The Snob Appeal Premium

Over the last 50 years audio has evolved from a place where a lowly Sgt in the Army (Me)  could buy a system of components that sounded terrific and music was the focus to where we are today.

I have had a modicum of success in life and can afford a system the value of a new Toyota, not the most expensive gear, but certainly of a quality level that satisfies my ears.

What I see now is people chasing a very small marginal gain at a huge cost.  Married to an economist wife who appreciates music, we agree on the value of not chasing that beast that causes people to change gear in an elusive chase that often has no end.  She is the one who said I could buy 20.7 Maggies if I wanted to, but we agreed that 3.6s were a better value at that time and would require a good bit less power.  
 

Sometimes bigger / more expensive is not better.  My 1958 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite made me smile every time I drove it.  Power nothing, no radio, wtc, but oeople regularly would wave, stop and say hi at stop lights, etc.  The same is true after a certain point in audio, quality sound is a available without spending the moon.

What is often lost is the synergy among components, especially inputs and pre amps.  Of course the room is a huge deal, but often compromises rule the day and tat 1/10 of 1 percent gain from huge expenditures gets lost in the room.  No one spoke of source material during the speaker discussion.  Are you spinning records, streaming, using R2R, etc.  The chase can be addictive as we all know, yet the man driving a Ferrari Enzo will get more more pleasure out of his car than I have from my Bugeye, and we are both happy at the end of the day.

There seems to be a common mistake many people have with audio, and especially as it reaches the upper prices and echelon.

I see many people say things like, "is a $20K speaker really worth twice that of a $10K speaker?".

Well, no, if one is expecting exactly twice the performance. But that’s not what one should expect to get out of twice the money.

This is where the phrase, ’diminishing returns’ gets thrown around quite a bit. When it comes to audio, diminishing returns does not exist, in any way other than subjectively, per individual. There is absolutely no objective point of diminishing returns.

If spending an extra $10K for speakers, to get less than double the sound quality is worth it for one person, they did not yet meet their point of diminishing returns.

Just remember, for members here who scoff at mega-dollar audio, there are millions of people out there, who listen to MP3’s. on their smart phones, with $20 earbuds, who think even the most modest, few thousand dollar complete system, is ridiculous money to spend.

I have been reading through the Troels Gravesen kit speaker builder project pages.

Many of the people who have built those speakers also own very good "brand" models like B&W 802D and ATC SCM 40  speakers and are reporting that the $2500 kit speakers they have built sound much better.

Those sorts of speakers are hard to sell though.People turn their nose up at them because they do not have any brand snobbery appeal.

Same goes for Chinese Copy amplifiers of ultra high end European models like Dartzeel NHB 108 or FM 300A.They sound superb but most people do not want to know about them.

So many audiophiles are snobs and clearly not really in it primarily for sound quality.

I have been reading through the Troels Gravesen kit speaker builder project pages.

Many of the people who have built those speakers also own very good "brand" models like B&W 802D and ATC SCM 40 speakers and are reporting that the $2500 kit speakers they have built sound much better.

Those sorts of speakers are hard to sell though.People turn their nose up at them because they do not have any brand snobbery appeal.

Same goes for Chinese Copy amplifiers of ultra high end European models like Dartzeel NHB 108 or FM 300A.They sound superb but most people do not want to know about them.

So many audiophiles are snobs and clearly not really in it primarily for sound quality.

@jtgofish

I’ve been singing the praise of DIY speakers designed by the likes of Troels and Jeff Bagby, and others for years!

It is not unusual for DIY speakers by leading DIY designers to end up sounding better than commercially purchased speakers of at least 5 times the price.

My Jeff Bagby designed Auricle’s (RAAL tweeters, SB Acoustic mids), sitting on a pair of Jeff Bagby’s woofer modules (not subwoofers), sound as good as any $10K speaker. I have about $2200 in them.

I am also familiar with quite a few Chinese ’clone’ amps, and I agree, the good ones sound very, very close to the quality of the originals. Especially the ones with the "Sunbuck" label on them. And no, they are not stealing intellectual property. They are using circuit diagrams that have been freely available online for years.

Put me down as a big fan of kit speakers as well. I wish more people would DIY their audio gear, in general, as this would become less of a consumer and more of a builder like environment. More people with hands on experience with parts leads to less marketing BS.

The commercial ratio of driver cost to sales price is at least 10:1 in most cases (Fritz and other small builders rare exceptions). This ratio gets worse if they make their own drivers.

Not saying that part cost is the determinant factor in sound quality but rather that a DIYer has significant incentive to achieve excellent results  which would otherwise be out of their reach.

Also, I have long ago given up the belief that $$$$ means quality or desirability for me. Sometimes more expensive is better but many times it is not. A true audiophile in my mind can tell the difference.