When does the law diminishing returns kick in?

As everyone has said it really depends on you. For me it's about $2K used per component on average. But that's me. God I hope my girlfriend's not reading this!

Well I was hoping for philosophical answers and that's exactly what I got. As stated before, although my system is moderate by Audiogon standards it is musically satisfying to my ears. Think I'll keep it as it is for a while. Or maybe a new cd player....
Thanks for all the replys, enjoyable reading each and every one.

Tim...

Smart man! If you are happy, don't mess with it. I agree that you may get some bang for buck replacing your CD player, however, I wouldn't just jump on anything. Decide on units you are interested in trying and wait for one to come along at a fair price here on A-goN. If you end up feeling it doesn't provide enough value for the incremental price difference over your NAD (if you sell the NAD), resell it on A-goN. You can likely sell it for near (or exactly the same) what you paid for it, maybe only minus the shipping cost.

I've done this many times and have ended up trying lots of different stuff in my system, for not much outlay.

Enjoy,

TIC

Rule of doubling!

My opinion is that a quantum leap in fidelity will result when you double the price (MSRP) of a piece of gear. As you can see, this is a geometric progression, and not a linear one ($500 to $1000 to 2000 to $4000 to $8000, etc.) Many people will run into "financial clipping" rather quickly!

This is by no means an absolute truth, but rather a crude rule of thumb. A product with a high value to price ratio (Maggie 1.6 speakers) will be a pretty tough challenge to my doubling rule. Of course, synergistic component matching within your system is critical. There are many different types of tonal signatures that various design philosophies of gear will impart upon the music. This is especially true of speakers. AUDIO REPRODUCTION IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE SCIENCE! I view it as more of a combination of science, art, and just plain luck. The music that you like, and the kind of reproduction that appeals to your own preferences is the important factor. It was interesting to note the responses on the thread "Best and worst rooms at the CES". Two different people could walk into a room; one hated it, another loved it. Sometimes, the music being played could influence a listener's opinion as well.

It's ironic that many people ignore a critical component of their system, ROOM ACOUSTICS!!! A megabucks system can sound like crap if the room acoustics and speaker placement are ignored. Also, certain tweaks that cost much less than an equipment upgrade can remarkably improve the fidelity of your system. I liken this to maxing out the performance of a drag racer within a particular bracket, rather than moving up into a higher performance bracket.

I like that advice Reubent. I have owned three different cd players that retailed for twice the cost of the NAD but preferred the NAD. All of them resold on Agon. Soon after discovering Audiogon my wife was wondering what was up with all the UPS deliveries. It definitely adds to the enjoyment of this hobby. Thanks and good luck.