Do you really think people buying $40,000 amps have to deal with small audio rooms?
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.
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Did I say I thought people that bought 40k amps had small listening rooms? The big 40k amps normally have enormous current reserves and crazy power ratings. I was just saying at lower levels or in a smaller room there would be less of a difference between a properly designed sanely priced amp and a 40k one. Best thing I ever heard that sticks with me today was when I was an expat in Shanghai. It was a pair of enormous Focal Utopia speakers powered by lowly totl Mcintosh Monos that I believe were under 20k. Would a 40-50k D'Agostino have sounded better? Maybe. They sure are pretty. |
It doesn't matter what price point one picks, there is simply no amp that can do it all, be the best under all circumstances and please everyone's taste. Yes, expensive, high-powered amps may be for some people, but, there are a few examples of breathtakingly expensive amps that are quite low in power. What some of these can do for higher efficiency speakers is amazing. I've heard the Audio Note Gaku-on on a number of systems and it never disappointed me (it better be good at a quarter of a million dollars). My own $40k ish amp; sounds great to me, and it works with my 99 db/w speakers, but, it would probably be not so great with something less efficient (it is sort of rated at 5.5 wpc). |
I agree with you. Also, the question of "value" can only be answered by the buyer. If they place high value on the appearance of an amplifier whose casework adds 10k to its price, that is still good value for that buyer. There's no way to determine an absolute universal "value" for anything, although it is often spoken about reasonably in reviews on the correct assumption that the majority of readers looking for a new amplifier in the range of say, 3.5k to 5k will all have a similar take on what constitutes a good value. |
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