Would you pay to listen?


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Just curious, would you pay to listen to a
$100k system? Say a one hour session for twenty bucks?

Assuming the room is great and you have vinyl and cd and your choice of solid state or tubes. Also assuming you'd have the best matched system that $100k could buy.

How much would you pay to hear a $200k system? No pressure or expectation to buy anything, just plunk down your twenty and enjoy the music. BYO drinks of course.

I'm sure I'd pay if there were such a place.
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128x128mitch4t

Showing 11 responses by mitch4t

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Amazing. I find it odd that thousands of audiophiles buy plane tickets and rent hotel rooms for several days to go to places like the Rocky Mountain AudioFest or CES to hear these type of systems. Lots of times in less than ideal listening conditions. I'm sure their total expenses exceed twenty bucks. But some of you won't pay $20 locally to see a killer system.

I live in Los Angeles. I drive a very nice car which satisfies all of my automotive needs. However, there are several places here that rent exotic cars and they do a pretty brisk business. Though I've never rented one, I'd love to take a Ferrari, Bentley or a Lamborghini out for a spin up the Pacific Coast. No, I can't afford to buy one, but I'd like to have the experience.

I allow local artists to do art shows in my loft in exchange for a piece of their original artwork. Over the years of doing this, I've managed to assemble a very beautiful collection of original paintings and scuptures that I'm very proud of. I've never paid for a piece of artwork in my life. However, five years ago when the Guggenheim brought their art show to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, I got on a plane and rented a room to see it. I got to see works of Van Gogh, Rubens, Picasso, Kandinski, Degas, Chagall and scores of other masterpieces by other great artists. Of course I'll never own any of those pieces, but I gladly paid money to go see them. When I got back home, I still apprciated my own collection and am still happy with it. I'm living proof that you don't have to pay millions to own beautiful art....but, I'll still pay money to go see works by the greats.

Of course you don't have to spend $100k to get great sound. My system doesn't even come close to that kind of dough and I enjoy it immensely.

Tom6897, this hypothetical room certainly would not be a 10 x 12 room, that would be ridiculous. In my original post, I said the room would be great. So, you could make the room any size you wanted, free of the noise and crowds of an audio show. I'd like to hear the Genesis 1.2 speaker system. I think it goes for about $180k. I'd like to hear it with the Audio Research Reference Anniversary preamp ($25k), triamped with Audio Research Reference 610T tube amps ($120k for three pair) with the ARC Reference Phono2 ($12k), ARC Reference CD8 ($10k) and the flagship VPI turntable fitted with a killer arm and flagship Koetsu cartridge. Of course all cabling and power cords would be of similar caliber for a system such as this. Sorry Tom6897 and Polk432, but I don't care who you know, no $25k system will come close to a system like the one above... and I'd pay money to hear it. I've seen several systems here on Audiogon that I'd pay money to hear.

Of course you don't have to spend $100k to get great sound. My system doesn't even come close to that kind of dough and I still enjoy it immensely.

Timrhu, for $3k your system makes you smile (I did the math). I'm not talking about a system to make you smile, we all have one of those. I'm talking about one that will make your jaw drop.

Soniqmike, I had to chuckle at your post....I have no interest for such a business venture. I don't have the dough to assemble the dream system that I'd pay to hear. Obviously judging from the posts above, I'd starve to death in such a business.

Gsself, you hit the nail on the head! I never pay money to go to movies, I'm content with my home theater. HOWEVER, when an action blockbuster comes out like The Dark Knight, Spiderman and Iron Man, I'm first in line at the IMAX to see it. No home theater can match that for pure size, scale and impact, and I gladly pay the dough every time. This whole post was to see if there was a comercial place with a killer two channel system where you could buy a ticket and listen to state of the art stuff in a killer room. I'd buy a ticket in a heartbeat.
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In addition to my dream system posted above, I'd pay to hear all of the following:

The Magnepan 20.1

The Infinity IRS V

All of the Apogees

The flagship Wilson speakers

The Krell Master Reference Monoblocs

The Carver Silver Seven tube monoblocs

The VTL Wotan monoblocs

Any high end reel-to-reel at 15 ips playing a master tape

The Velodyne DD 1812 subwoofer

The Krell Master Reference subwoofer
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Mrtennis, a dealer was never entered into the equation of this post and never was it implied. As a matter of fact I made sure to express that there would be no pressure or expectation to buy anything. The same as when someone goes to the theater to see a movie, there is no salesman standing nearby expecting you to buy a projector...same here.

The fact that shows like the Rocky Mtn AudioFest and CES exist, pretty much confirms there is a good sized contingent of audiophiles willing to travel and pay good money to see and hear very expensive audio.................and then again, some wouldn't pay a nickel to see either of those two shows.

In the words of the inimitable Sylvester Stewart "Diferent strokes for different folks....and so on and so on....".
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Wolfman, get a grip, you're losin' it man.

Take a tip from the previous post by Manoterror below:

lolÂ…where do you guys get the curmudgeon sized vat of starch for your underwear?

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Okay Wolf, you blew that one by me. I thought that you'd flipped out. Thanks for the offer of the ladder, but I suggest you hold onto your day job.....
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Mr. Tennis,

I'll be more specific. The place you go to hear the system would not be a dealer, just an establishment that sells listening time, similar to the kind of establishment that sells studio time to musicians. You go into a room with the dimensions of your choosing. Acoustically, the room has been professionally prepped to get optimum results. You pay one dollar per $10k of equipment that you want to listen to. That is, ten bucks if you want to hear $100k worth of gear, twenty bucks if you want to hear $200k worth of gear. You choose the mfg and models of any and all equipment that you want to hear. You are free to mix and match any gear of your choosing. The listening session would be private, or you could have guests if you choose to. Bring your own cd's, LP's, sacd's, open reel tapes or hard drives. Of course, none of the gear would be for sale. If you'd like to buy any of the equipment, you would have to contact the mfg and find a dealer on your own. No salesmen would be on the premises, just the trained tech to assemble the system that you've specified. If you think you are smarter than the tech, you are welcome to make suggestions or set up the system yourself.

The whole idea is to hear equipment that you'd probably never be able to afford to own. If I could afford to buy it, I'd just buy the damn thing. But, the system that I want to hear costs north of $400k. Unless I hit the Mega-Powerball lottery, I'll never be able to afford such a system, but I'd sure pay money to hear it.
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Now that I think about it, guys pay good money to get on a plane, rent a hotel room and buy food to go to CES or RMAF and other shows to see and heard hi-end systems. So, they ARE paying. Even if they drive to the event, with the high cost of gas, they ARE paying. Audiophiles go to these events in large numbers...and there IS a cost involved to get there.
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