Ha! If you want the best, you gotta open up the wallet (or sell the house!). We grew up in a tiny house in rural Maine while my dad was creating the system III. He worked his butt off building the co. literally out of pencil and scrap paper all while suffering with muscular dystrophy. The price comes from dozens of handmade parts coming from small vendors that can only be built over the course of 6+ months. It got to be too much after a while to make them, but while he did they earned the honor of being the best from several of the big publications. Most people balk at the price, but there is a large market for it. He does speakers now and is getting into different market ranges - wihout losing quality. For example, his Miras are around 16k and people have liked them better than the competitors which are over 100k.
As for you, BikDav, my gun-weilding friend, my dad is the kind of guy who would have you over, grill you a steak, hand you a beer, and then take you down to the sound room and make a believer out of you!
