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This is a relative question: Cables at $500 is expensive. $2000 for an amp of very high quality may actually be reasonable. $5000 for very smooth and dynamic speakers once again may be a bargain. A CD player for $xxx well, who knows but the point is, I think it depends on the component as well as the price!

Well, to my pocketbook anything over 3.5k is a "major" purchase. However, you have to distinguish between expensive and overpriced. I've seen overpriced equipment falling in all price ranges.

$2000 is my personal inflection point. It's really more of a matter of value, though. I might consider something expensive at $500 if it does not offer significant value. Similarly, a $4000 component might be a bargain if it goes beyond the features and performance one would expect.

Its relative to how deep ones pockets are and how much one desires to tie up in an audio system. I know many who wouldn't tie up more than a few hundred in an entire system no matter how much money they have in the vault.

That's just a personal limit I have set. No other reason.

Anything single piece of equipment that could not be worked in, from a cost standpoint, to a $10,000 system by making adjustments in other areas of the system rates as expensive from my standpoint.

About twice as much as I plan to spend now would be expensive for me. But ask me again next year.

The cost is too much when it equates to a engine overhaul on my Cessna

Price is relative. A better poll would distinguish loudspeakers (usually the biggest investment) from, say, turntables (usually a much smaller one). I don't consider speakers expensive if they're under $5,000, but for me, a preamp costing $2,000 is big bucks.

There must be a point of diminishing returns , hopfully its toward the bottom of your list.

I answered as though it had been adked for a component. For a system would be a diffreent story; you should have clarified.

There is no way that a pair of speakers 10,20 or 85 grand could have cost anywhere close to that to build. Its all a rip off amps,speakers,cables. But I a guess as long as rich people keep buying it they will keep charging these outragous prices.

Currently the most expensive component in either of my systems is $1k. Not the best, but musically satisfying. I think the law of diminshing returns kicks in, and kicks in hard at about that price per component, so spending anything above 50% more per piece is probably too expensive. For me, anyway.

It's funny how I've changed after several years of reading Stereophile. I used to think anything over $500 was way out of my league! Speakers that cost as much as a car!? Forget it! But I became a student of this high end technology and though I still can't afford anything over $1K without saving a bit, I don't really feel it's expensive if it competes with mega-buck equipment. Bryston is a great example. By most people's standards, they're very expensive -- but the product's value is so much greater! For the price of three HT receivers I have an integrated that blows them away in sound and build quality and will probably stay with me for several decades! Just don't get me started on cables that cost as much as a car.

If the price is equal to or greater than what I usually have in my checking account, it's expensive. So for me, expensive starts at about $4500.

How "one" defines "expensive" depends on who the "one" is - most people do not have $500 invested in their entire audio system, let alone a single component (Hey, you mean to say some people still buy seperate components?!?!) so that would mean that anything over $500 is "expensive".

This is all relative to the particular item. While a CD player for $1100 may seem a bit much for some, $1100 for a good set of speakers is a bargain. There is no magic number that marks something as expensive or not. The best marker for that is the old bang for your buck ratio or the point of diminishing returns. That will tell you if something is expensive or not. One last thing that I know is not expensive and that is the price of getting a proper education before one parts with his/her dollars. As the governor of TN once said, "The only thing more expensive than the price of education is the price of ignorance"

When you can't justify the cost, then it's expensive even if you have the money.

I'm a poor college boy. I've spent 2000 on SET DIY mono's. Sound great...working instead of school now. Parting with money bad.

Seems to me that there is a lot of good sounding equipment at $1,500 or less.

I'm constantly amazed that whenever a coworker or passerby asks what I'm reading the amazement that's shown that"we[Americans] make that stuff?".We are strangers in our own land,fellas!

It's all relative, as the cliche goes. I used to think anything that cost $1,500 or over was expensive. Now I can justify spending up to $5,000. Sheesh, I thought this was supposed to be a "hobby," but at these prices, it really boils down to what kind of "audio lifestyle" you want or can afford.

What is expensive? It is like asking an AUDIOFOOL how deep his/her pockets are. Audio is like playing golf, you are never at rest because there is always something to improve or someting that is not working so we change gear or read more reviews and the more we read the more we long to change so....how deep are the pockets. When are we satisfied? Look at the German Magazine: AUDIO or STEREOPLAY or even HIFI NEWS form the UK. It is all about balance, a good mix of very expensive and not so expensive gear, comparative testing in product classes, ratings and ranking. It is fun to read and it is also a purchasing/reference guide. Your magazine is an authority in the field of audio. Make readers feel at ease or at rest about what gear they have. Publish the reviewed gear in a score card with different criteria than AUDIO magazine e.g. provide an overall score for ranking

I'm not rich

it depennds on what is purchased, if its for each speaker, then its expensive to me.

It is very much depend on what types of equipment it is to be considered expensive. However my expensive starting point would be $2000.

There's stuff out there that's way over-priced at $250 and other stuff that's a great value even at $15,000.

Isn't it relative to one's disposable income?

I think a dollar figure is somewhat inaccurate. Perhaps a percentage of your discretionary income is better.

To my personal finance and income 2000 are around the limit.