For those of you who had spent over hundred thousand dollars for your sound system.

Speaking of boats, I had competition ski boat a number of years ago. I live in Michigan, so five months usage max. At one time I figured out the cost per hour of benefit, outrageously high. Using same equation with audio system, extremely high benefit to cost ratio such that I perceive as an investment.

This last week I listened to a pretty expensive system… no room acoustics and it sounded so bright and painful…. 70k amps… Zu Defs… ultimate DAC…it was unbearable.  High frequencies bouncing all over the place created this washy painful sound. Ear fatigue city… giant screen tv in the center causing more HF reflections. It was in a living space. Total disaster of sound. Sad because those speakers are amazing. The other sad part is people send this person gear to review… depressing…  this person has no business reviewing judging the listening environment.

2 weeks before that I heard a 4-5million dollar system (probobly more but that’s a rough estimate) in Malibu (legendary guy) horn loaded plasma units… custom Audio Note Monos… pure silver wires (I looked up the speaker cables and they retailed for 100,000$ lol

this system blew my mind…. It was AMAZing. Not to mention the room was treated.  I was getting goose bumps. I brought a few records I use for reference. My god I never heard them sound so 3d and emotional. 

So long story short some of the audiophile spending Uber cash on a system doesn’t mean the system will sound good… especially if they don’t consider the room.  I live in a three bedroom stand-alone in East Hollywood. 56 bass traps in my mastering room. 24ft length, 11ft wide, 9ft high. 1 diffuser. Treated front room for casual listening. Like 10 GIk traps.. more loose. My set up (mastering room) sounds light years better than the more expensive system at the 1st place I mentioned. No where near the other second place mentioned… ALOT can be gained from doing measurements and acoustics. Audiophiles who don’t consider acoustics are clueless… long story short just because someone spent a ton of money on a system doesn’t mean it sounds good… but an expensive system sure has the power to melt minds…
 

hey. If anyone is in the Los Angeles area I’d love to hear your system!! I’ve had fun this summer listening to a lot of systems. 

@sns

Good point. I remember much earlier in my pursuit of high end audio being very happy once my system was in place that I got years of pleasure at no additional cost (not including record collecting). I would go many years 5 - 10 without any investments.

My system cost is about double what it has been since my retirement. But if I just consider the incremental $75K I put into my system since I retired (earlier investments well amortized) and that I listen about 1,100 hours a year… assuming I live at least another 10 years… That’s about $7 / hour. My season tickets to the symphony are about $70 / hour. Or $35 / hour if only one seat.

Of course I have custom made bicycles.. those are about $2 / hour. I ride about 5,000 miles a year.

Sorry, I’ve only spent 99,999 so I don’t count.