What is the current retail cost of your reference system?

30k,

half of that is the Devialet 250 EP, which replaced a complex Naim stack put together over many years.

The rest on speakers, 1 sub, CD player, cables and computer related audio gear...

+

Double that figure on music (first records) and then CDs, and now downloads, over 30+ yrs.

Having a conscious here is not about guilt, its about being mindful that most of us here live privileged lives. Keeping mindful of that tends to make one more humble, empathic and happy, one not always comparing themselves to those who have it better. 

Still, in general I'd say most audiophiles not into pissing contests, I'm also into cars and motorcycles, car enthusiasts boasting about HP is the worst, I see many absolutely destroying cars to get another 10-15hp, complete nitwits. At least a $10k cable doesn't destroy one's system.

My wife and I moved into our second house many years ago.  After two corporate moves we had done very well.  I was very proud of our beautiful 2800 sqft home in a beautiful neighborhood.  My parents came over for a visit and were appalled when they saw our new home.  They said no one needs a house this big.  I grew up in a small farm house with one wood and one gas stove for heat.  My parents drove older cars.  My dad had a good paying job.  It was their choice to live frugally and be self sufficient, as did most of their family- my grandparents, aunts and uncles.  None of them were poor but were hardworking and actually spent money on their hobbies.  Still, a car or an appliance was not discarded until there was no chance of reviving it.  I chose differently.  Still, my upbringing certainly tempered my choices with regards to luxury and ostentatiousness.  I could potentially sink twice what I have in my stereo system but for my internal limitations.  On the other hand, I celebrate what others have achieved in terms of sound quality with their ultra systems.  We all need the trickle down technology that starts with costs only the rich can afford.

And one other thing- good quality sound is much more affordable these days compared to the audio hobby of the 1960s.  I remember my dad bringing home a Philco 25” Color TV in 1968.  Cost for that TV today would be $6000.  Seeing Star Trek on that TV in 1968 was amazing.

Point is, why do we judge people for the amount of money they spend on their hobby?  If the kids are going hungry and without shoes then that is a different matter.

To the haters in this thread, it’s only a pissing contest if you make it one.  

+1 coppy777

“Interesting... a wide variance in equipment quality.  Yet so many strong opinions on items that affect SQ. …  How can we really share SQ experience on say, cables, with member owned systems from Sonos to $1M plus?  All good but just huge differences in resolving power.  And what important to each of us.”

we all take a different journey in gear which influence our perception and experiences on percentages invested in SQ.

For me it’s about the music and the hours of enjoyment. Although I’ll admit the more I spend, the more I listen

expensive systems are often over rated, as is the notion of how much money a person has, as if it makes you a better person if you have more of it

tremendous musical enjoyment can be had with fairly modest systems, with experience and skill applied in how they are put together... isn't that where all of us started? 

too often folks use money as a measuring stick... it’s quite shallow and unbecoming

@bigtwin

there is something unpleasant to sickening the way people write about their several times 100K systems in this thread. Like they have to show off, compensate for something, rushing to making the point that they are super rich. And it gets worse on their system pictures, showing the tackiest furniture, ugly kitchens (with 0 relevance to their system) and power amps more expensive than any car I ever bought. You can say how much it cost without being a creep

It's amusing to me how most every thread eventually comes down to opposing views.  Be it cables,  tube vs ss, streaming or owning physical, whatever, and here it's spending lots makes sence or is a waste if not immoral.  Have I spent lots?  Yup.  Do I feel bad? Nope.  There have been many times I have agonized over a purchase.  My wife tells me "look, you worked hard all your life and you saved enough.  You don't spend a lot on yourself and music is a lifelong passion.  You're already helping all the kids and you can't take it with you,  so if you want it,  then buy it".  So as long as this hobby isn't hurting anyone or preventing you from meeting all your other pursuits and obligations, then knock youself out and who cares what anyone else thinks.  This ain't no dress rehearsal people so live it to the fullest. 

Lol well I have ten thousand  in my bathroom  system.  And I have five other systems  that are much more monet than that. Lol. 

@jrosemd +1 "... spending too much money..."  

@grislybutter +1 "... about 6k...." and  "of course it is - it is one of the most selfish way to spend money and time.  This post proves it. It is a self-serving, genitals comparing thread with pretty much 0 purpose. Who cares?"

... But, I suppose if one has all one's legacy concerns in order, family taken care of, house and car paid off, investments diversified and adequate to provide future-indefinite security, and so on, well... then whatever, I guess... indulge away, I suppose.    

Some people equate good life with bling.  I feel sad for such people. 

An oncologist friend of mine has a spouse who believes that spending more and more money on shiny stuff will somehow bring happiness, finally happiness.  They are now in the process of divorce.  

And btw, a stereo system isn't really a legacy... and this truth really came home to me as I was making out the spillover will segment of my trust document: nobody that I know cares enough about my stereo system to even make it worthwhile to include in the will. Think about that.  To them it would be more of a burden than a blessing. Same is true about my collectible books. So, I'll just lump it in with all my personal possessions and instruct my executor to sell it all and give the money to my preferred environmental charitable organization.  

Interestingly, my musician friends think my $600 speakers and $600 amp plus a used cd player sounds excellent, as does everybody else who hears it, and I agree... it's in the public area of the house, and I entertain about 20 diverse people from a wide range of walks of life and income levels several times per month. The sound quality actually turns heads, and people offer unsolicited comments and become curious about it.  A couple people have asked about its cost; they are surprised that one can put together a system that sounds so good for so little money, if one knows what one's doing... they had fallen under the spell of thinking you have to spend many thousands to get a satisfying stereo system, either under the influence of marketing or prideful "audiophile" acquaintances, and they are so relieved to learn the truth: money spent does not equal practical enjoyment of music.  

I must admit I have a pair of Heresy IV speakers and a Marantz Ruby amp and cd player in my private suite, and I must admit I like it very much; bought every piece as "open box" deals by waiting patiently and then pouncing.  Other people who hear it like it too, and think it's nice... but nobody so far has cared about it enough to ask what I paid for it, except on this forum.

A pointless question!....

Take for example my 30yr old B&W Matrix801's. Retail in 1990 they were $3500.  I bought them used in 1998 for $2200.  What does that mean in today's dollars? Who knows. I'd compare them with any speaker available today in the $3-6k range.

Same goes for my 20 year old Bryston amp.  Today's Bryson's are twice the price as mine. Over my 35 years in this "hobby?", I'd say my purchases between new & used have been about 50/50.  Now there's a worthwhile question to pose to the group. What's you percentage between New & Used gear? 

Main system exceeds 6 digits, sounds extravagant? It is only 25% of what my last divorce cost.

@bigtwin 

Your system is top drawer. I’ll bet it sounds amazing ! 

The retail price of my system (Conditioner + Streamer + DAC + Integrated Amplifier + Speakers) would be about $8,500. Current cabling is an additional $850. 

I think the only value in knowing how much others have invested in their systems is to better understand their perspective when it comes things they recommend. A budget component is very different for me compared to someone that has $18,000 or $180,000 in their systems.  Sometimes I think well meaning advice is given on this forum that simply miss the mark for the person asking because they are thinking about totally different price points. 

@surfcat 

+1

@ronboco That's some sweet looking equipment on the Dagostino web page.  Makes my poor old Hegel H30s look downright plain. 🤣

@bigtwin 

It looks like @jlchen has Dagostino mono blocks

this post went insane fast

@jlchen I don't feel so bad now.  Would be interested to know what equipment you are listening too.  Any chance you will list a virtual system with some pictures?  The amp $$$ is huge.  More than one amp(s) in your system?

Illuminating answers, especially regarding cost percentages. 

I wouldn’t have guessed speakers would so often cost that much less than the other components.

Retail on my system is a guesstimate $35-$45K but I paid less, a lot less.

Why couldn’t the OP look at our individual, listed systems and do the math himself?

The useful info for me would be what was actually paid vs retail cost..….no one here would lowball now, would they?

I'm not sure what everyone is getting out of this.  It turned out to be a good exercise for me because breaking it down into percentages (for the first time) let me see what my distribution of spending is.  While it is true that price does not exactly correlate to quality, if we're going to be honest we'll admit that there is a relationship.  Someone can't charge a lot for a mediocre product, at least not for long, and when someone puts in the engineering work to create a great product, like any other business, they want to see as much return as they can.  I'm sure there are exceptions to both categories, but by and large it holds true.  Looking at my distribution I'd have to say I either got a real deal on my amp, Hegel H390, or it may be the next thing to consider.  It's also interesting to see that my second highest system investment has been in cables.  Thanks, @JPWarren58 for posting the question.

Interesting... a wide variance in equipment quality.  Yet so many strong opinions on items that affect SQ.  While my stuff is more at the high end of these estimates, I'm a chump at the local dealer who sells $250K and up... Magico, etc.  How can we really share SQ experience on say, cables, with member owned systems from Sonos to $1M plus?  All good but just huge differences in resolving power.  And what important to each of us.

29% -- Speakers

5% -- Subs

10% -- CD

13% -- DAC

11% -- AMP

4% -- Vibration Isolation

13% -- Power conditioning/distribution

1% -- Router

14% -- Cables

Retail around 50k

Out of pocket around 30K

I have a 50k boat but most of my friends have 150-250K boats. They look at my speaker cables and think I am nuts. I see them working their ass off on their boat and think their crazy. 

Everybody spends their money a little different. I do not mind spending 150-200 on a bottle of Tequila . Some folks think that is excessive. If you dont make yourself happy nobody else will. 

I’ll play.  I’m retiring early so this is probably my end game.  I started this system two years ago.  

BnW 802D4 26k

shitty HT amp (upgrading as soon as stock market rebounds to Moon 860Av2) 20k

Cambridge CXN streamer 1.3 k

HT subs 4k (plan to upgrade to 10k)

x-over (JL audio) 3k

power con 1k

cables 1k

Acoustic Curtains/DIY Panels 1.5k

64k Total.  Wow. I could have bought a Tesla.  

About half of what my car collection is worth.

"What is the current retail cost of your reference system?"

Reference system = only system.

Retail cost would be around $30K, but my actual cost was much less.

The only components I bought new are my dac and ethernet switch. I look at it the same as buying golf putters. There are so many people that try to buy their way out of problems, instead of looking to where the real problems lie.

Too much, but not enough.

hysteve,

My history tracks somewhat the same as yours

both in the original and the new. Funny how these things work

sometimes.

The more interesting thing is comparing where people did and did not allocate money. Few mentioned the room. Everyone must have at least some absorbing panels. Many have dedicated power lines. Those are audiophile costs.

If you have $10k or more in a system and nothing in the room you have erred.

Nobody is counting the offset costs. What are those? You spend $5k on some audio item and that means the spouse spends $5k on something they want. Now that can jump things up in a hurry.

Music acquisition. About $27/month for Roon + Qobuz.  I do not have vinyl.

so not buying any pricey LPs. 

What other hidden costs of audio?  Travel to shows.  Extra ear exams? 

Custom ear protection?  Better car system?  Office system?

What's your time worth? Watching youtubes, reading reviews, tweaking a system?

Zoom meetings. 

I think I will quit now.

I have read this thread and thought carefully about my answer. 

Here it is. Not Enough. I do buy the occasional lottery ticket. 

yeah, in fewer words, what @sns said

@dadork was there an argument in there?

I started from scratch two years ago because the system that I bought 45 years ago was stolen within the first year after I bought it. Raising a family and mortgage payments and everything else I didn’t bother to try again until two years ago. With the intent of spending about $10,000 for a modest system, $40,000 later I am almost done! I am expecting their best audio sensibility speaker cables later today. I spent three times what my 1977 system cost on cables alone, including power cables and interconnects. That early system consisted of a pioneer amplifier/receiver, and Bose 901 series 2 speakers and a modest TT. It sounded pretty darn good then, but my ears were 45 years younger. So the answer to your question is, you can spend as much money as you want to spend on a stereo system, depending on your tolerance for spending and what you are trying to accomplish. You can do digital or analog for much less the trying to do both in hq. With so many improvements in materials and technology I’m sure pretty sure that today you can put a pretty darn good system together for $10,000 for a modest size room. Wish now I had stuck to my original budget and bought an “all-in-one” unit and hq book shelf speakers. However it does sound good to my ears. Weak link may be the speakers. If the new cables don’t blow me away, I may sell speakers and upgrade. My system:

Pass Int 60 - 9k

Innuos Zenith MK3 - 6k

Innuous Phoenix USB - 3.5k

Ayre QB 9 twenty - 3k

VPI Classic with Transfiguration Axia - 6k

Parasound JC 3+ - 3k

Volti Razz - 6k

Furman - 1k

Speaker cables and interconnects - 6k

Good luck in your quest!

About 150 % of what i paid, all used mostly for 1/2 price except for the CDP

@dweller This is true, but the vast, vast majority of my vinyl was purchased when a typical album sold for between $3-$10, and many were gifted by people leaving vinyl behind.

Why is no one including the cost of their hard copy music? Probably equal to the price of my equipment. 

Retail for the main system $50.5K, and for the office & patio systems combined $4.1k.  However, I would never pay retail, this hobby way too expensive, far too fast, especially for those touched with OCD.  Most of my components were purchased from dealers, pre-owned as trade-in's, some from audiogon and USaudiomart, and some new. As described by @ghdprentice in other threads, I purchased components of similar quality after alot of research, trial and exchange. This way I was able to achieve a system with relatively good synergy. Only item lacking at the moment are my speakers which are due for an upgrade.  

@sns I completely agree with your thoughts and am in (nearly) the same boat.

I also tend to think that while any of us spend tens of thousands we are also employing many many people.  And paying taxes.

The thing that sort of freaks me out and is way more "obscene conspicuous consumption" is the level of cars/suvs/trucks people buy in my area. 

I could go on but it would only serve to prove nothing...its just an opinion.

Regards,

barts

I quit estimating value when I reached $100k, my conscious can bother with this obscene level of conspicuous consumption. And the level of OCD to put it all together, bizarro world!

And then we can approach this from another angle, one can spend $100k plus on a single component. At what level of spending do we enter realm of obscene conspicuous consumption? I'm sure this doesn't even occur to many, just that I know and have known many hard working people struggling to maintain roof over their heads and food on the table.

I am around $80,000 plus about $4,500 for cables. I spent $3,000 for the components to build my rack system and media cabinets myself.

Pretty bare bones.  Just a TT,  phono-pre, CD player, preamp, power amp(s), and speakers.  Most except the speakers and cables were picked up used.

As requested, retail replacement.

All in, right around $15k

The dedicated 20A circuits and room treatment are not included.

Seeing as I built my turntable, my speakers and my power amp, I have no idea what an equivalent commercially built set up would cost. My tuner, CD player, DAC and phono stage were all purchased in the 90’s. 
 

So for the performance I have, and the enjoyment I get from it, my out of pocket, was comparatively low.

Not trying to start a Cold War of spending . Or any sort of comparison contest. 

Some come here to upgrade or improve their sound so wouldn't it be helpful to understand the costs associated? A silver cable will not improve the sound of a $500 receiver, in fact it may hurt the sound. It is obvious to those immersed in it for years, not so much new folks testing the waters. 

Welcome to Audiogon. The average price to replace the main listening systems of our members is $30000? Just thought you would like to know.  

I think this is probably just a curiosity question and I am always curious about peoples systems cost too so I’ll play along.

speakers- 40.5k 

integrated amp - 15,750

streamer/ 600.00

LPS- 500.00

cables- 3k

Nordost Qb8- 1850.00

rack- 1600.00

room- 15k

listening chair - 3500.00

Current system +50k (pricing of older items as they were back then), like speakers, tuner, preamp, phono, power amp,  SACD, cables 10k, power strip - wall outlets and racks +7k. We have to accept that audio gear is not for money investment, there are some rare exceptions though, but only for pleasure feeding the soul and avoid visiting the psychiatrist. Does value represent sound quality, that is a difficult question and most likely with not a definite answer. Yesterday i was very lucky to audition a really good system comprising a Lavardin ISX integrated amplifier, Blumenhofer Tempesta 20 speakers and Norma CD player. Total retail cost 15k euros, musical pleasure way much higher than that.

@dadork 

Well said. I don’t think I can add anything to that.

Better to spend $$$ on physical media than go overboard on gear! That way future generations will have something to listen to when all the streaming platforms go bust!

Much of my system is vintage and couldn't be purchased retail today so I converted into today's dollars which comes out to around $50k. However, my cost was closer to $32k.

Speakers - Altec Lansing Model 19 Mint (1978) - $5250 in today's dollars

Subs - REL 212/SE Pair - $8400

Amps - Quad II 60th anniversary Mono Blocks (1997) - $20,000 in today's dollars, 

Turntable - VPI Classic w/ Soundsmith Zepher (2011) - $4,000

DAC Mytec Brooklyn + - $2,250 

CD Transport - $500

Streamer  - $400

Phono Preamp- Puffin - $700

Passive Preamp - $500

Cables - $2500

Power Conditioner - $1750

Equipment Stand - $2200

Headphones - $1500

+ I have almost 10K in Decware amps on order but there is a two year waiting list.

All AUD current RRP, except t/t, all up $98k

T/T $12k
Phono pre $2.5k
Streamer $9k
DAC $18.5k
Preamp $13.5k
Poweramps $25k
Speakers $14k 
Cables ~$3k

"A point of reference."

My knowledge of local traffic in rush hour can STILL let me not only pass you and your 911S with my 'beater' Focus Ford, leaving you tied up behind the 'muters that, despite your exceptional vehicle, leaving you tied up and fumed....

Bang for the buck.

Does anything else matter?  I suppose, but that becomes a personal issue that one can spend endless amounts of $ v. therapy upon....mho, discountable as per usual.

Spend what you must....I'll watch/read.....

...and wait.

*Posted under 'some influence'*