onhwy nails it.
Law of Accelerated Returns
I think back over the many decades of pursuing high end audio and I realize some of the most inspirational were listening to state of the art systems. Systems I could never dream of affording. I occasionally would get up early and drive the two hours to Phoenix in hopes of finding no one listening to the state of the art system in “the big room” at one of the four or five high end audio stores there in the early ‘90’s.
One such time I was able to spend over an hour with the most amazing system I have ever heard: Wilson WAAM BAMM (or something like that… all Rowland electronics, Transparent interconnects). The system cost about over $.5 million… now, over a million… although I am sure it is even better (I can’t imagine how)..
But listening to that system was so mind blowing… so much better than anything I could conceive of, it just completely changed my expectation of what a system could be. It was orders of magnitude better than anything I had heard.
Interestingly, as impressed as I was… I did not want “that” sound, as much as I appreciated it. It still expanded my horizon as to what is possible. That is really important, as it is really easy to make judgments on what you have heard and not realize the possibilities… like never having left the small town in Kansas (no offense).
I keep reading these posts about diminishing returns. That isn’t the way it works. I recently read an article by Robert Harley in The Absolute Sound called the Law of Accelerated Returns that captures the concept perfectly. March 2022 issue. The possibilities in high end audio is incredible. Everyone interested in it in any way deserves to hear what is possible. It is mind expanding.
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@ghdprentice , It is not so much a matter of diminishing returns as it is value. There is equipment that is a much better value than other equipment of similar performance. Much of this "value" equipment is still plenty expensive. There is a category of "Luxury" HiFi made purely for very rich people who have to drive a Rolls or have it driven for them. Much of this equipment is needlessly complex and over built with things like 300 lb CNCed chassis. I put that stuff in the same category as a Rolex watch. An Apple watch is more accurate and you can put a Mickey Mouse dial on it. You can see Rolex watch wearers a mile away. Their left arm is two inches longer. Media people have to extoll the virtues of ultra expensive equipment. It is their job to do so and their revenue depends on it. If it costs more it sounds better because it costs more. Many media people have this programing. They did not experience the lowly Roger's LS3 5A Lastly, we frequently view the past with rose colored glasses. I fondly remember several systems. They were excellent in their day but I shudder to think what they would sound like today. |
There is a well respected school of thought, that has been around for quite some time now, that what someone pays for something is less than or equal to what they value it at. What Mr Harley is on about is something rather different. Although, as I said, I have only read what he wrote in 2014, not 2022. |
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