I think most people who are looking at Equipment on the AudiogoN website are Stereo enthusiasts who are looking for a good deal on top notch stereo gear! Some people have more excess money to spend on this hobby than others. There should be no guilt attached to putting together a nice system. Are the prices for high end stereos a bit ridiculous, heck yeah!(Power Cords that retail for $4,000, PLEASE!) But then so are sports cars and everything else that is the best of the best. This website helps many Stereo hobbyist afford nicer equipment than they could normally afford. It's great. I would say most people aren't rich who read(and use) this website, just a bit enthusiastic about their hobby (stereo & video gear)! :) I really enjoy this hobby and especailly doing one upgrade at a time to hear each little improvement. It's a fun hobby that only hurts my checkbook from time to time. |
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Sorry about that last post of mine, but I couldn't resist. My kids are finished with college my Beautiful high school sweetheart( I class of 71 and my bride class of 72) have just finished building our final home, complete with sound room / living room. Whats wrong with living a good life. Our investments are strong, and my retirement is set. I love this hobby and I love music. It started 30 years ago with me. Back then they thought I was nuts but today they think I'm eccentric, go figure. Peace and Good Listening. |
I find that living with a parent who is obsessed with audio equipment is the way to go, you get to listen to there reference level system for free.
Judd |
I started buying stereo equipment when I was 16 and have been hooked ever since. I have had my share of complete junk in my system but my desire to improve the sound always kept me looking for good deals. I started with a Yamaha AV-34 integrated amp (which I still own) and now at 26 I have just purchased a Plinius SA250MKIII. Is this the end......probably not but I do LOVE the Plinius! Places like Audiogon are key to building a High-Fi system with only a minor investment. I can tell you my systems level of quality jumped up a couple of notches when I discovered this site. |
Trickle down is the key. Remember when B&W came out with the Nautilus speaker? Then they trickled that technology down to their 800 series, and I see it is even now into the 600 series (I think). I let the big boys blow all their money on top of the line so the company will pass the technology down and I can afford the lower end stuff. It's all relative though. 2k for the N805? I wouldn't think too hard about it, but I know many that would. It's a hobby, do what makes you happy. If it makes you happy to have the latest technology as soon as it appears, more power to you. Me, I'm looking to pick up a Conrad Johnson preamp made in 1984. |
I agree - stay away from the leading edge, read magazines from two years ago as though they're current, get all excited about what they're raving about and go buy it...used. Stay behind the curve and you'll have all the fun for a lot less money, missing out only on bragging rights. I found a great way to do this is to have your world turned on it's ear for 18 months or so. Have some personal, professional and national crises all strung together, completely distracting you from whatever you think you want to buy, and come back 18 months later still thinking you want the same thing. The price will be VERY reasonable at this point. You buy the stuff, put it all together, have a fabulous system and imagine that the calendar is rolled back 2 years - you then have a state of the art system that costs mega $$$, only you didn't spend mega $$$. If you pull this off correctly, you get 99% of the thrill with about 33% of the financial pain. -Kirk |
If $7500 MSRP will get you a great system, think what you can do by buying all your stuff off of audiogon.
It could cut the price in half or it could allow you the option of purchasing more equipment/dollar. |
Kthomas, you said it! Especially true with the digital gear!!! |
I have read this thread as a "new" person with some interest and it seems to me there will be a permanent loop. What is one mans penny is another mans pound. The whole issue is subjective, I am sure that noone here doubts that 100k on music equipment in most contexts is irrational but we justify it because it brings us pleasure and in a world where that particular commodity is getting hard to come by, prices like taxes go up. I for one will always enjoy the reproduction of good music but will again do it by looking for those elusive deals. When your ten year old sits next to you identifying various instruments and presence that is justification enough for me. |
In electronics engineering, we go by a rule of thumb that after the circuit is built, each effort to improve it by just 10% will double the costs.
Now don't apply this literally, but I did like sgmlaw's letter, posting the opinion that this is a hobby of diminishing returns.
Once you have a system you are happy with (didn't it knock your socks off when you bought it?) you are wise to enjoy it. Right now, people are drunk with money. The 'two-years removed' approach is very good advice, in my opinion. |
It's not about how much you spend it's the enjoyment you get from the music. When I got out of college in 1976 the first thing I bought was as car (used) to get to work and next was my first stereo system. Mcintosh solid state seperates and Dalquist DQ10 speakers and a sub. This system served me very well for a number of years. To this day I still use the the Mac amp and pre amp and have upgraded to JM Utopia speakers (used) and a Cary 303 CD player (used). I will change out the amp and pre amp to Conrad Johnson equipment and add a sub for the speakers. I will never by new equipment again. This site provides great opportunites to gear at half the retail price. My tastes in music have changed over the years and I have extensive number of LP's and CD's. You can create an environment for every occasion! Music will set you free. |
Now that the moral ceiling on audio equipment expenditures has been established at 7500 I suggest all of us immoral types make amends by dumping our equipment on the used market so the morally and otherwise politically correct can snap up the Krell, Levinson, Wadia, Wisdom etc. gear at morally correct bargain prices. |
I have just $2k in my system and love it. I am not a neophyte to audio, nor am I rich. I just know what I like and found a way to get it - within my price range. Now you may smile at that, but my system is a direct-in(no preamp), tube OTL, DIY single-driver speakers setup that would, no doubt, sound very pleasing indeed to most, if not all, of the $100k system owners on this thread. After 25 years in audio, I found out how to focus in on exactly the sound I wanted, and researched the gear that could get me there. It can be done, and done well. Enjoyed the thread. Good listening to one and all. |
Twl,
Yes but your system only cost $2k because you spent all your money on wine,$2k-lol. |
Oh Ben, how right you are about that! But, you know, if you read wine reviews, they sound alot like audio reviews. "The bouquet is palpable","The unctious collection of flavors dances on your pallet", etc. Perhaps the two hobbies are closer related than many believe. Cheers! |
In my house, wine and audio are real close - my wine cabinet is just about three steps from my stereo! |
Me rich?! NOT. I'm a recent graduate with a good paying technical job, but it is an intresting trade off between paying off school loans, my music, and eating. I buy most everything used that can usually be sold at little or no loss. I contracted the "audio bug" from a friend. Who knew it was such a virulent contagion? I wouldn't ever give it up though. With a long commute and long hours, it's my way to unwind. |
It's all relative, every hobby has a stratosphere. I go to gun shows and see $50,000 shotguns that some people use to hunt or compete with. Those same people can be waxed in competition by a poor bumpkin with a $1200 gun. Then they console ourselves that even though they lost, "they looked damn good doing it." [:)]
First ask how important nirvana is to you. What will you sacrifice for it. And is it worth it. Do you really have golden ears. How much difference can you "really" hear. Just being in a high end salon looking at all the toys will get your ears burning. Be conscious of that. I REALLY hate to quote Star Trek, but, "You may find wanting is far more satisfying a thing than having." I know I've lusted for stuff bought it and even though it is really nice I sometimes question the purchase in hindsight. (see the spritual vs. material posts) Somebody is always going to have a better system. Millions will have worse ones. Try not to get the "fever" (easier said than done.) And try to find that sweet spot. In the end, a stellar system could make a big difference in the quality of your "golden years." Life is hard, especially when you try to live it with wisdom. I know I'm still learning. Whew!! too deep think I'll go for a walk and eat a cookie. |
3 elements help: No kids, don't over spend on other things, and bargain-hunt for used gear. Key concept: priorities.
A childless household is more likely to have the money, space, and time to dabble in music/audio pursuits than one with children. How many AudiogoN ads have text that says something like, " Selling gear because we are expecting a (another) child"?
I find it odd that audio "civilians" seem to take an incredulous delight in scoffing at the high prices of specialty audio gear; yet, they think it perfectly normal to buy new, gas-guzzling trucks or SUV's every three years; or own boats; or regularly take resort vacations. Buying that SUV, boat, or blowing money in Las Vegas is completely their prerogative. So, why does it bewilder the audio uninitiated that some audio nerds forgo trucks, boats, or Las Vegas (except CES, of course) so they can afford $25,000 (or what-ever) audio systems?
Lastly, as so many on this thread have pointed out, exploiting the used market lets the experienced audio geek assemble a satisfying music system for about half that system's retail price. Smart choices and good setup (vibration control, synergetic cabling, wise speaker placement, etc.) can go a long way. Often, well-assembled less costly systems sound better than do poorly assembled expensive ones.
A well-chosen music system can deliver a mind-calming, soul-stirring transformation in its listener on demand in her own home. I can think of far worse uses of funds.
(Disclaimer: I bear no hostility to children or loving parents who choose to replicate themselves in this World. I include myself when I affectionately use the phrases 'audio nerd' and 'audio geek.' No malice, humiliation, or denigration is intended to anyone who may have been called nerd or geek by others in the past. While I personally do not choose to own a truck or SUV, I do not hold it against anyone else who feels the need to do so. We live in a wonderful World in which even cities like Las Vegas have a place. I apologize to anyone who may have inferred harm from my comments.) |
I have a $50-$60,000 system that I bought over the years ALL on Audiogon for about $10,000. It's the only way to go. Never had any problem either (knock on wood). Any other way I could not have afforded it. I know it sounds like a commercial but... ( & by the way I am a stock broker too)
Have fun. |
It's the price of some cables and tweaks that make me almost agree with outsiders that this is a rediculous hobby.I think a new syatem of $5K given what can be gotten sound wise is all that somebody need to pay.I have been very patient and lucky and have built a system from used components that has an MSRP of $15 for 1/3 of that.Hey maybe it all is mrally repugnant ina completely altruistic world of mother Teresa's and Albert Schweitzers (spelling???) but it ain't.But given my income I have a syatem for this being my primary hobby that if I were majing $150 a year I might have a $100K system.But if I fantisize about it then I think of building a better rooom and it is foolish to think what if.My priority could change drastivclly.But you know what?I like the people who are in this hobby.Passionate about the senses and the sensual and have an asthetic sense which is interesting.Be very interesting though prpbably disrupting to find out what folks political inclinations are. |
Mvwine you are my hero. I have to walk at least 20 feet to get to my wine rack. If only they could make a audiophile quality CD player that also dispensed wine I would be in Audio heaven. |
lol, reminds me of when I was in college (with no money, of course) yet was able to amass a true audiophile system for the times consisting of:
Thorens T-160C w/stanton 681EEE
AR3a's
various tube amps
Citation Reciver (man, i wish i still had this!)
took awhile, and i REALLY searched, but it wasn't very expensive. (Later, when i got a bit of money, my system was appropriately expensive, lmao). |
Boy I could easily spend 100K for a dual use system, and as far as "status" one friend has been over to see my humble gear in almost 2 yrs. I feel no need to show it off, and actually fear it being stolen by someone who either stole it or told someone else about my system...so as for me, I could spend it if I had it, but nobody but you guys would know!
P.S. to qualify why I dont have more company, I am disabled and moved to a new town, so thats a big part of it |
I am a poor college student with parents what are well off. My systems retail is impressive to me lol but is still on the cheap end even though I have speakers that would denote a much more expensive system. I curentley earn very little money I work at a gym and a retal store and I also work for Marsha Blackburn (in congress 7th district tn). |
i've been out of college for a year and a half, turn 24 in a couple weeks, work freelance, make jack, and have about $30K retail in gear, around 14-ishK out of pocket thanks to good deals and some luck. My parents don't give half a crap about music and don't give me money. I'm still trying to figure out how i've done it. Scary things happen when us impressionable youth show up on audiogon. Two years ago I had a midfi system at best. I am badly addicted, slightly insane and don't mind periods of fasting. The system does a fine job of covering up the hunger pangs LOL. |
