Where do you draw the line???

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

Again I ask the question: If cheaper sounds better than why don't you have a $100 system. The notion that lesser quality parts and materials will sound better than better parts/material (and of course design) is plainly foolish.

Those who use the, I listened to this 30,000 speaker system in the store and it sounded like #$%* are deluding themselves. Speakers were not made to listen to on a showroom floor. There is not a worse place to audition anything! Did the Celestions (Which I have owned) cost less to produce than the bigger speaker? The cost of production plays a large part in the end price of a speaker! I do not consider this audition to be a valid experience. The enviroment was far too compromised. That doesn't mean the Celestions were not better speakers, although I doubt they were. It means the listening room was not set up to do any serious listening.

Alright, you convinced me! I'm going to go and sell all my gear and buy something cheaper because it will sound better than what I own now!

Maxxc, if one were to randomly choose 10 audiophiles and give them two budget amounts, say $10,000 and $30,000, I suspect that the more expensive system would sound better than the less expensive system in every individual case. I would also suspect that one or two of the ten lower cost systems would sound better (at least to somebody) than one or two of someone else's ten higher cost systems. If someone would like to test that theory, I stand ready to spend their money ;-)

Why is it beyond belief or beyond a reasonable doubt that someone might find a less expensive piece of audio gear or system more to their liking (or even better sounding to them) than a more expensive one?

For example, I've listened to different speakers at different audio retailers (most around these parts won't allow home auditions) and I've found some (usually the smaller stores) to have fairly well set-up listening rooms. I have also found differences/preferences going both ways in terms of lesser/more expensive gear.

Most of us have limitations in a financial sense and so that also plays a big role in our audio experiences. Most of the time I probably won't even bother to listen to equipment that is more expensive than my upper budgetary threshold (don't want to let the genie out of the bottle). I recently listened to a $5,000 pair of speakers and a $4,000 pair. I preferred the latter. I mention this because its not a huge difference in price, although some might say that 25% is considerable. I could probably stretch the budget if I really preferred the more expensive speakers, but I didn't.

The good people at the 'Gon are frequently suggesting/recommending to newcomers that YMMV, listen with your ears, make up your own mind about what sounds best to you, etc... Why shouldn't this also apply in relation to the $$$'s one spends on gear?