$44K for 2 channel. Another $16K for home theater. Only $3K in debt at the moment, so I consider myself a model of self restraint. My wife, however, does not.
Hi Ahendler, What did you have in your $100k system? How about now for 1/10th the price? It is very interesting to think about because ten years ago for $100k you could end up with some really kick-ass speakers like Watt/Puppies, and some serious amplification, and a killer front end turntable setup.
$50k for Cd / Dac/ Pre / Power / Speakers and Sub - I cant afford to even think about HT ! -- I take it there is a Lock Out System on this site to stop Wives / Partners coming on Audiogon and seeing these figures ! LOL.
Money should be no object if perusing the real, live music here. I have listened to systems costing well over $300,000 and it just doesn't last for more than 30 minutes. My ears would bleed. The ego of the owner would be sky-high because he, definitely is a he, would love and adore his systems because all the components are "Stereophile" endorsed and definitely be "Class A" How stupid can that be? Those people are cows and they like to be leaded by a ring in their nose. Just cannot stand by with those "money bleeding" snake oil scam.
Arrogant does required knowledge and insight to make it elegant. However, ignorance does not need anything; just plain stupidity. How many of the people would take a straight answer from first, a salesman (any salesman, be they the car, stocks, real estate, etc.), second, the lawyers (they are just interested in prolonging the bleeding and last, the so-called "stereophile guru" (they want only big advertising dollars). A simple LP playing system with a Linn LP12, AudioNote integrated and some efficient bookshelves would just be enough. I had tried numerous CD (YBA, Sony scd-1, Mcintosh, Esoteric, etc), DAC (Meridian, Audio research, Esoteric, Mcintosh, etc), preamplifers (YBA pre 1, McIntosh C2200, Audio research Reference 2, Conrad Johnson ACT, etc.) and power amplifier ( Pass, XA60, X250, YBA 1 & 2, McIntosh MC2301, MC250, etc) All the above are excellent gear, yet, the only one sounds natural, real and good to my own ears are the following combination. Tentlabs CD player, VAC preamplifier (upgraded capacitors: Mundorf Gold/Silver/Oil), Sonic Frontiers Power 3, AudioNote SET, Maggie 3.6 This combination compares to systems costing over $200,000 (Mcintosh, Sonus Fraber, Wilson Puppy, Audio research, etc) ; it just sound much better. I compare all the system to real, live music, and if your ears tell you to continue to listen; that is a good system.
I understand your position and somewhat agree, especially with the part about some very expensive systems could possibly cause ear bleed. However, the same can be said of systems at all price levels.
Audio from entry level to the most costly can sound extremely good or extremely bad, depending on components, matching and most of all, the room.
Nrchy was possibly upset with your sweeping statement. The way it was posted one could conclude that you think everyone with an expensive system is an ego freak and cannot determine between good and bad sound. That obviously is not true.
I will agree that in some cases a lot of money is spent and the results could have been had at a fraction the cost. I can also say that I've heard some absolutely amazing high end (expensive) systems that achieved levels of performance that are not possible with lesser components.
My experience may change with time, perhaps I've just not heard the exception to the rule, but I've heard a heck of a lot of systems.
Lemme see... $2000 for PSB Stratus Gold. $700 for Carver Amp. $600 for Yamaha CD player. $150 for Pioneer PL-6 turntable? $100 for Shure cartridge? $150 for wiring/interconnects. $3700?
Paid $600 for the PSB, $175 for the Carver, $150 for the CD player, $30 for the wiring. $25 for the turntable, $40 for the cartridge. $1020 all-in for the two channel only.
$20,725.00. Never really thought about it. 2 channel stereo only.Increasing slowly but with great fun. Like they say "its about the music" not the equipment. The music sounds better on better equipment.Long live 2 channel/vinyl audiophiles.
I have Bryston equipment and 804 B&W Nautilus speakers. The speakers were about $3000 eight years ago, the 4B amp was 4,000 new, preamp was 2500 used, and CD player was 2500 new. I have used Acoustic Zen cables: Double Barrel speaker cables were 800 and the Silver II interconnects were 400 each for 2 sets. The total is about $13,500.
IÂ’m happy with the set-up; however, I would like to upgrade to B&W 803 Diamonds but donÂ’t have the funds at this time.
Roughly 20K on HT and audio setup. this is the price of the current setup, not taking into account the various buying and selling. CDs and DVDs are not included.
About $15K or $30K if you include the offsetting jewelry purchases my wife decided were required with every purchase of audio gear. This came up as a point of discussion after I bought my second piece of gear about 10 years ago. What the hell, it's cheaper than a divorce!
My wife loves my system and encourages me to purchase upgrades whenever I please. (with the offsetting jewelry of course)
Right around the $25k mark for my 2 channel but will probably break the thirty mark when I settle on an amplifier.
It has taken me a while to get here, but I think I'm nearing completion on this rig. When I have a larger place I'd love to build a second system though focused around bang for the buck equipment.
McCormack DNA 1 deluxe amp-$950 used NAD T773-Surround receiver-$500 used Sony DN900SV sacd/dvd/cd player-$150 used Oppo 983 sacd/dvd/dvd-a player- $150 used PSB Stratus Goldis-$500 used PSB Stratus Minis-$300 used PSB Stratus 5ci-$150 used Various cables-$150 used/new
Based on MSRP...about 80K (not including all the tweaks,etc.)
Frankly i've never equated the price of a piece with its sound quality. I go with what sounds good in my room and for my tastes. If it happens to be expensive,(one mans expensive..is another mans economical), I'll try to get it as long as my bills and mortgage are paid.
20-30K. I included a price range because I've never seen the MSRP of SX-1 monitor's individually listed. They were originally sold with FX-1 cathedral organs.
Whelp puppies I have been sent into exile my "big rig" with $7K speakers and $ 5K amps total about 20 grand is in my one time home. I will be reunited with iot but not sure when? Current rig about $1600-1800 total mostly vintage except speakers. My collection of just 5751s easily eclipses that value if taken at "retail" which for tubes isn't all that easy to pin down. I own quite a few, even here, couldn't pass up a good buy on a quad of NOS Sylvania triple mica blackplates.
$4,000 for the 2.1, but thanks to some older parts and craigslist, the total expenditure was between $600 and $700. Of course, I'm at the first round of a two-channel system, and both the retail and out-of-pocket costs are expected to grow soon, based--in part--on the help from this community.
About twice what I paid. The only two items I paid retail for are preamp and one sub (first of two). The preamp is a steal at retail, so no regrets there. My second sub (same model as my first) was less than half retail from same manufacturer so when I consider outstanding quality for both and combined price, again, no regrets. I am a lucky dog!
Retail is appox $35K but due to the fact that I usually buy Demo models or get really good deals from dealers (i never have paid full retail even for brand new gear) I actually have paid only $15k.
What is hard for me is that it's totally addicting and I just want to keep upgrading. Shoot, I usually buy something already knowing what the next upgrade will be. Since I started this craziness 8 months ago, I'm on my third amp, fifth pair of speakers, second c.d. player, fourth pair of speaker wires, third pair of interconnects in addition to a dac, and a pre amp.
I used to say video games are digital crack. I take that back now and would say video games are like digital weed and stereo equipment is more akin to digital crack. I'm looking in to an inpatient rehab, just I upgrade a few more things.
Two channel system for around $40k. This does not count music. I have somewhere around 4k to 5k albums and 3k or so CDs. Some of the albums are over 40 years old So a lot of us remember what they used to cost back in the day. But you know what? It's worth every penny!
Six hundred thousand, keeping an honest count on mistakes made and either sold at a loss or they still occupy a shoe-box somewhere. (Count the price of those tubes you never want to hear again).
I could build it for about $30,000 without the mistakes and divorce attorneys fees.
About 2,900 I downgraded my system by replacing a sota nova with a philips ga-212/ma-2002e and am very happy with no plans for further change. (nad 4020 tuner, arc sp9-ii, quicksilver kt88s, Vandy 2ci spkrs)... very budget, but I feel, huge 'bang for the buck'.
Geez, this thread has been around forever, and my post from 2002 of $23,000 is just about half of what it is today, $45,133 more or less.
Many of the same components from then are still in place, but some have been modified at a cost, substantially upgraded, or replaced altogether. Also, inflation has made all the still-available stuff a LOT more expensive, especially cables -- which is about all I own that IS still in production today! (plus my headphones and some accessories; speakers and tuner just recently discontinued)
Go to my virtual system page (about the only thing I keep up to date here, for my own records) and see how that $44,133 is divvied up.
This is *retail* price: the MSRP of the components today or when last available. Thanks to audiogon and keeping some older (and therefore less-expensive) units, my *actual* price paid over the years is substantially less.
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