Vote

I feel $3000 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a stereo system.This hobby has cost me more than my daily driver car, but we must keep up with the Joneses, mustn't we?

If you consider all of the audio systems I've bought over 30+ years of being an audiophile, I've probably spent around $50k, all of it money well spent!

I paid about half price for everything

My system Rocks for the amount of money I have spent. Al Jolson Rules !!

I've spent almost $200 on my Magnavox portable CD player and Grado SR-80 headphones. Hope to buy more soon, but I also want to put major money into my electronic drums, a guitar, a mixer . . .

I appreciate Stereophile's taking seriously the class of listeners during reviews. I have an inexpensive system that sounds wonderful. Spica, Acurus, McCormack, Musical Fidelity, and Velodyne are some of its highlights, but there have been a lot of components in and out of it over the years. Everything was bought discontinued or used. It's the only way for those of us who really can't afford a CD when we really want one.

Retail Price Value. Most items purchased used or closeout for about half.

My system is now 5.1-home-theater-capable, with very high quality audio including analog. This is the way of the present and the future. Two-channel audio is dead or dying.

I love my Mac c39 and mac-3 for movie soundtracks and audio.

$2500 but no money left for CD player! playing off discman

College student with extraordinarily limited income.

All my components cost $3,780 and I got them for $2,450. Some were new some were demo units. Overall a 30% discount. Not bad for a student budget. Btw, the system has a parasound cdp100 as transport, Camelot Arthur as DAC, Jolida 302B as int. amp. and Meadowlark Kestrels speakers. Cables are from Tara Labs.

Harmon Kardon, Onkyo, Sound Dynamics

Wish I had more to spend. Need better speakers. Bigger is always better in speakers.

Its a fun way to waste money, I just bought Nordost SPM spkr cables and interconnects, now thats fun!

You need not spend more

Though I would like to spend more, $5,000 for my system does seem to yield at least entry level high end performance. Recordings are certainly worth whatever time I spend with them through it. Some day I would like to achieve an equal level of performance from home theater, but that is a far more costly goal: $10,000 for multichannel sound and $20,000 for adequate video. Put another way: $5,000 on two channel stereo for music is as good as $30,000 for home theater, if you enjoy listening.

I consider my system part homebrew and part el-cheapo, so I was surprised that the actual purchase price added up to as much as it did--nearly $2500, if you count the $100 Circuit City cassette deck. And that's counting the speakers I'm currently using, which are beat-to-hell ReVox 2-ways that I bought in 1983. But I've got a lively British integrated amp (called a Magnum---a real sleeper, IMHO) with a good phono stage, a nice cartridge (the Goldring 1042 MM, another sleeper), and a REALLY good room---my current home office is the best room I've ever had my gear set up in. The whole thing sounds better than many of the much more---embarrassingly more---expensive systems I've wasted money on in the past. I'm not sure I want to get any more deeply involved in the gear at this time. I'm not sure I need to. Just give me more new vinyl, and get outta the sweet spot.

I just added a Conrad-Johnson PF-R preamp---courtesy of the wonderful folks at Overture Audio---which brings the system price to a little more than $10,000. But of all the components I've had through the system, this preamp has made the biggest difference. The Meridian front end and Martin-Logan Aeriuses seem to have blossomed into a new system! Thank you to Martin Colloms for the review of the PF-R, and to Terry Menacker at Overture for convincing me of its great merit. Best audio investment of my career!

I love good sound, but I've found jaw-dropping tone in unusual places. My old JVC (JVC made something good?!) RC-X310 boombox I got in 4th grade from my mother for Christmas, and dear God it sounds full and lush, and pretty accurate too. I listen to my Dad's high-end system downstairs, but in my room, all alone rejoicing in a song, nothing beats my JVC---it's the tone I grew up with.

NAD 314 Marantz CC-47 PSB 500 and stands Tara Labs Prism 22 Tara Labs Prism Omni (Canadian Dollars) I'm planning on upgrading my speakers soon and I'll be adding a Yamaha Pro-logic or AC-3 processor

Which system? I have 5 systems in the house. Solves the problem of multiple speakers and speaker switches. I have close to 30k in the main system, probably another 10k in the rest, one of which is a dedicated video system-I never use it to listen to music.

God I need to finish my degree. Disposable income deliver me now!!!

money is no object for real hi fi

For just the bare essentials...still light-years from my ideal/goal!

All this, and now higher resolution 5-channel audio... how much does it take to be up-to-date?

Have spent about $3000. A lot of what I bought was used. For pictures and descriptions of my audio system go to: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/4213/myaudio.html

...And getting better, due to Linn and their ability to upgrade without starting over.

I have: NAD- av716 reciever, marantz- 67 cdplayer, kenwood 5530 tape deck, NHT- super sero speakers, NHT- SW3 subwoofer, I am not sure about the innerconnects, Audioquest type 4 speaker cable, Panamax 1,000 plus surge protector :)

stereo system