Robelvick added two important categories- what my wife thinks I spent and what I could sell it for, with the former making me smile. All those cables, tweaks and power conditioners are pretty invisible. my retail is around $22k, having spent about $17k.
I also think a reasonable follow on (a question that I believe we all live with) is how much more would I have to spend to make a big jump? Not just a little improvement, but a big one. I am pretty happy where I am with my sound, and I suspect to make a big jump would cost me at least another $10k, probably more. At some point cost versus performance has to enter the discussion, no matter if your system is $5k, $25k or $100k. Just thinking out loud; don’t want to side track the discussion.
I also think a reasonable follow on (a question that I believe we all live with) is how much more would I have to spend to make a big jump? Not just a little improvement, but a big one. I am pretty happy where I am with my sound, and I suspect to make a big jump would cost me at least another $10k, probably more. At some point cost versus performance has to enter the discussion, no matter if your system is $5k, $25k or $100k. Just thinking out loud; don’t want to side track the discussion.