Has the cost of HiFi gotten a bit too much?

Great post!

i concur....

If people did not buy this stuff the price would come down. Unfortunately, the 1%ers are determining what the rest of us can afford. On the other hand Rolexes are ugly boat anchors. There are hundreds of good looking watches that are much less expensive that tell time just as accurately. Audio is no different. There is a lot of equipment that does not appeal to the rich that is every bit as good as the equipment they are interested in. The Parasound JC 1+ is a great example.  

@jerryg123 , yes, I got my Technics SU-G700M2 and,

All the best,
Nonoise

Nice @nonoise did read a review last week giving it some high praise.

Enjoy it!

The world of technology is a tribute to man’s ability to learn and contribute to those before him. So whether it be audio, financial or medical, the progress has been incredible. But those whom are ignorant and uneducated in the disciple but they feel they know better are the reasons civilizations fail. I am thinking of The Story Of Civilization (Will Durant). The complexity of the world (given by the hard working and well educated people starts to look like a conspiracy theory… because all must be obvious to the arm chair expert. As Will Durant. saw… civilizations rise like a spark and flame… but fizzle and die in ignorance.

My partner and I have five graduate degrees between us. We probably spend four or more hours learning each day (for me more) for the last 35 years… we know little… but quite a bit in several disciplines. Technology, finance, economics, philosophy, history, cognitive development… astronomy. Each day is an opportunity to learn more.

The increase in audio prices starters long before the current inflation crisis.  There just isn’t a large market for two channel audio.  Economy of scale has been lost.  Ordinary consumers will spend the extra money for to hear bullets whizzing behind them during movies, and the audio produced by these systems are more than adequate for casual listening. The elites who lead our hobby have been compromised by their loss of advertising by extolling the virtues of 10000 dollar phono preamps that can be outperformed by a 10 dollar op amp, and 1000 wpc mono locks fed by 8000 power cords.   My 20k system at a bricks and mortar store could be spent on a tonearm and cartridge in the blink of an eye