Super High-End

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I stumbled onto this website:

http://www.higherfi.com/audio_amps/1

http://www.higherfi.com/million/

It's kind of fun to see all the prices to all these gears, like the $650,000 amps, $250,000 speakers, $100,000 preamps, $80,000 turntables, $45,000 DACs, $25,000 pre-pros, & $22,500 speaker cables!

 

[Dr bud]

Hey,at least they offer financing!LOL!

 

[its phillip]

And don't forget, you can save hundreds of thousands on your purchases since they are just listing the MSRP >_>

 

[3db]

I'll take two of everything please

 

[tcarcio]

I'm sorry but I just don't get how these things are worth that kind of money?? Even if I had won the lottery and had the money I would find it very hard to justify spending that kind of money on gear. I would think for a quarter of a million dollars I could build a studio Htr that would make much less expensive equipment sound great.

 

[Pyrrho]

I'm sorry but I just don't get how these things are worth that kind of money?? Even if I had won the lottery and had the money I would find it very hard to justify spending that kind of money on gear. I would think for a quarter of a million dollars I could build a studio Htr that would make much less expensive equipment sound great.

Very often, ultra high priced gear is actually worse than less expensive gear. A case in point with $350,000 amplification:

http://stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/704wavac/

Measurements:

http://stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/704wavac/index5.html

$350,000 buys you crap, when you could have gotten something really great for a couple of thousand. The ultra high end is literally for people with more money than sense.

So, if you won the lottery (which, by the way, buying lottery tickets is a very poor financial investment), you would be wise to refrain from buying the most expensive gear you could afford, because spending less would most likely get you better gear.

 

[Rickster71]

That type of money buys you exclusivity. The Arab oil sheik: http://www.celebjihad.com/celeb-jihad/oil-sheik-purchases-victorias-secret-models that can afford anything, knows that he is one of a handful of people in the world that buys it because he can.

 

[PENG]

I stumbled onto this website:

http://www.higherfi.com/audio_amps/1

http://www.higherfi.com/million/

It's kind of fun to see all the prices to all these gears, like the $650,000 amps, $250,000 speakers, $100,000 preamps, $80,000 turntables, $45,000 DACs, $25,000 pre-pros, & $22,500 speaker cables!

I wonder how well it would sound to the golden ears if you swap out the guts with your 5308, assuming you have more than enough money (I bet you do) to just buy the case of that 650,000 amp.

 

[Pyrrho]

I wonder how well it would sound to the golden ears if you swap out the guts with your 5308, assuming you have more than enough money (I bet you do) to just buy the case of that 650,000 amp.

Things like that have been done, where someone claims to switch out things, but do not make any changes (so they listen to exactly the same thing twice), and people "hear" the "difference", with the preconceived preferred item naturally sounding "better" when they are told it is playing.

It is funny how so many people imagine themselves to not have human limitations, claiming to have superhuman hearing. If someone claims to be able to jump over a tall building, no one takes that seriously, but when the audio equivalent is claimed, many readily believe.

Humans are subject to the power of suggestion and the placebo effect, and their hearing is not as good as measuring equipment for detecting actual differences, but many imagine that they are supermen, not subject to the limitations of reality.

The moral to the story is to educate yourself, and use your brain, not just your "ears", to make decisions. It will save you money, and you are likely to get better sound and more enjoyment from your gear as well.

 

[PENG]

The moral to the story is to educate yourself, and use your brain, not just your "ears", to make decisions. It will save you money, and you are likely to get better sound and more enjoyment from your gear as well.

Funny you say this. One of my once upon the time crazy audiophile brother told me he no longer spends money on expensive gear. He said he could now enjoy classical music in MP3/internet downloaded kind of sound quality just by using his imagination (brain) and not ears. Somehow he found ways to convince himself what he heard is good.

 

[Pyrrho]

Funny you say this. One of my once upon the time crazy audiophile brother told me he no longer spends money on expensive gear. He said he could now enjoy classical music in MP3/internet downloaded kind of sound quality just by using his imagination (brain) and not ears. Somehow he found ways to convince himself what he heard is good.

That reminds me of something somewhat different that an acquainance said to me a long time ago. His idea was that the sound system was simply to remind one of the music, to help one think about it, not to actually reproduce the experience of listening to live music accurately and completely. Needless to say, he was satisfied with a cheap stereo. But he did not delude himself into supposing that it sounded better than it did.

 

[PENG]

That reminds me of something somewhat different that an acquainance said to me a long time ago. His idea was that the sound system was simply to remind one of the music, to help one think about it, not to actually reproduce the experience of listening to live music accurately and completely. Needless to say, he was satisfied with a cheap stereo. But he did not delude himself into supposing that it sounded better than it did.

More accurately, my brother kind of meant he memorized (as opposed to imagining) how the real thing sounded. It is hard to interpret but it really sounds like my brother was saying something very similar to your friend's.

 

[Whitey80]

These oil sheiks and royalty are the target market, performance doesn't matter status does...
Take for example that Saudi sheik who had his Ferarri gold plated.....Take a high performance car and add a few thousand pounds of gold so that it is now slower than a Ford Taurus.....They do it because they can and we cannot. Buttholes.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=78f_1275262435

 

[mtrycrafts]

I'll take two of everything please

Is your house large enough for all that?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Hey,at least they offer financing!LOL!

Sweet!

Let's take a 50-yr loan and get some of these gears.

Would home property/hazard insurance cover these?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I wonder how well it would sound to the golden ears if you swap out the guts with your 5308, assuming you have more than enough money (I bet you do) to just buy the case of that 650,000 amp.

If I were to take the guts out of the 650,000 amp, TRANSPLANT the guts of my Denon 5308 inside the 650,000 amp, I would improve the sound of the 650,000 amp!

It'll be like giving a 80 yr old man a heart of a 20 yr old.

 

[swspiers]

Ok- I'll come out of the closet and admit it in public.


If I had the money, I would ABSOLUTELY buy MBL, Canary or Vitus amps. Maybe even play around with some Joule tubes.

There is a certain aesthetic to this stuff, and it's not always bought with verifieable spec and soundquality as the only factor.

People covet and buy Rolex watches, Rolls Royces, and more stuff than I care to mention, that I personally place no value on.

But MBL 101-Extremes....THOSE I would place value on. Or the Karma Grand Exquisites.

But to be equally honest, I probably would use Blue Jeans cables to hook it all up.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

But to be equally honest, I probably would use Blue Jeans cables to hook it all up.

No way.

If I'm going all out (meaning I'm a billionaire with money coming out of my a$$), I'm getting $20,000 cables from Kimber Kable or equivalent!

But seriously, I buy things based on not only performance, but also based on aesthetics and prestige.

For example, if a pair of speakers cost $7,500 in plain black color and $9,200 in real African Mahogany, I'm putting out the extra $$ to get the real wood veneer!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

But MBL 101-Extremes....

Who wouldn't love to have thoseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

...Sorry I was just drooling.

 

[Pyrrho]

Who wouldn't love to have thoseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

...Sorry I was just drooling.

I can't help but think my wife would hate how they look. They are strange looking things. If they did not sound absolutely spectacular, I would not want them. (Since I have no idea how they sound, I have no idea if I would want them, though at their price, I can be pretty sure I will never have them anyway.) As it is, I went from some of the most gorgeous speakers I have ever seen (Aurum Cantus Leisure 2SE - original U.S. version [yes, it does matter which version]; photos never do them justice) to something less visually appealing (Apogee Stage) in my living room system, but there is an improvement in sound, so I live with it. (I still use Aurum Cantus Leisure 2SE original U.S. version for my surround system, and have no plans on upgrading ever. They sound really good, but not quite as "magical" as the Apogee speakers I have. Also, the Aurum Cantus speakers are a lot easier to deal with otherwise, as they are an easy impedance, normal efficiency, small and less picky about placement than the Apogees, which, to sound their best, require that one devote oneself to accepting their demands rather than how one might like one's room arranged. Most people would be a lot better off having the Aurum Cantus speakers than the Apogees.)

I am not sure why so many people into audio equipment seem to like the strangest looking things so much. And given your very ordinary looking speakers, it seems very odd coming from you. Clearly, you have a significant amount of money invested in your gear, so you could have afforded something that looks more unusual if you had really wanted it.