Fess Up How much have you spent on this Hobby??

I have not spent anywhere close to $150k, more on the order of $30k or so. But I am a very careful/patient/savvy shopper. And I have as much, or more, tied up in my source materials as I do in equipment. And I think this is how it should be...

-RW-

Spent about $5k on equipment and close to $100k on music.

NO, Let's face it: All "indulgences" can get a lot more expensive, so whether we go to sports events or concerts, buy flashy car, wine, trip, clothes, jewelry or gambling. Those things can add up to a lot of money. Smoke a $6 pack of cigarettes every day, and you'll see close to $22,000 go up in smoke over the next 10 years. In that context, dropping cash on hi-fi doesn't seem out of line.
Upfront costs are expensive, when you stop and consider that you will enjoy your system for 10 years. the investment may be well work it and provided an enormous amount of enjoyment over the years.
My wife always encourage me for system upgrade instead of spend more time and a lot more money outside the house.

I probably should have clarified; out of the 150K (or so), a good part of that has been for source material. At this point, I'm pretty much set as far as equipment is concerned and will be investing in new digital source content options both for music/movies and especially high quality concerts in HD formats.

If you are talking total money dedicated to the hobby, you are not only talking about money spent on hardware and software, but also room treatments/design, electrical upgrades, magazine subscriptions, trade shows attended, tweaks and everything else.

Having been in this hobby for almost 40 years now, I don't think I could even hazard a guess. I also don't think that I really want to know either.