Are there other people like me ? Amazed by their low cost system :)

Around 2010 I bought a pair of Thiel 2 2s that were around 20 years old and cost $1,000.  I paired them with a B&K ST202 I had bought used for $300.  I don't remember what the disk spinner was.  Probably fed a digital signal from a relatively cheap dvd player to a receiver I got marked way down at Best Buy when they used to mark stuff way down sometimes.  Yamaha or Pioneer I don't remember.  It was a sub 2k system that was so satisfying had I started with it I might've stopped there.  

Your observation correspond to my experience in acoustics evaluation...

When things got right with gear synergy in a not too bad room, we live through a minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold ... This minimal level suppose in spite of some inevitable limitations a relatively good balance between all acoustics factors implied and when we live through it the first time by luck or/and by good planification , we feel a small ectasy or at least a great pleasure ... It is sometimes enough for many if not most people ...😊

Anyway to go further luck and gear synergy and a not too bad room will not be enough...

We will need if we want to go to the maximal acoustical satisfaction threshold, to recover this balance between all acoustic factors on a higher level of experience , we will need if not higher quality gear design upgrades, at least embeddings controls devices and means and tools in the mechanical, electrical and especially acoustical working dimensions of the system/ears/room ...

Acoustics is the main factor of audiophile experience and acoustics is more than room acoustic here ...

Thanks for your post...

It was a sub 2k system that was so satisfying had I started with it I might’ve stopped there.

Welcome to the happy and growing world of MidFi :)

In many ways, and despite the loss of so many traditional brick-and-mortar audio shops, these are the best of times in this hobby. There are enormous choices of product from manufacturers who bring exceptional value for money. Having started out when vinyl was the main medium in recorded music and tape for duplication there were popular mass market brands and the stuff sold at the high end shops (I couldn't afford nor would have wanted R2R as a poor university student, being quite happy enough to have a low powered Technics receiver, a turntable and a pair of "bookshelf" speakers.) Now exceptional performance doesn't require an exceptional spend.

Very true.... Thanks for your post...

I will only add that it is even more true if we embed rightfully in their mechanical,electrical and acoustical working dimensions the relatively low price synergetical system we bought or any system at any price anyway...

More than in the past , performance quality had almost no linear relation with price...

It is why i distinguish myself only two levels with relative variation between them : minimal and maximal acoustic satisfaction thresholds...

In many ways, and despite the loss of so many traditional brick-and-mortar audio shops, these are the best of times in this hobby. There are enormous choices of product from manufacturers who bring exceptional value for money. Having started out when vinyl was the main medium in recorded music and tape for duplication there were popular mass market brands and the stuff sold at the high end shops (I couldn’t afford nor would have wanted R2R as a poor university student, being quite happy enough to have a low powered Technics receiver, a turntable and a pair of "bookshelf" speakers.) Now exceptional performance doesn’t require an exceptional spend.