How cheap can you go and still be happy with the sound?

So many different takes on what serves as a baseline system I am actually a bit surprised...Try going cold turkey without your tunes for a few weeks as I did after our house fire, and it helps adjust your minimum standards or at least helps really define them. For nearfield at the computer  I have probably about 700 invested roughly between some modded dayton audio towers and the dac and cheap class d amp. While that doesn't satisfy too well if I am in the next room, it works awfully well when at the computer.

For listening at 8 feet or so away from the speakers, my 2 channel system in the music room meets the need in the size room I have in our temporary home. 2 svs subs, 2 Walsh 2000, VTV Hypex amp 500 wpc, Emotiva TA1 Dac, driven via optical output from the monitor connected to my old dell desktop. It kicks butt and can get uncomfortably loud and surprisingly clean in the small room its in. Low end response extends below 20hz and is well integrated with the Ohm speakers. Expecting the same level of performance once I move back into my house.

Then there is a TV only system driving an Emotiva MR1L and connected with some resto-modded 303AX fronts with dayton audio surrounds and a pair of 10" dayton audio subs with a JBL center speaker. Reasonably flat response down to about 25 hz. Plenty of volume with no shortage of reserve for apartment living.

The music room system is by far the most expensive of all of them and absolutely delivers smiles every time I listen to good source material. Sadly its revealing enough to show poor recordings for what they are. And that is the price paid to enjoy the goodness that comes with a good recording. I think I could be happy with what I have for the rest of my days, but I know that I can get closer to Nirvana...and that will eat at me until I do something about it.

I have come to realize that music can be enjoyed on almost anything from a portable radio to a pair of EV Patricians or whatever.... but getting to true perfection is as unreachable a goal as going faster than the speed of light...and the closer we get takes more and more money for the next increment of improvement.

Sometimes I find myself listening to a recording that if I close my eyes I can almost suspend my disbelief in the illusion of it being live. In those rare moments it feels miraculous that such a thing can happen and I cherish each one of them. I had one such occurrence the other evening when watching a clip on Youtube about how Steinway pianos are built. In the video, there were numerous snippets of audio of one of their pianos being played in an acoustically favorable environment by world renown musicians and there were bits and pieces of those snippets that suspended my disbelief momentarily. I was truly shocked that I could get that level of quality out of a youtube clip but it was right there in the room with me. Certainly not all recordings today are made with the care that audiophiles would appreciate, but this one was and when I think back to what it was like in the bad old days listening to records with the pops and clicks and rather poor standards that applied to their manufacture, I think we really are in something of a golden age now. Speakers are better than ever, the electronics certainly are very good in general, and some of the source material is way better than we ever had on vinyl. That's not to say all vinyl pressings were of low quality, because that is just not true, but many of them were not nearly as good as they could have been. That I am north of 70 and my hearing is not what it once was has not diminished in the slightest my appreciation for good recordings or good music. Playing an instrument helps keep your appreciation of well recorded music fine tuned as well as your appreciation for those who also play ( and much better than I do ). 

@waytoomuchstuff I had to laugh at your wrench tossing story...way too close to the reality of most of us who work on cars because we have to rather than doing it for fun. There was a time when I actually enjoyed turning the wrenches and found joy in it, but the cars that gave me that joy were much easier to modify or repair than the beasts most of us drive today. My musicality requirements for a system to listen to while working on the car are relatively low...but when the resources allow, a 2.1 system that plays louder than the air compressor is a welcome addition to the workspace.

@waytoomuchstuff I agree with you there, I spent quite a few years in SCCA chasing whatever flavor appealed to me at the time and it was mandatory to do my own work on the cars due to the cost of farming it out. It didn't help the cost of having a competitive car went up about 10-15% per year and eventually got to the place where it was no longer financially affordable to compete regularly. Never lost the hunger for it though and to this day attempt to have a slow, track ready car that I can at least go play on track days. That option is, due to inflation, going away now and so I am officially retired from motorsport involvement. Enjoying recorded music feeds my soul in a vital way that I cannot give up regardless of cost. Since feeding that hunger is necessary to continued sanity, I am attempting to rebuild several systems I had in my home before it burned this past spring. This is by necessity a slow process. I bought a pair of Ohm Walsh 2000s that I am pretty fond of for my office/music room. In combination with a pair of SVS PC2000 Pro subs, and a 500wpc VTV/Hypex NC502 amplifier, and an Emotiva PT1 Dac/preamp and my trusty crusty Dell THX certified computer, I have a nice sounding 2 channel setup for listening to music or watching videos. So for something like 8K approximately its pretty darn good. Is there better out there? Doubtful you could find better for the same money, but who knows? It was all bought new so its under warranty and should last a long time before needing to think about replacement. At 72 its unlikely I will ever need to replace any of it either due to age related issues or because it has fallen that far behind technological advances. Though now that I have said that, Murphy's law will prove me wrong.

@grislybutter Loved my old Hafler DH-200. It plugged on for nearly 40 years until the bad luck of water from the fire department took it out. Still sounded good after all that time. I remember adjusting the bias on it once during its long happy life. Other than that and occasionally replacing a fuse it was trouble free and built like a tank.  All audio gear should have that kind of longevity in a more perfect world.

@waytoomuchstuff  - Yeah I get that for sure. In today's rather insane terms, my favorite driver is a 4 cyl subaru wagon. Albeit one with everything except the engine upgraded. So it handles, stops and has much better response to control inputs than the stock car it came from. Is it fast? Well, not in todays terms at all 0-60 in about 8 seconds is not fast but on a backroad where I do close to half of my driving, its a great choice. Great on the highway, at least here in VA where there are a ton of 55 mph roads and Interstate speed limits dont exceed 70. Its also reckless driving for anything over 75 regardless of speed limit...so its fast enough, torquey enough and enough fun to be a good all rounder. The more capable exhaust system helps it breathe a bit better than stock and make nice noises but its nothing raucous, just healthy sounding. My other wagon is an automatic and its dog slow. the BRZ is the quickest of the bunch but I like the ergos in the stick shift wagon the best.