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

Yyzsantabarbara,

Have you considered putting more money toward interconnects and speaker cables and a good power management system versus taking a chance on a $40,000 amp that you will only really be hearing after it's been broken in.

Or maybe split the difference and use the remaining $20,000 toward interconnects on speaker cables and a good power management system.

Or maybe a really nice car that's $40,000 higher then what you were planning to spend assuming you need a new car. I still find it annoying when you spend a lot more money on a car you have to spend a lot more money on freaking insurance because idiots still steal cars

@jumia I put some money into interconnects for my Benchmark system. The sources to the preamp use Audience Au24 SE XLR and RCA. The speaker cable is Audience FrontRow. The cable between the Benchmark LA4 preamp and Benchmark AHB2 monos is low cost Benchmark XLR (there is a reason I did not spend more here).

I think the cables are dialed in perfectly on this system. I also have a power management system that I think is very good, a Torus RM15. Essentially what Bryston uses internally in their amps for instantaneous power deliver.

I have tested all of these pieces both with 2-channel and my RAAL SR1a headphones (which are as revealing as it gets). There is nothing I am unhappy with in this system.

On the new system I am building for a much bigger room (volume) I want to get exactly the sound I have before with an amp I sold last week. I just want way more power from the new amp than I had before. There are also some other improvements on the new amp that I have not heard yet that I think will make me buy the amp. I am buying a $2K or $3K preamp instead of the $16K preamp my dealer is suggesting. I rather put more money into the amp.

I had a really nice car for 20 years. A stick shift BMW M3 E46 that I put 200K miles on. I sold that recently and now have a RAD Wagon cargo bicycle which I did 4K miles locally over the past 13 months. A car no longer has any attraction for me. Now the audio system I am building is much more interesting.

Agreed you should let your ears make the decisions.  I also believe most people live within their means.  No one can tell you what sounds better or what you should spend.  Not everyone can spend 250k or a million bucks on a sports car but I don't criticize those who do.

Every time I listen to my Luxman Class A integrated I tell myself it's a $40,000 amp and by gawd, it does indeed sound even better.

Keep in mind allow for a $10k budget for the power cord!😅