Why so expensive??

Sometimes it is better to look at other factors besides just the actual price. For example, I am in the lawn maintainence business (fancy way of saying I cut grass). My lawn mowers cost $10,000; $8500; and $3500. Some may baulk at that much for a lawn mower, but they are all Commercial equipment made to cut grass sometimes as much as 50 hours or more a week, do it quickly and with a quality cut without tearing up (usually). Compare this to the homeowners' model riding mowers that have Built-in obsolescense (designed not to last too long, so you will maybe buy a new model in 2-3 seasons instead of fixing the old one.)

So high-end audio is like commercial lawn mowers, you get what you pay for.(although I still wonder about six-figure speakers;)

Why is oil near $100 a barrel?

This is why.

Now back to regular programming......

Joeylawn36111, there lies the rub, do you get what you pay for? In many cases absolutely not and this hobby lends itself to many instances of that. Then there is some equipment that is expensive, is well built, good parts, sounds good, and is worth every penny to those that can afford it. On the other hand I think there is equipment out there where the price is inflated on any of those grounds.

My partner is building a $2 million house. The first bid that he received for A/V/Security was $250,000. The proposed Theatre system couldn't have made music to save its life. Fortunately sanity prevailed and now we're talking $50,000 or so, including a 2-channel set up and a much more modest video set up.

The wife had no idea how musical a system could be. She attends concerts regularly, yet she'd never heard good sounds over two-channel. Once she did, she wanted more and gave up on decree that all speakers had to be in-wall. So, they'll have a modest, but musical, 2-channel in attention to the full-house distribution and reasonable video.

When building a $2 million house (surely an ego statement) many people don't balk at $200-500 thousand for media and security. It's foolish, IMHO, but it's more common than not.

BTW, I drive a Hyundai Azera and my partner drives a large Mercedes and a Lexus 400-series SUV. My wife drives a Hyundai Sante Fe SUV and his wife drives an Audi A8L. He's got a hanger with airplane, I've got a room full of great musical instruments. We're great friends and partners, but with very different personal priorities.

EGO is everything. It took me a long time to understand that in the business world. It doesn't matter if you're talking about $100 or $1 billion, ego is MORE likely to impact a decision than logic.

Dave

IN (AND ONLY IN) the right context is an amplifier worth $350k. that would mean the synergistic match with everything else would also cost almost unbelievable amounts of cash.
the end result would HAVE to justify the means- in this case of course a near-perfect listening environment. the software would have to be the highest resolution available combined with the best musical performances. and then you would have to tackle the question that a person that could afford this theoretical super-system might be better off getting good seats at carnegie hall or lincoln center. with that kind of money to burn they could fly to europe or japan to catch concerts all over the world. they could hire a string quartet to play at their house.
i know my system has inherent comprimises, as does my living room. i have trained myself to listen past these shortcomings; occasionally, on an exceptional recording, the illusion of live music does visit my ear/brain during a period of receptivity, and that for me is rocket fuel for justifying the money i have already spent.
if switching on a super-system and putting on a really good alblum or cd puts you in a virtual trance, yeah, it would be worth it. if you can relax and enjoy it instead of worrying about managing your prodigious wealth or calling your broker 10 times a day, then that's great. maybe they'll invite some other folks over for a listen, too. like me for instance...