when I was in Italy last year I bought a digital phono preamp from an Italian company and 2 active bass traps from a Swiss company. I saved a lot of money. The cost of shipping to a distributor, distributor mark up, shipping from the distributor to the retailer and then retailer mark up adds up even with small margins. It was quite fortunate that I happened to be in the right place to get the exact gear I wanted
WHY IS THERE SO MUCH HATE FOR THE HIGH END GEAR ON AUDIO GEAR?
It seems like when I see comments on high end gear there is a lot of negativity. I have been an audiophile for the last 20 years. Honestly, if you know how to choose gear and match gear a lot of the high end gear is just better. When it comes to price people can charge what they want for what they create. If you don’t want it. Don’t pay for it. Look if you are blessed to afford the best bear and you can get it. It can be very sonically pleasing. Then do it. Now if you are also smart and knowledgeable you can get high end sound at mid-fi prices then do it. It’s the beauty of our our hobby. To build a system that competes with the better more expensive sounding systems out there. THOUGHTS?
- ...
- 429 posts total
I have no hate for anything related to audio The more money that someone spends on gear the more money circulating in society. However, on a personal level I find the price of a lot of high-end gear a farce. I laugh a lot these days when I read reviews, especially from TAS. A lot of audio companies are not selling a sound, but a price point. I use the following "low cost" speaker as an example. The TAD ME1 was selling for $15k for a long time. Then for 3 months they set the price at $10k, a much better price for the sound that monitor speaker delivered. After the 3 months, TAD raised the price to $15k again. They obviously could make money on the ME1 at $10k but I figured they felt a loss of prestige with the lower price. For me, that is a farce.
|
@ellajeanelle , I had the original TAD Reference (Andrew Jones' cost no object design), which was bought used from a friend of mine and hence it wasn't too much a wallet abuser. When it was released back then, it was considered to be one of the best speakers ever made (sonically) in a few circles. Living with a speaker like that tends to raise the "point of reference", could make one real nitpicky thereafter, i suppose. I wanted to fund a second speaker with some different strengths for the same room and the Schweikert 55 qualified, (not cheap again/German). I found a guy who was willing to trade the Schweikert and some cash in exchange for the TAD. I used that cash to fund the later released/trickledown lower TAD model (E1TX), which gets "close enough" to the Reference model after subs and sufficient tweaks are in place. It just so happens that the speakers i've personally preferred (sonically) haven't been from local American manufacturers. The local bigger names are also again subject to this 50% markup by dealers (PS Audio being a recent exception). I am not quite the fan of the Magico/Wilson sound either. More recently, i got a bit jaw dropped by Borresen speakers (made in Denmark, would have been nice if they were American instead). If i do buy the trickledown X3 model (relatively affordable 11k msrp), it wouldn't feel as bad perhaps forking out the "dealer's cut" in this instance, i.e., i could stomach it. It just starts to get plain obnoxious forking out the "dealer's cut" when the speakers exceed a certain price bracket (i.e. the high end price brackets). Frankly, i am done dealing with that extortive price bracket! I know enough to make things sonically beat down all the extortive crap with what i already have. If other guys are willing to fork out a 100k for looks, bragging rights, etc, whatever, to each his own.
|
- 429 posts total