Uncertain Upgrades
 

Is it better to put your money into high end speakers or amplification? How would you prioritize? 70% on speakers and 30% on amplification, or visa versa? What’s a solid rule of thumb here? Looking to make some changes.

Get the absolute best speakers you can afford. They will have the greatest impact on your final music reproduction.

A big 1+ on speakers.

Yes and buy used if you can find a good pair. That will maximize your budget…..

Thanks all. The speaker search is on!!!

Reduction of "systemic noise" and source quality matters more than anything else. The speakers can only reproduce the quality of the signal in front of them. They can't put back lost signal, and they can't remove noise...

This starts with power distribution, ground-plane noise reduction, then quality of source reproduction, and goes from there...

Agree- Speakers have the biggest impact. Also, they determine what amplification you need (tube or solid-state - power available- speaker sensitivity etc).

Easier to match amp to speakers than speakers to amps!

Sorry, I'm going to respectfully disagree (but that's okay in the spirit of true dialog ;)).

Speakers can only transduce the quality of what they are fed from the upstream source; they can't eliminate the impact of noise factors upstream, nor can they add signal that is lost from noise factors (of which there are MANY, particularly with respect digital sources) in transduction. It's a classic GIGO scenario....

Ivor Tiefenbrun had this one nailed back in the 70s. This is physics, at the of the day....

(Not knowing your system) Another vote for speakers.

Quite. And if your speakers aren't up to the task, you won't hear what your system is already doing!
Good point about eliminating noise, but the SN ratio for digital players & amps is quite good nowadays (and mains noise can be addressed later with an isloation transformer or similar)/

All good points. It is a system after all. Don't forget the room limitations and your options for treating those.