Is there a ratio of how much you should spend on your AVR vs your L/C/R speakers?
I've seen a couple of posts here that seem to indicate such. So, if I spent 4~5k on my speakers, I shouldn't spend more than how much on my receiver?
Cheers.
This is more complex than a simple ratio. The more complex it gets, as in, the more surround and multi-channel it goes, the more compromise you have on each component to afford it all for the budget. While it's possible to get fairly good bookshelf or tower speakers in that, you will compromise the most on the sub(s) and likely the source itself (receiver). And if you were to back it up to a very straight forward but high quality 2 channel setup, there's way less compromise on the components and you have more budget per component, so you get far higher quality speakers and the choices actually become so broad with source equipment that you're no longer locked into the world of receivers for processing of multi-channel. So it really makes a difference to sort of figure out where you want to be, long term, for your audio and its purpose. Home theater and music listening are vastly two different things, from a building from scratch on a budget standpoint, yet both can be fine for the other's job, for some people, but not all. It's just way too complex to put a value on it that applies to everything.
Based on you referring to L/C/R, this implies multi-channel audio, so theater potentially the most use, at least what I'm reading into this. You have to get the right source, up front, no matter it's ratio in your budget. You can't expand and get into the full channel array you want, if you get a source that's not capable of this. So starting out, compromise
less on the source because you will have to re-buy it to expand otherwise. Then you're at a new compromise point. Do you use the rest of your budget for the best L/R/C that you can get? Or do you shave that budget on those and fit in the sub. For some people, the sub(s) are more important. For others, the sub(s) are less important. That's for you to decide, based on what you watch or enjoy (for example, there's lots of movies that completely do not have a lot of bass lower than 30~40hz from natural sources, and so a sub doesn't really show its presence, the way it does in films with purposefully synthetic 10~30hz tones are added to really flex bass into it). And I would argue the surrounds can be totally passed on, at first, to put your budget into the Source, L/C/R and sub(s) before you ever worry about putting money into the surrounds. They contribute the least. If you need it all up front, well, still I would argue to not compromise on those more important components.
Back to L/C/R, the center channel is super important for movies. It's where the bulk of dialog and primary information comes from. So this likely needs to receive the most attention from the budget, from a single speaker standpoint. All too often, the centers are small little speaker cabinets with small drivers that are designed to be horizontally placed, and this may not even be all that great, while the L & R mains may be way bigger, with bigger drivers and are vertically placed. But for theater, that center is crucial. Unfortunately a lot of "sets" of speakers out there, the matching center is not ideal and is small and doesn't have the range of the L & R mains, so its a disadvantage. Don't be afraid to mix speakers as long as they're fairly similar in how they sound natively. Also, don't be afraid to NOT use a horizontal center! Center's can be any speaker, they can be identical to the L & R. No need to buy the small center from a matching set. Figure out how it works into your setup, as its a great advantage to not be limited by a weak small center when its such an important speaker in the multi-channel setup for movies.
Anecdotally, I was at a friend's house today with my microphone stuff, he was setting up his new speakers and everything was measuring great in the room. Then we measured the center and wow, it was not digging lower than 120hz on its own. It was just so small, with two 4 inch drivers and a ribbon tweeter in a small cabinet. The two bookshelves were digging down to 60hz at reference level from the set "line" of speakers. It made a lot of sense why the center was just not sounding "full" for dialog and lots of portions of movie audio. A lot of that information is not duplicated into the L & R, so dialog was suffering a lot and the crossover wasn't set way up at 120hz, it was down at 80hz. It was very apparent something wasn't blending in right and the culprit was that small center. So then it was... either increase the cross over to make up for it, or replace the center with a bigger center or more competent speaker. The answer was to just use another speaker for the center, exactly the same as the L & R and not try to fall into the "I need a center that is horizonal" mind set. You can totally use a normal, identical speaker, as your L & R as your center. Explore this!
Sub quality is another big one. You can't just buy any sub and make it work with any room (to an extent) when on a budget. There's actually not a really great entry points to subs, up to a price point. Under $500 (for example), there's just lots and lots of compromise in the commercial world and it will usually be a small, light weight box with a big driver in it and not much power behind it. They can be ok, but not if you're planning on getting down to the 20hz range. So if this is crucial for you, and you're a basshead and into gobs of low sub-bass or infrabass even, then don't compromise up front, wait, and get the right sub(s) when you can. You can watch a movie with your L/C/R and still get lots of bass and enjoy a movie. But you cannot watch a movie with nothing but subs thumping. So there's a clear importance difference that often is understated.
So again, the ratio just gets too complex.
I think its all too often, the end results of someone shopping to build a surround system for home theater audio, they end up with way less sub output than they actually should have gotten, they get way bigger L & R mains than they needed, they get a way smaller center than they should have gotten, and they get way too expensive surrounds and heights/etc, from the same set, trying to just get an all inclusive "this is everything" package. And that doesn't even begin to look at the source. Everyone's budget starts at $X and becomes 2($X) real fast and its hard to swallow.
So instead of trying to make it all fit into a single budget with a ratio to guide how much to spend where, I would argue to simply look at what's the most crucial stuff for this. The source, the center, and the L & R mains followed by the sub(s). And keep in mind, your source will likely need to be swapped out, in a few years, as tech moves forward. But your mains can be forever! So budget accordingly!
Very best,
