how much would you say a good set up cost

Around here we have a saying regarding water craft…. “A boat is a hole in the water in which, you throw money.”

I believe it appropriate enough to consider a parallel here, “An audio rig is a hole in the living room you throw money into.”

Yep. It’s all ego. Case in point… of the rigs listed here and the figures pointed too…. Are prime examples enough. How many gave their ‘paid for’ prices, or their “MSRP retail” prices?

I never kept a running total on the expenses I’ve made to attain the sound I wanted… in fact. My heart couldn’t stand it. At some point, I reassessed my goals and started getting OK with what was on hand, instead of chasing a myth. My myth being something akin to a point just past perfect.

I got so caught up in things that I was buying stuff I didn’t need, with money I DIDN’T HAVE, to IMPRESS PEOPLE I HADN’T EVEN MET YET!

On the whole, ROUGHLY SPEAKING, I’ve thrown $29K or so in what’s on hand now. Total. For everything in all 3 systems including projector, receiver, 120 inch screen, etc.

Not counting what I did to enclose my room and redecorate it… add another $8-10K there. I’ve a bit further on to go too. Perhaps a Remington, or a Monet.

Only my Sound Anchor amp & speaker stands plus my Oppo DVD player were paid for at MSRP. That were some of my best moves though, given price to performance. On some other’s I paid quite close to retail.

I spend more time listening to my $3K BR rig than I do my main one, by a long shot. I think I enjoy each about the same.

Loudspeaker size IS important… as was said. I found it quite interesting, and as well, very frustrating, picking out the most recent speakers that are living here now… rent free by the way! There must be thousands upon thousands literally. The herd gets culled very quickly when cost, esthetics and electronic temperament are examined more closely however.

My bucket still has a small hole in it and more duckets will be cast into it, albeit, not much more.

, then there’s one of my fav sayings, “If you’ve only one ear, stereos are half off.”

It is a heck of a lot more expensive to create a nice high end video system for the visually impaired. Maybe I should have thought about that a mite longer before it’s undertaking…. Guess I’m stil a bit short sighted. ;-))

System Price = ego

Stewie

The point of diminishing returns paints a very broad swatch and applies to speakers too.

As with any other piece of the puzzle in a system, speakers as well need careful consideration, not just a greater portion of the budget or overall costs. Speakers simply are important. No more so however than the rest of the rigs parts.

In fact it took me only a short time at a dealers showroom to discover one day not long ago, that it is definitely “What’s up front” that counts more so than mere speakers. I’m not dissin’ speakers here nor their significance, just pointing out they only reproduce a signal given to them. Give them a lesser quality signal, that’s what they will reproduce, they’ll not make it better.

Elite…
Your not preaching to the choir here, but to those folks on the right rear most back pew…. Those just there on the end of it… The other 98% of the congregation isn’t shelling out $100K for HT. I’ll guarantee you that. Obviously you’re too close to that small portion to see plainly the rest.

98% of the people I know have much greater incomes than do I. Some are well into the millions of $$$ too. Enormous homes, beautiful cars, nice people too, by and large. They’ll buy a 60 inch plasma, a receiver, disc player and tiny speakers…. Or just opt for a big plasma & Bose sound system.

Though they all have the means they do not have the bug. The inclination. The desire to drop lots of dough into a home theater. Of those that do, their other halfs won’t allow it.

Those item removes still more of those with the means, from getting involved. Desire. They would mostly as soon as drop a couple hundred on a round of golf, or lunch, rather than check out the latest DVD player.

What I found in dealing with the masses also is the issue of plug and play simplicity. Fewer and fewer make the cut when operational tasks of the rig are even superficially reviewed, as they’ll opt for ease over performance near every time.

But then you know all that of course…. Or you would have numerous locations and you’d be hiring as many installers as you could get your hands on.

BTW… each of them has been to my home and are summarily impressed with my own gear, until they hear of its costs. I’ve long since quit mentioning what I spend on things… especially what I pay for wires now and then, let alone the components themselves. It is funny though to see their expressions when I quote them the retail for one of my extension cords. Every time, it’s eyes widen, mouths open, and heads shake, followed by a moment of disbelief and temporary deafness, as usually they will ask me to repeat myself saying, “How much? For a cable?”

It’s like the robot from Lost In Space…. For them, “That does not compute!”.

Tusa
Good point (s).