Boulder monoblock 2150

Wow, Todd, you're on a roll today. 8>)

Dave

What sensible audiophile would pay 100K for an amp, even if he could afford it? Or maybe that's the wrong question. I don't have any idea who would pay 100K for an amp, do you?

Does that deep pocket audiophile plan to buy a 100K amp when he upgrades?

Rob, an audiophile lives ~2 miles from me is a CEO.   Last time I heard his system was Rockport Altair 2, full loom of Stage 3 cables, VTL Siegfried II mono and remaining is Ypsilon.   Last summer he upgraded Altair to Arrakis.   He demoed Ypsilon AELIUS II but was under power so he ordered Hyperion mono. It was ~$90K but with a strong $ today, ~ $69K.

He has a nice home, travel all summer, fleet of fancy cars ... good for him!

The new audiophile caught the upgrade bug big time.  He's remodeling his basement to a sound room, adding dedicated outlets ... It's his $$ so why do I care? 

To label rich audiophiles lack the knowledge to build a high fidelity system is just ignorant.   They simply have more disposable income to build a SOTA system.  

The simple economic explanation for high prices, there is demand otherwise company would got bankrupt.  The problem is you are not keeping up with the Jones and getting priced out of the market.   You have 2 options, enjoy what you can afford or improve your financial situation.  All the whining is pathetic!!!

Even seen the palace of a Russian Czar or other European King or royal? Or the penthouse of certain buildings even in NYC?

This stuff would fit in well there though if it were me I would invest in improving the acoustics of those huge echoing exotically adorned rooms first. Or better yet just build a very nice custom listening room.

I think most people like nice stuff. ALone that’s not necessarily a reliable basis for moral judgements though I think. Good taste is a good thing. At what point does it turn bad?  More to it than just what hifi one owns, right?

A good rhetorical polling question would at what point does one cross the threshold from good into bad or gaudy tastes or "extravagant"? I’d wonder what the results would be? Where would the US rank? What would different demographic groups think?

My comments went far beyond "audiophilia"; they went to the heart of this present day "Democracy", that's not a democracy, but everyone believes what they desire to believe; hence "Santa Claus" and The Easter Bunny.

Maybe this will enlighten some of you, but not many;

        http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105

Its a republic technically I think. The interesting thing is that based on voting it appears parts of the country that produce less and have lower standards of living think its a good idea to empower the most wealthy individuals (Clintons not one of those) even further in government. With no clear separation to avoid conflicts of interest. Based on social media posts, some fervently propose that these people not even be questioned on their actions, that they know best what’s best for everyone because they are the king bees.

Even further the more the free media is suppressed the better in the minds of some.

Lots of warning signs for sure.

Putin is loving it and so are IS leaders and other extremeists who use all this to forward their own selfish and violent agendas.