The amplifier here was not picked on price. It is the best match for the Paradigm 200B out of every model inside the amplifier budget, checked on power, impedance safety and current delivery.
The system
See every amplifier ranked for the Paradigm 200B →
Where the split comes from
Nowhere measurable, and it is worth being straight about that. There is no experiment behind any budget ratio — what there is, is decades of consistent advice from people who have assembled a lot of systems. The shares here follow the mainstream of it:
- Stereo: speakers 50%, amplifier 35%, cables and stands 15%
- With a subwoofer: speakers 40%, amplifier 30%, subwoofer 22%, extras 8%
- Home cinema 5.1: fronts 27%, centre 14%, surrounds 11%, subwoofer 20%, receiver 25%, extras 3%
Speakers take the biggest share every time, for two reasons that do hold up: they are the component that varies most audibly between models, and they date the slowest. A good pair outlives two or three amplifiers.
What this does that a budget article cannot
The amplifier is not chosen because it costs the right amount. Once the speakers are picked, every amplifier inside the amplifier budget is ranked against them by the same engine behind our amplifier matcher — power for the level you listen at, impedance safety, and whether it has the current for the load. So the system it suggests is one that actually works together.
Treat it as a starting point
- Buy the speakers first if you have to phase it. They decide most of what you hear.
- Do not skip the stands. Bookshelf speakers on a shelf lose more than a budget upgrade elsewhere would gain.
- Second-hand changes everything. These are new prices; a used amplifier at half price moves the whole split.
- A subwoofer often beats bigger speakers at the same money, because it can be positioned independently — see the room mode calculator for why that matters.