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

@mahgister 

👍 yes I believe we do.

You bring up a really good concept… about the unconscious brain. That is what we are supplying music to… the unconscious is the appreciator and it uses our conscious brain to do the analysis and work to allow us to enjoy the outcome of our pursuit of the high end. 

😊

When my wife's head hits the ceiling....that's my limit. ☹

I am not "poor" even in retirement...

But my wife control the supply money all my life because i dont have time or interest for money management and my only expanses were for books  and music...

When the day come to buy a 15,000 bucks dreamed system, she does not say no, but she does not say yes too...

i decided to go with an under 1000 bucks system vintage... I learned basic acoustic to fulffil my dreams , thanks to her management money skills, without her i would had as most people learn nothing and buy everything...

Now with my headphone system i even beat my speakers/acoustic room... Just in the bass department i go under 30 hertz... I am more than happy with my 600 bucks system...

For sure i dream about the ultimate upgrade  at 15,000 bucks who will give me not a system beating most audiophile average system but would be for the ratio S.Q./low price ( 15,000 bucks) one of the best in the world...because i know what i am doing now .... Thanks to my thrifty  wife...

 My very best to you...

When my wife's head hits the ceiling....that's my limit. ☹

@mahgister 

But my wife control the supply money all my life because i dont have time or interest for money management and my only expanses were for books  and music...

That's my situation too. As long as I can afford to buy what I want I have very little interest in money. From what I've seen in others, the chasing of wealth often seems to be a rather pernicious addiction that ultimately defeats it's original purpose.

In any case my wife will never stop me from buying something if I want it bad enough but she will ask to think about family priorities first.

And I do.

However, as time goes by and I see how fragile one's grip on life can be, I also recognise the folly of putting off one's wishes indefinitely.

I had been a fool all my life in audio matter ... But i learned that to be more than a passive consumers is the road to freedom and knowledge by acoustic basic  EXPERIMENTS and experimenting with  creative simple devices ( i never bought tweaks) ... This experiments i created for me  dont make me the one and only wise dude here...

My experiences too.

We're not the only only ones of course. Folks like YouTube reviewer Andrew Robinson have openly admitted that after owning loudspeakers that cost well in excess of $20k (Revel, B&W etc) he has managed to find the same level of quality at much lower prices, and with far less disturbance to his mental health.

It's no surprise therefore that he considers himself a recovering audiophile.