Where do you draw the line???

I prefer to use my iron maiden. It's not comfortable till you get use to the spikes, but wow does it sound good!!!

I saw if somone has a 30,000 setup, and somone has a 20,000 setup, with the same number and basic type of components, and the 30,000 system sounds inferior to the 20,000, then i say the owner of the 30,000 needs to pack all his stuff up and ship it to me for evaluation. Mind you, these evaluations can last years.

seriously though, i completly agree with Nrchy.
a 30,000 system better as hell sound better than a 20,000 or else the person who put it together needs to get his butt on Audiogon and start asking questions.

The only instance where i think a 20,000 system could sound better than a 30,000 system, is if the 30,000 has integrated HT and the 20,000 is a straight 2 channel system.
That will throw off the balance because of cash vs. preformance, because you are talking more speakers, more cableing, DVD player, yadda yadda.
Any HT can do 2 channel playback, but a 20,000 2chan system VS a 30,000 integrated HT probably would sound better

But if its the same setup, and some guy has a 30,000 piece of crap, well, then sucks to be him.

P.S., it would sure take a lot of convincing for me to buy Belts and Tice clocks.

Late to the party but....Sad because there seem to be so many 'educated audiophiles' who seem to equate higher performance with higher costs. Pure idiocy. Speaking from over 30 years of experience. I find it unbelievable that many seem to assume that for example a $2000 speaker or amp must sound better then a $1000 amp or speaker.

Then rationalize that even though they may not be able to hear any differences or may even perceive the expensive amp to be inferior, that somehow those who are more sophisticated can hear the differences.

I remember being in a Nashville showroom in the mid/late 1980s and listened to several sets of very expensive speakers. One set of speakers that impressed me very much and the two friends I was with were dimunitive Celestion DL8 mk2's. 19" two way that sold for a little under a grand. There was a set of $13000 speakers in this botique (sorry can't remember the name). These speakers were over 7 feet tall and were stuffed with drivers. We listened not saying a word, noticed some curious looks on my friends faces. After about 15 minutes I turned to the saleman and said "these sound like shit". He replied with a smile "I know but people love'em because they are so big."

He confided that all the salesmen thought they were a pure joke and laughted at "audiophiles" who carted these 7 foot monstrosities home.

Final thought, I know of one manufacturer who sells speakers for $2400 direct. He also produces a speaker that sells for $18000. Same tweeter and midrange. Only difference is the addition of an extra woofer and larger cabinet on the $18000 model Explain this one to me?

Yeah, there are always examples where basic rules dont apply.
Hell, for 1,500 i could assemble a system that a 3000 bose accoustimass couldnt ever touch.

Point is, if you built a system for 10k that does not sound as good as a system that cost 4k, then maybe instead of buying new stuff you should be doing research to find out why the system has so many shortcomings. Chances are something isnt set up right.

As for the 2,400 speaker with the bigger brother that has 1 extra driver and is a little bit bigger, i always kinda wondered that myself. You see that now and again.

I believe a very well thought out 6k system can sound better than a thrown together 20k system, but i would have a hard time believing a well thought out 10k system will outpreform a well thought out 20k system.
its more than just the price tag, you gotta be sure the stuff works together.

"This costs more than that so it must sound better"
Yeah, thats a dumb statement

"This costs more than that, so it probably sounds better"
Is a generalization, and normally is true, and not a dumb statement.

Or can you honestly say that more often than not, spending less gets better quality?
Probably not.
I will however admit that here are always exceptions to the rule, and usually quite a few of them if you look hard enough