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Law Of Diminishing Returns?

I'm curious about what you enthusiasts think of the product or price that eclipses your definition of "value".  

As an example I have a rich buddy that just spent 100K upgrading his (former) Pass 600s / Bryston / B&W Signature 800s / JL Fathom 8 speaker  system. I have a discerning ear and cannot hear the difference between the old system and his new S5M Perlistons (4) , Anthem AVN90, ,ATI amp AT6005 (4) and four subs.

This got me to thinking- 80% more money for maybe 20% more sound quality? 

Where is the sweet spot for the discerning ear and the affluent but not Billionaire (think Doctor/Lawyer/Indian Chief) budget?  Can you get 80% HiFi sound for 20K or do you need to spend 100K to get that HiFi sound?

-Asking for a friend :)

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Showing 1 response by jaytor

jaytor's avatar
jaytor
747 posts
 

My opinion - you need to spend $8K-$10K retail (maybe half that with smart used purchases) to get a decent sounding system.

Twice that can achieve an excellent sounding system in a decent room, but still with some compromises. 

I wouldn't go so far as to say this is 80% of the best available though. A high end system ($50K+ IMO) that is set up well in a good (well treated) room can sound very compelling and systems > $200K even more so. 

This all assumes spending the money wisely. It's easy to spend a lot of money and get mediocre sound.

There are obviously diminishing returns though. The step from $10K to $20K is more significant than the step from $20K to $40K, which again is more (probably much more) significant than the step to $80K. 

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