I am one of those people who reads Stereophile from cover to cover, usally while listening to some great music. As much as I enjoy music (I have over 1500 CD's) and the great sound a great hi-fi can produce I'm not one who believes that we have to learn how to listen. Yes I can often hear new things when I pop in a Coltrane CD but it just adds to my enjoyment of music.
After reading a lot of reviews I have come to the conclusion that I am never going to be able to afford $20,000 speakers or $5,000 CD players unless I hit the lottery. I guess I feel that a 500% increase in price does not usually equal a 500% increase in sound quality. I believe that as long as you are happy with what you have then that is the bottom line but like a an serious hobby we are all looking to hit orgasmic sound and quality at a decent price.
I believe that most of the people here on the board cannot afford to spend $20,000 for speakers or even $4000 for a CD player, especially today. As most good audiophile books will tell you "it's your ears that should guide you".
So why is there so much discussion on the board like this? Well first we all like to praise our own systems and talk about how great we think they are and second a lot of people here have built some great systems for under $5K and I believe most of those people are saying now "it sounds so good is an additional $10K in price really going to pay back in that much sound quality improvement?"
There will always be a high end audio market. People who often hear high end audio usually say "I didn't know a CD could sound that good" and then the drive for superior sound starts. There are also a lot of people who can afford to go to an audio dealer and say "I'll take that $20,000 Macintosh amp" but I believe most of the market, in volume, is driven by people like us who just want the best we can get for the least amount of bucks.
I will never give up my quest for improved sound but I will also be the first to say "does X investment in better components lead to Y improvement of sound on the same scale?". I have learned a lot from the posters on this board and I appreciate every posters input. May we all hit the lottery and after depositing the check make a stop at our favorite audio dealer out second stop but more importantly may we all be able to afford the modest upgrades we want in our systems in pursuit of audio orgasm
I am one of those people who reads Stereophile from cover to cover, usally while listening to some great music. As much as I enjoy music (I have over 1500 CD's) and the great sound a great hi-fi can produce I'm not one who believes that we have to learn how to listen. Yes I can often hear new things when I pop in a Coltrane CD but it just adds to my enjoyment of music.
After reading a lot of reviews I have come to the conclusion that I am never going to be able to afford $20,000 speakers or $5,000 CD players unless I hit the lottery. I guess I feel that a 500% increase in price does not usually equal a 500% increase in sound quality. I believe that as long as you are happy with what you have then that is the bottom line but like a an serious hobby we are all looking to hit orgasmic sound and quality at a decent price.
I believe that most of the people here on the board cannot afford to spend $20,000 for speakers or even $4000 for a CD player, especially today. As most good audiophile books will tell you "it's your ears that should guide you".
So why is there so much discussion on the board like this? Well first we all like to praise our own systems and talk about how great we think they are and second a lot of people here have built some great systems for under $5K and I believe most of those people are saying now "it sounds so good is an additional $10K in price really going to pay back in that much sound quality improvement?"
There will always be a high end audio market. People who often hear high end audio usually say "I didn't know a CD could sound that good" and then the drive for superior sound starts. There are also a lot of people who can afford to go to an audio dealer and say "I'll take that $20,000 Macintosh amp" but I believe most of the market, in volume, is driven by people like us who just want the best we can get for the least amount of bucks.
I will never give up my quest for improved sound but I will also be the first to say "does X investment in better components lead to Y improvement of sound on the same scale?". I have learned a lot from the posters on this board and I appreciate every posters input. May we all hit the lottery and after depositing the check make a stop at our favorite audio dealer out second stop but more importantly may we all be able to afford the modest upgrades we want in our systems in pursuit of audio orgasm