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Moderately priced audio

So I have been a audiophile for 40 years and in that time I have seen and owned a huge amount of equipment. Lately I have been reading Sterephile magazine and attended the last 2 years of Axpona. My question is what about the people that love the craft and get tremendous joy out of their audio systems that are in the $2-5K price range. Are they to be ignored? I know this hobby holds a lot of enthusiasm by people that have great sounding systems of new and vintage gear that they are proud of and enjoy listening to. While I appreciate the sound and the technology of the systems that cost more than a house I think there is a slice of enthusiast that are silent. Back in the 70s I worked at a stereo store that your average person came in and spent $600-$1000 and got a good sounding system. And we sold a lot of them. Seems a lot less interest today. Could it be the price of what you see in magazines and shows? I am curious to see if you people are out there that love the music and get great joy out of listening to your moderately priced audio equipment. Feel free to share what you have. I know you are out there. 
schmitty1
motown-l
173 posts
 
My main 2 channel system set me back about $3500. It took many years of swapping, selling, buying and research to get to this point. I love to listen to music and generally play around with my audio "stuff", but, I think I have maxed out the budget on the major components. The reason I think I have reached that point is less about expendable income and more about the physical limitations of my listening area, my choice of sources and my 63 year old semi-damaged hearing. Considering I generally stream music that is played back in varying bit rates of MP3, serious equipment upgrades are not really warranted for my needs.  Some years ago I did invest in a new, but discontinued Arcam DAC for $200, to connect to the digital out of my so-so stearmer. That made the biggest difference in sound for my usual source material.
mesch
3,411 posts
 
One possible issue with the stereophile survey data is that it is likely that those readers having lower cost systems were less likely to respond. Would be nice to know the distribution of the data. 

I have had a subscription to Stereophile and TAS for many years while owning a $2000 system. One one I owned for 25 years with only 1 change in speakers. One I was proud of and many who listened to it were impressed. I did not respond to the survey, mostly due to lack of interest. Now I am retired, my kids are out of college debt free, and my 2nd system would retail at $2000. 
dwhess's avatar
dwhess
72 posts
 
I took a recent interest again in improving my stereo system.  I found it all a bit confusing so I decided to keep it simple and not too expensive for now. My good friend confessed to me that over the years he probably spent $50k buying, selling, trading, upgrading, etc. and added that if he could start over again he could build an equal system for about $10K.  That caused me to slow down and try to learn more before jumping in too deep. So, I purchased a Yamaha N803 receiver and a Yamaha CD player. I still have my old Sansui SR-525 turntable and the Vandersteen speakers I purchased years ago from my good friend for $400. I upgraded my speaker wire and bought a better power conditioner. I'm right around $2K all in and I'm reasonably happy with the sound. I'm sure I'll upgrade at some point but I'm ok for now. Although that little MAC MA252 has been calling my name!
williewonka
3,072 posts
 
Seems a lot less interest today
I think that due to the better technology now available, people are "generally’ opting for the convenience of Bluetooth/wireless devices and the smaller, more streamlined looks, which do sound very good e.g. Bluesound/Sonos/Soundbar products.

Gone are the days of BIG speakers in order to get "good sound"

Many people also do not have the time to sit down and appreciate "great sound" because of their busy lifestyles.

Also, simply commanding a device to play a certain genre of music and getting "instant service" puts us in the "Back to the Future" scenario.

But I still like the opening scene in I Robot, where Will Smith uses a remote to activate his "antiquated" CD transport.

I think there will always be a market for high end gear, because current technology of the day will still have audible limitations - but it is pretty darn good now and getting better and smaller.

High end systems will be for those that still want to pursue truly great sound.

Regards - Steve





melvinjames
416 posts
 
The internet has given visibility to what was an obscure market.

Couldn't agree more. The vast majority of my system consists of products by small manufacturers with an internet-only presence. In fact, only my server and router are from large manufacturers. There's such tremendous value to be had with a bit of careful research. Thanks to community's such as this one it's pretty easy to find some gems. BTW, my system is in the $6000 - $7000 range all tolled. The sound quality is sublime.

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