Last Audition - Blown Away By A Lottery System


I went into a local B&M store and did a quick listen to an integrated and speaker pair around 6K.  I was just chatting with the sales guy, and I said thanks and was going to walk through the rest of the listening rooms.  He volunteered to take me to another room that wasn't in use.

This room was sparsely populated with two systems, as opposed to the other room that had a dozen speakers and several dozen pieces of electronics.  He streamed a song that I heard on the other system.  Without knowing exact models of equipment:
Moon player
Moon pre
Moon mono blocks
Focal Utopia
cables & IC unknown

The sales guy is watching my expression, which is disbelief, and then starts quoting the prices which totaled $380K.
That is the most expensive stereo I've ever heard, and was floored at the amount and quality of the sound - a dream system for sure.  Kind of gives me an insight to what some of you discuss here, but couldn't relate myself.

I'm screwed!  My budget only allows $20k, and that's probably what the cables in that system cost.

I bought a lottery ticket on the way home.  LOL.
bgm1911
You can construct a  "very" good sounding audio system with 20,000.00 dollars  buying new/used or  a mixture of both.
Good luck, 
Charles 
I am not surprised at all with your experience. SimAudio makes excellent sounding electronics, the top of the line are indeed pricey but worth pursuing. Having said that, $20K budget is still a good sum for a very decent system. If you do your research and ask recommendations here, you will end up with a great sounding system.

Let’s get you started, do you currently own a system that you can build on or are you starting from ground zero?
Enjoy the journey!
SimAudio and Focal make some great gear in your price range...but Yes, a well put together, top of the line system can be incredible...