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When someone tells you it's a $40,000 amp, does it sound better?

I've always been a little bit suspicious when gear costs more than $25,000 . At $25,000 all the components should be the finest, and allow room for designer Builder and the dealer to make some money.

I mean that seems fair, these boxes are not volume sellers no one's making a ton of money selling the stuff.

But if I'm listening to a $40,000 amplifier I imagine me Liking it a whole lot more just because it costs $40,000. How many people have actually experienced listening to a $40,000 amplifier.  It doesn't happen that often and usually when you do there's nothing else around to compare it to.  
 

I'm just saying expensive gear is absolutely ridiculous.  It's more of a head game I'm afraid. Some how if you have the money to spend, and a lot of people do, these individuals feel a lot better spending more money for something.  Now you own it, and while listening to it you will always be saying to yourself that thing cost $40,000 and somehow you'll enjoy it more.

 

jumia
pennfootball71's avatar
pennfootball71
274 posts
 

Ok First of all I have heard 100k amps, 50k amps and 40 k amps as well as stuff 300 to 16k.

The best sounding gear I HAVE EVER HEARD was Pilium…you never heard of Pilium because you have not been to enough places.

Audionet is also good as well as some of the new D’Agastino stuff.

I use a 9000 Luxman integrated now that replaced $16,000 class D Mola Mola Kaluga monoblocks. I am saving for a $40,000 Pilium Leonidas integrated that sounds better than some 100,000 amps I have heard. It is not just price it is sound quality I am after. You probably just heard a lot of budget stuff under 25k most of it is trash. You have to seek things out. By the way Magico who has an unlimited budget voices their M9 speakers that are $750,000 on Pilium amplifiers.

yyzsantabarbara
4,797 posts
 

For me, it is really a matter of sonic preference and not so much on price. The Mola Mola Kaluga is a no no for my ears. The D'Ag is also a no go for me. I heard that gear with Dan demoing it with $250K Wilson gear, no thanks. Magico for the most part, another no go, except for 1 model.

 

 

secretguy
1,693 posts
 

I've never known anyone silly enough to spend 40k.

ghdprentice
6,957 posts
 

One important aspect to recognize is that when you compare amps from different companies you are comparing different house sounds. Given we all have different values, we will prefer different house sounds more than the particular implementation.

So, say I like Audio Research’s amp sound more that Boulder. A $20K ARC amp will sound better than a $40K Boulder. But if I liked the Boulder sound my choice might be exactly the opposite.

 

Within house sounds (companies) the sound quality improves with greater price (let’s assume high end stuff > $5K), I don’t think I have ever heard a violation to this generality.

So, I think when you think about your experiences, you need to incorporate this into your analysis. Assuming you are not just biased against high cost. This will either leave you with too little data to draw a conclusion or likely that price / performance has a direct relationship. The slope of the line formed with these two variables will depend on how much you value improved sonic quality.

avanti1960
1,472 posts
 

No. The idea of diminishing returns of quality for investment happens much sooner than $40,000.

Howiver a $40k amp does have the potential to sound bigger and more dynamic in a much larger space than a much less expensive amplifier especially if that price is for mono block amplifiers,

It would also presumably have the capability to power much larger more demanding speakers.

I have heard $40k VAC amps sound remarkable and $40 VTL

amps sound awful.

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