The new dynamic in speaker pricing

Holy Grail, End Game, such descriptions are used frequently to describe ultra high end audio gear. Those who are familiar with jays’ audio lab get a steady diet of his latest and greatest. I enjoy jay’s channel, but only for entertainment. The Absoute Sound is routinely criticized by its readers for focusing too much on the ultra high end, but hey, that’s their prerogative, and if you don’t agree, don’t subscribe. Like some have already said, it’s a lot of fun to put together a cost effective system that has the right synergy to egage you with the music. For me, that’s what it’s all about. Big systems do have a big sound which can be quite engaging, I have to admit it, but I have not been moved enough to continue up that path. Back in the day when this hobby was more grassroots, speakers like the Spica TC50 and amplifiers like the Berning EA230 could be combined for a really satisfying sound. I had a pair of Dahlquist DQ10’s and a Luxman L100 integrated amp, and to this day I still think that was a superb sounding combination. The point is, you DON’T necessarily have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to have a good sounding system. You just need to do your homework and trust YOUR ears.

Honestly, we should be really happy there are people out there that will buy top of the line million dollar speakers, cause the trickle down effect on technology will give us better speakers.

Work hard, save your money & spend it on what you like. Despite what Robert Harley says, there is clearly a law of diminishing returns in hi fi like everything else. 

You can get 80% of the "way" there for "reasonable" $ in cars, bicycles, hifi equipment, etc. The final 20% costs a LOT more. It will always be so. It's not a linear thing but exponential. 

But we are talking about the.01% of the top 1% who can afford a million bucks for those speakers. If any of you .01% are listening please send me your old gear for free of course.

I am skeptical about the extreme prices. In 2003 Stereophile Magazine did a review of a stereo amplifier that uses 833A radio station transmitter tubes with their grids driven by 300B SET. It sold for $350,000. Using the best transformers and parts available you can build the same amplifier with $2,000 worth of parts and at most a week or two of labor. There are speaker cables selling for over $25,000 a pair but the physics, such as skin effect, which subtracts as little as a few hundredths of s dB at 20 kHz and static electricity stored in the insulation returning that energy and causing distortion calculates as irrelevant. In can't help but think the same thing applies to million dollar speakers.