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AUDIO PRICE INSANITY PRICE VS. PERFORMANCE WORTH IT?

What do you y’all think? I have 30k into my system and I recently attended AXPONA 2018. I compared what I heard to what I have. I felt my system compared to the 80 to 100k systems quite well. Matching is important. Also your reference point. Any thoughts yall?  
calvinj
terry9
2,342 posts
 
Set-up. An expertly set up $30K system will trounce a megabuck system set up by an airhead. 

That said, the best parts cost money. By that I mean parts that are better in ways known to physics, not hyper-relativistic black hole refractory spirals (apologies if someone has already trademarked this - I sin in ignorance).

You simply can't fake nude Vishay resistors or vacuum capacitors or air bearings. Once you've heard them, there is no going back - and it doesn't matter how much can be spent on overhyped gear du jour, which uses such parts sparingly, if at all. And won't be set up correctly anyway.

calvinj OP
2,352 posts
 
If you look at my components and speakers most of them are not big name brands. They are KR Audio. Gato Audio. Resonessence Labs. These are my major components and they are not huge Audio names but they are quality.  Gato Audio and gamut have some of the same designers in the past. The gato has great drivers tweeters and crossovers with quality parts and tons of research done. The KR audio va900  is a tube amp with a solid state pre and tube power and the companies own tubes.  The Resonessence people are owned by the creator of the ess Sabre chip.  I chose these for a reason not just hype. That’s important.  No one will have my system. It’s very niche and sounds great. 
calvinj OP
2,352 posts
 
One last thing! I have noticed a lot of the big names comoanies are owned now by venture capitalist who are only profit motivated. Not audio motivated. That’s another reason why some of these outrageous prices happen 
enginedr1960
173 posts
 

Building a great sounding room and system can be done for less if one does his or hers home work . There are many great products used and new available that don’t need a mortgage . In my quest to achieve this goal I feel the low frequency response in the room is very important to get a emotional connection to the music .I use a multiple sub woofers with great success in my room . The other thing that helped was having a good reference . I found this by making a pilgrimage to the home of Jim Smith the author of Get Better Sound . My system to me sounded good but after listening at Jims I went home and made some room tuning changers . Now there are very few rooms that I prefer to my own .


calvinj OP
2,352 posts
 
Room is so important. People forget. The room is the start 
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