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Hello Devilboy,

I am not sure how I have proven your point. I was at RMAF (Rocky Mountain Audio Fest) and heard the Raidho speakers in 2014. As stated, I didn’t realize they were connected to Constellation gear. I spent three days walking the show and listening to as much gear as possible. It my opinion the Raidho room was the best sound I heard over the three days. I couldn’t shake the emotional connection I felt with the sound produced in that room. I discovered it was Constellation after I recently searched YouTube and found the room at the show. Honestly, the ads in TAS for Constellation never caught my eye. Their equipment is rather simple and mundane IMO. I like classic cars, mechanical watches, old cameras and the like and appreciate good design. The Dan D’agostina gear is what caught my eye at the show due to the exterior design. It also sounded pretty good to my ears as well. I never read a review of Raidho D1 speakers in the issues I received to my recollection or the Constellation Inspiration gear. As previously stated, I used TAS as one of many sources of information. It introduced me to newer brands I was not familiar with. I also visited a number of hi-fi shops to see what they sell. I considered VAC, Aestetix, Canton, Wilson, Vapor, McIntosh, ARC, Magico, B&W, PS Audio, Sonus Faber, Classe to name just a few. So, again, I read TAS to educate myself about some of the new technologies and brands and then went out on my own to see what actually appealed to my ears.

On another note, I take issue with people that complain about costs of things (cars, electronics, cameras, etc.). I love the fact that there are companies that produce insanely expensive products that make me dream. I guess some of you would be satisfied with the choice of three beige boxes, "pick one". This to me is a fun hobby and while it has been frustrating to uncover the truth about products that is what living in a free society is all about, choice. Can I currently afford a new Porsche 918? No, but boy are they fun to look at and listen to when I see them around town or on YouTube. I am sure Dan D’Agostina is not selling a 10,000 pieces of gear a year but I am sure he is selling much of what he produces. If he doesn’t, he will have to change his business model or fail. Imagine if there weren’t a bunch of rich people buying this esoteric gear. What would that mean to the equipment that eventually trickled down to us commoners? I speculate that it might be pretty mundane.

I am sure that you can find a system that sounds pretty good to you at a number of different budgets. As I previously mentioned, I just bought a pair of $229 ELAC speakers while I am waiting for my new Raidho D1.1s in February. I love finding great values in this hobby. Do they sound as good as the Raidho? No, but they blow the sound away for the money spent, much higher ROI.

Thanks Jon!

Well, I was one of those who had the expensive stuff - that is, up until 1998, and then I got tired of 'keeping up.'
However, for those who are saying the reviews are due to advertising (and by corollary, the components are not as good as they say: Bull!) I had them: the Versa. The Jadis. The Goldmund. WATT/Puppies. Genesis. Clearaudio. And they were exactly as written. You're free to criticize - IF you had them. Well, you're free to criticize anyway, but you'd be wrong. At least BACK THEN. 
These days, the reviews are far from penetrating. The magazine is good, but not the One-Ring-To-Rule-Them-All journal that it once was. There is no common vocabulary any more: writers use their own language, which makes it hard to know what they mean, since there is no longer a common audio language.
I'm disturbed to see Neil Gader attacked, though, because he's one of the few who writings I can verify when I buy a component he's reviewed. I trust that Harley and Valin are honest (I worked with JV at Fi Magazine) and I know he has a great love for music and the components that produce it, but he also has a bias: he doesn't mention symphonic works as much as he used to, and very few writers mention the music used in the course of the review (which TAS always did, until Mr. Harley came and took over). It's not that it's bad: it's just no longer great. One can read it and put it down with ease. That never used to be the case when they were as a serious as a heart attack with their critiques. Nowadays, the critiques are mealymouthed, so who knows what's responsible for that? I can say the magazine has a great deal more advertising in its pages and that's easily verified. Besides which, at one time the readership revolted because a review was interrupted by advertising appearing in the middle of a review. That started around issue 105. And, sad to say, HP was still at the helm when that happened, although he'd promised, many years earlier, when he first did that - and the readers revolted - that that would never happen again.
It's a nice read, and I've become accustomed to the prices, but you'd expect more penetrating (meaning, more serious scrutinized) reviews, given the increase in cost of the magazine, than one actually gets.
If you joined the mag since 2000, I can understand your seeing it this way. But it wasn't always like that. It used to be GREAT.

@mmporsche: Understood. It's great that you were able to find those brands on your own at shows. However many audiophiles don't attend and depend on the magazines for exposure. That's all I meant.  
I've been to the NY show 6 or 7 times, CES and Rocky Mountain and frankly, they're usually just more of what the magazines cover anyway. It's very rare that I walked into a room to find a brand I had never heard of before. That's what I was going originally. I want more exposure to new or existing brands, and the magazines, while achieving this, seem to cover the same old, same old way too often. 
Like I said before, it's like being a spice enthusiast and only reading about salt and pepper every month.
Good luck with your new purchases.