more in the future. In most of my systems the speakers were the most expensive thing. Peace and goodwill.

 

[witchdoctor]

I just bought gear as the urge hit me. I will most probably not have to buy any more in the future. In most of my systems the speakers were the most expensive thing. Peace and goodwill.

I have the Boston Acoustic Soundsource speakers, how do you like the A26?

 

[ryanosaur]

If a person was going to invest $8-11K in a system, I think it is reasonable to be in this neighborhood:
Depending on the number of Speakers and the quality tier of gear you are aiming for, I would say anywhere between 50-60% roughly should go to Speakers.
Subwoofers are a tough one. I think this is an expense many underestimate or think they can wrap up in the Speaker category. To me its a very important component, but maybe not others... lets call this 10-20% for Subs.
There are quality Amps and AVRs that can be had at very reasonably pricing and this should be figured into the equation. At a certain level of spending, this should maybe be about 15-25% of the budget for Electronics.
Source gear is important and needs will vary. I only needed a BluRay to add to my existing computer, so for me that was a very minimal expense. Others will have different needs... I think as you build a list you adjust your budget accordingly to fit an additional component here or there as your preference requires. This could range from 5-15% for Source Gear.
Cabling and any connection accessories is always the smallest portion. Shop smart and you can get quality cables and terminations if you want for not too much: 1-2%.
Stands and or wall mounts can make this another 1-2%.
This leaves some wiggle room to fill in depending on a persons needs and addresses most categories, I think.

Things get trickier now when you look at TVs and other furniture.
To me the TV is a part of it, but not my priority, even though I was building for HT as well. Where I spent 1K on mine, somebody else will insist on spending 3K. TV should almost be a separate category and not part of the HT budget... and for the PJ folk, well, that completely changes cost dynamics.
Stands or wall mounts are one thing, but a rack or cool console is a different beast. HT recliners?!!
Or how do you budget refinishing a room?

Now, if you are talking higher income levels... I could easily see the ratio changing slightly as the cost of many components one adds will take over a more significant part of the budget. Maybe a 3:2 ratio for higher tier Speakers to Electronics (without getting too absurd)... but that's getting above my pay grade! I'm not going to buy $15-20K Speakers, and certainly not an additional $9-14K in Electronics!

Really, at that point, a persons whim is only really limited by their disposable income and dedication to accumulating toys.

 

[MalVeauX]

What % budget would you say you to allocate to a processor in a HT?

The minimum it takes to get the decoding, channel count and option to pre-amp out if needed and latest room correction. I wouldn't put a % on it. There's only a handful of models that will fit the need the farther you get into this with the room correction software and pre-amp outs.

I don't think there's a reason to put % on any of this.

Speakers are always the best use of money if you want a long term quality return. Electronics will offer you the least, outside of a few things, like good quality power amps (but you may not need these at all). AVR's will not be worth putting a lot into because this side of things changes over time. Speakers are basically forever, as are really good subs.

Very best,

 

[witchdoctor]

Scale of economy.

They won't sell as many STR stereo pre as they will AVM 70. So if they're only selling (and this is just for demonstration purposes) 1/2 the number of STR as AVM, they need to recoup their costs plus make a profit. It's always less money to make more units than less.That way the production costs get spread out over a bigger pool. Less units produced = higher price per unit.

As to the OP, I basically just buy what I want/need as I want/need it. I don't really have a budget per se. When/if I want to add/upgrade, I just do it. Within reason of course. I don't have an unlimited budget, nor have I allocated certain amounts to certain areas. My L/C/R have been the biggest expense, while my surrounds have been the smallest. Processor and projector 2nd and 3rd largest expenses. Subwoofers then amplifiers next, with everything else coming in way below that.

Nice, I see we are both Paradigm fans and with now I think with 16 speakers in my HT rig that has been the biggest expense.

 

[ryanosaur]

The minimum it takes to get the decoding, channel count and option to pre-amp out if needed and latest room correction. I wouldn't put a % on it. There's only a handful of models that will fit the need the farther you get into this with the room correction software and pre-amp outs.

I don't think there's a reason to put % on any of this.

Speakers are always the best use of money if you want a long term quality return. Electronics will offer you the least, outside of a few things, like good quality power amps (but you may not need these at all). AVR's will not be worth putting a lot into because this side of things changes over time. Speakers are basically forever, as are really good subs.

Very best,

I absolutely agree. Its very similar to the conversations about Subs in many ways.
Unless you are shopping the below 1K tier, and likely buying entry level Speakers, You can land very solid AVRs at $1600 in the Denon 3700 and similar products from Marantz and Yamaha, ranging up to about 2200.
(Sadly, the price increases really bite hard in this category!)
I agree that it's not really a percentage value in this... but you look for the level of options you want/need for your AV goals. I think most would agree that you can get some excellent performance, and with the devices I just pointed at... Conveniently it lands you at about 15-25% of the budget I described above!

However, some people may well by a 3700 and go nuts on some $8000 Speakers and be happy. Might not be the most logical choice, but it does perform well enough on the test bench. If you didn't need other options, I could totally see this being done.

Ultimately I agree that there are some points where percentages and ratios don't always add up. I always thought of these conversations as being more a Rule Of Thumb. It's not an exact measure, but it's relatively sound advice early in the planning stage. As you settle on the gear you need and the gear you want, you make adjustments to suit.
I sure wouldn't buy Salk SS9.5s and a $500 Onkyo AVR.
I also wouldn't buy, say, an AVM-90 and Levinson MonoBlocks... to go with a set of Jamos.

 

[Danzilla31]

The bulk of my budget goes to speakers and subs. The rest goes into good but not high priced upper range gear to drive them. If your speakers and subs are great performers you can have an easier time finding decent priced gear to push them

 

[MalVeauX]

I sure wouldn't buy Salk SS9.5s and a $500 Onkyo AVR.

If that was all I could use until I could budget for the next piece of source gear, and it allowed me to get the Salks, I would use a potato to power them if it would work long enough to get something proper. They're not going to sound awful just because they're on a cheap piece of source equipment.

If I had to choose Salks on an Onkyo AVR or some Budget Polks on a McIntosh, I'm gonna take the Salks and Onkyo.

Very best,

 

[BMXTRIX]

I have been wondering how members here allocate budget in their various setups. You have speakers, wires, amps, preamps, sources, dacs, room acoustics, videos displays, and tweaks.
Would anyone care to share their approach to budget allocation?

It's a good question and it clearly has many different answers. I think the most popular and common answer is that people buy what their budget and desires allow them to buy, and then upgrade following the exact same principle. If you want better bass, then you save up and get a better, or additional subwoofer. If you want better video, you save up and buy a better TV.

I think from the start, the expectations are often out of line with the budget. People see a TV for $300 and then don't understand why it looks so terrible. They see all these advertisements for Bose, then wonder why their speakers can't get very loud. It is all about perspective and education on the subject matter, and aligning the expectations of quality to the budget available, then purchasing what matters most accordingly.

Some people care a great deal about their video, but just want the audio to be 'okay'. This may be an added limitation of their living environment. Townhomes and apartments/condos have shared living walls with other neighbors. This may mean that strong bass and audio can't be supported. But, a nice TV will still look nice.

I think many people start with that mentality. Many buyers today really do consider the TV above everything else, then work into their audio. I often have customers who want in-wall speakers and are perfectly happy with well positioned, but inexpensive, in-wall speakers and a basic AV receiver and a decent subwoofer along with their display. But, the display may be half of their budget.

Those who are into audio, may see those numbers change dramatically, but I think that's often because the display, if good from day one, doesn't need to be upgraded along the way. A good projector/screen or flat panel display may be a 7-10 year (or longer) item which still looks good at the end of that time. Mid-line speakers/subwoofer may be significantly upgraded over that same time period with significant gains in quality with each upgrade.

Hopefully nobody wastes money upgrading cables.

Sources often seem like an afterthought. Some get into things pretty deep. Some love their vinyl and spend a lot on it, others spend next to nothing and stream from their phone. Some go with Amazon for voice activation others go to Sonos, or spend a bit more on Bluesound. But, when things start costing more, in an ever-changing market, consumers can quickly get burned by product that costs a lot of money, but has a VERY short shelf life.

This includes purpose built, low-yield high-end product. The HTPC being a good example. Or from the past a bit, there were high dollar iPod streaming units, or audio storage vaults like the AudioRequest or Escient Fireball that are all but useless today despite their multi-thousand dollar price tags 15-20 years ago.

I would recommend most away from those products in favor of lesser expensive, more feature rich products and I avoid them myself, unless the pockets are deep and other product matches up to that higher dollar extravagance figure.

 

[witchdoctor]

It's a good question and it clearly has many different answers. I think the most popular and common answer is that people buy what their budget and desires allow them to buy, and then upgrade following the exact same principle. If you want better bass, then you save up and get a better, or additional subwoofer. If you want better video, you save up and buy a better TV.

I think from the start, the expectations are often out of line with the budget. People see a TV for $300 and then don't understand why it looks so terrible. They see all these advertisements for Bose, then wonder why their speakers can't get very loud. It is all about perspective and education on the subject matter, and aligning the expectations of quality to the budget available, then purchasing what matters most accordingly.

Some people care a great deal about their video, but just want the audio to be 'okay'. This may be an added limitation of their living environment. Townhomes and apartments/condos have shared living walls with other neighbors. This may mean that strong bass and audio can't be supported. But, a nice TV will still look nice.

I think many people start with that mentality. Many buyers today really do consider the TV above everything else, then work into their audio. I often have customers who want in-wall speakers and are perfectly happy with well positioned, but inexpensive, in-wall speakers and a basic AV receiver and a decent subwoofer along with their display. But, the display may be half of their budget.

Those who are into audio, may see those numbers change dramatically, but I think that's often because the display, if good from day one, doesn't need to be upgraded along the way. A good projector/screen or flat panel display may be a 7-10 year (or longer) item which still looks good at the end of that time. Mid-line speakers/subwoofer may be significantly upgraded over that same time period with significant gains in quality with each upgrade.

Hopefully nobody wastes money upgrading cables.

Sources often seem like an afterthought. Some get into things pretty deep. Some love their vinyl and spend a lot on it, others spend next to nothing and stream from their phone. Some go with Amazon for voice activation others go to Sonos, or spend a bit more on Bluesound. But, when things start costing more, in an ever-changing market, consumers can quickly get burned by product that costs a lot of money, but has a VERY short shelf life.

This includes purpose built, low-yield high-end product. The HTPC being a good example. Or from the past a bit, there were high dollar iPod streaming units, or audio storage vaults like the AudioRequest or Escient Fireball that are all but useless today despite their multi-thousand dollar price tags 15-20 years ago.

I would recommend most away from those products in favor of lesser expensive, more feature rich products and I avoid them myself, unless the pockets are deep and other product matches up to that higher dollar extravagance figure.

I love less expensive feature rich products. I wanted to get into whole house audio and went with the DTS Play-Fi ecosystem. It is designed from the ground up to be less expensive than the main competitor, feature rich since it is a multi-vendor platform and I have scored some great gear. Active speakers that do hirez, have DSP, and stream from multiple platforms. Great SQ for about 50% less than what it would cost if you built it with separates. Plus its wireless so the only cable you need is a plug.