Is there a ceiling limit on what you are willing to pay for an audio component?

In the late 1980s I came across some audiophiles at work that were into modifying vintage gear for good sound.  I cashed out my Yamaha gear and got an ARC SP-6b preamp which I then had upgraded with new wiring, resistors, volume pot and gold RCA plugs.  That lead to mods for my turntable, amp and speakers.  I built a dedicated listening room with dedicated power and enjoyed my music.  Sound per dollar was the goal in our little audio group.

Then one day in the late 1990s my designer at work invited me over to his place to hear his system.  He had worked for years in a hifi shop.  Hearing his system was a revelation for me.  After several hours he had to almost pick me up and push me out the door.  His system, I remember it like yesterday was Wilson Watt/Puppy 6, Mark Levinson Amps, preamp and CD Player with MIT cabling throughout and a Carbon Fiber audio shelf.  That’s the day sound per dollar went out the window for me.  After years of longing I have achieved sonic bliss- for now…

Perfection is an asymptotic function.  Hifi is a good example of that.  It seems like cost doubles to get a noticeable improvement in sound- with a few exceptions .  It’s  always a choice between living without better sound or without money. 

Some years back I recall Jewelry Stores pushing the line that you should spend three months salary on a wedding ring for your wife.  Well, I suggest that a stereo system should cost one year’s salary- if you really want to call yourself an audiophile…

(Of course I would never spend that much.  That’s nuts.)

That is certainly not a good idea.  Most of us have to get a mortgage for a home that is 2.5 times our salaries.  And then spend decades paying that.

It is mostly a hobby for well off old men and devoted struggling young men.  Always has been.  Prices for high end gear from the 1950s to now has always been in the unaffordable range for most.

As for me I’m hopeless.  I got the bug in college and found ways to satisfy my lust for audio as best I could.  I lived in Europe for 2.5 years with a Sony receiver and some B&W speakers that I bought in a shop in Stuttgart.  The Hifi was packed away back home.  I was in shear bliss when I got back to the US and got my hifi up and running again.  Absence did make the heart grow fonder.