??? Where Does "High End" Start ???

it’s amazing, and a little bit sad, how the relative amount of financial resources expended on a hi-fi system is such a point of division. Everyone has their own budget representing what they are willing and able to spend on a system. If someone is able to use that budget to get something that is satisfying, well, they are in the winners circle. I’m also amazed that there are people who claim to know what motivates folks who they don’t know, can’t name, and will never meet to make certain buying decisions. I don’t know what is in someone’s mind when they buy hi-fi gear unless they tell us. I assume, and maybe it’s an incorrect assumption, that whether someone spends $5000. or $250,000 on a set of speakers, for example, they do so because with the information they have, they believe it will provide a satisfying listening experience in the room they have set up for a price they are willing to pay. How could you assume that someone you don’t know made that decision out of ignorance or arrogance? Lots of long distance Mind readers in the audiophile community. No reason to fixate on how other people spend their money. Take care of your own. 
 

You might say there are two ways to be an audiophile.

One is to study, learn, listen, search, find.

The other is to spend a lot of money.

Some folks do both.

Which one do you want to be?

I kinda wish people stopped talking about money all the time. The tenor of this pursuit should never be money.

You will notice that accomplished audiophiles rarely, if ever, mention money.

You might say there are two ways to be an audiophile.

One is to study, learn, listen, search, find.

The other is to spend a lot of money.

Some folks do both.

Which one do you want to be?

I kinda wish people stopped talking about money all the time. The tenor of this pursuit should never be money.

You will notice that accomplished audiophiles rarely, if ever, mention money.

 

Exactly right!

And we do not take the cost of a system as a meter of our acoustical satisfaction nor as a meter of a system acoustical value..

All is in the way we optimize it...

For sure my low cost amplifier even well optimized will not beat a very costlier well done designed and well optimized system...(if the costlier system is not well optimized it may be another story though)

I must specify this because some people taking me for an idiot think that i put my low cost system on the same level as all the costlier beautiful system i had seen here in the virtual pages...

my point is: any system must be optimized nervermind his price...

With my low cost one i reach the level of "the minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold"... It is enough for me , my needs and my budget...

Give me money i will optimize any chosen system at any price...

Then i will reach "the maximal acoustical satisfaction threshold"

But in the money you will gave me add the cost of a perfectly well designed acoustical dedicated room, i will not install a 200,000 bucks system in a room made of resonators made of plumber plastic etc (mine was homemade at peanuts costs)

@whart wrote:

In that era, which I lived through, it was probably easier to distinguish: it was not a receiver, plastic-y turntable and a set of bookshelf speakers (although some acquitted themselves well). Instead, it was separates- preamp/basic amp, table with the ability to mount a separate arm (not an essential defining characteristic but still) and some form of speaker system that purported to do something beyond the norm: Stats plus woofers and super tweets, the Infinity series, various combinations (that included using Maggie bass panels), bi or tri-amping with active crossovers, the use of more rarified cartridges, etc. 

That’s just it: speaker systems that purported to do something beyond the norm. This was about large, subs- and tweeter augmented true full-range (often panel) speaker systems when outboard active configuration was actually thought of as an approach to expand on the passive speaker potential, and not as a subject inviting endless debate over passive vs. active. I don’t see how this has been carried over into the present day mentality and realm of "high-end" speakers in any way effective, except for a select range of over-luxuriated statement systems that tend to come off as oddities at ludicrous, out-of-reach price levels. Now high-end has its share of being a faux, pretentious endeavor more about pricing, identity, status and entitlement than an open-minded exploration in pursuit of raw performance; a regurgitation of what’s basically the same low efficiency concept in different clothing, "cultivated" ad nauseum (at progressively higher prices) and from a physical package that’s always less than it could be. 

Price can be a factor, yes, but as I like to quip: until it isn’t. What I mean by that is that at some point one needs realize how a given package and design approach can only be improved so much with expenditure alone. Maybe it’s time to change the perspective and take a different approach: what’re the true bottlenecks of this system, and how can I lessen their influence in a broader, more explorative sense? True high-end mentality, from my chair, is taking that into consideration and seeing the bigger picture, the forest the trees, and then further improve from that, or these coming outsets. Price alone has become too much of factor as a validation means, indeed speaking of progressive pricing as that which defines "high-end" carries nothing of importance to actually elucidate what it’s about. 

It’s all a matter of perspective.  Everyone’s ears are different and the way a system sounds for your taste is what matters. In this forum, you might run into a bit of snobbery because of cost. Cost may have much to do with quality components, but may not be the sound for everyone. 

I have heard a system of $5,000 run all over $70,000 of stereo equipment. Why?  Not sure, the speaker phasing might have been wrong. The components connected to each other may have had an Impedance mis- match?  The room also was not good. The 50k speakers may have not been broken in?  Who knows, but I heard it. 

I am very sure, if all components are matched that in most cases price can matter. But how good is good before the next 5 to 10 thousand dollars makes.... how much difference?  You can have a great sounding system for around 5k that will take much more dollars to beat. Again, it depends on your taste in music, sound, what you like to hear. Price might not matter so much. Its an opinion for the individual .