Quintessence Audio had a room where they had many pieces of equipment displayed but they were using an Aurender A10 directly into a SimAudio Moon amplifier (might have been an integrated amplifier) into the small Wilson speakers. Seems to me that the entire system with cables was well under $50K (perhaps, less than $40K... I don't know what power treatment and cables cost) and it sounded really, really great. Yes, the more elaborate and expensive systems were better but it showed that ultra high end performance could be achieved without a 6 figure budget. I would never have known without asking that they weren't using the high end SimAudio Moon DAC and preamp with the 860 amp also being displayed which would have probably exceeded $75K.
My first visit to AXPONA
I took the 2 hour drive from Milwaukee today to check AXPONA out. What an overwhelming experience. I posted a couple weeks ago about my system that I love but after being on this forum for a while I was wondering what I'm missing. This was my first chance to hear some really elaborate and expensive set-ups. After a 2 hour drive home and analyzing what I heard, I decided to give a hug to my system. My Infinity Kappa 8's and the rest of my $8000.00 system will work for me. Don't take this wrong, I would love to upgrade but with my financial situation I will live and enjoy what I have. If by chance I win some lottery some day I know where $100,000.00 would go.