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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. 

 

 

ghdprentice
noske
783 posts
 

I’ve heard extremely high fidelity equipment that put high end equipment to shame at a fraction of the cost

Yes indeed. Robert Harley’s many edition book is called "A Complete Guide to High-End Audio".

He promotes such things as MQA technology.  I digress - my pet peeve.

 

cdc
1,838 posts
 

hilde45

+1 agreed

If it was only so easy to just spend more money and be guaranteed better sound, sigh.

Often the company IS justified in the high price based on R&D and cost to manufacture. A speaker machined from a solid block of aluminum comes to mind. But that does not mean the end result- better sound, will be accomplished. Maybe some make it unnecessarily complicated so they can charge more.

Our dealers will not allow you to listen to such a system unless you have the money to buy it.

I talked to a dealer today who would not allow comparison audition of 2 components. He just said take your most educated guess and buy one.

In the time I spend here ( benefiting from people’s experiences), or obsessing reading mag’s and websites I could more productively spend that same amount of time just listening to it in my room. But that is impossible. It is sad. Hi-end needs to do better than this.

 

mofojo
2,306 posts
 

Cdc, what country are you in? 

Post removed 
emailists
923 posts
 

If anyone bothers to read my posts I have been rallying against the concept of diminishing returns.

Just today I posted about a $95 ethernet cable purchase (2 cables) hoping it makes a nice upgrade.

If the cables (when they arrive) make just a 1 percent improvement, in my system, that would be around a $1000 benefit. Other upgrades are free, like a cleaning tube sockets, or low cost tweaks like a new AC power outlet.

In a lesser system these upgrades might not be audible, but in a high end system the entire experience can be bettered by some inexpensive or modest upgrade.

While my thesis might be flawed in some ways, my point it that the benefits stack up and pays dividends.

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