New MOFI speaker (Andrew Jones)

@milpai the vibe here is pretty weird at times, I am here to learn but I am in my disillusioned phase right now. When I see that people have a list of components that cost more than I spent on cars, combined in my entire adult life and the same people rave about junk music (to my taste) I feel confused.

The way I see it: if you love music, you won’t be obsessed with gear, because music is perfectly and fully enjoyable with decent $200 desktop speakers, playing from youtube. You will be obsessed with gear for a lot of other reasons. I find myself being obsessed with the quality of the sound (more or less in a bubble) but my joy of listening isn’t all that different. With a metaphor, imagine that you love playing soccer but your main focus is not playing but finding the best shoes. Great shoes will be significantly better than flip-flops but most people play in $60 sneakers, happily...

But to the non-audiophiles even a $399 speaker is a hype. 

That's very true. True story, my own. Several years ago, I sold a lady neighbor my speakers I had at that time for a secondary system, Andrew Jones' ELAC Uni-Fi bookshelves (one tier up the Debut). For $300 cash. When the son learned, he got pissed off. $300 for speakers??!!! Even to this day, every time I see her son, I get a ".... I can't believe you made my mom pay $300 for speakers" look and scoff ... Go figure. I thought I was making her a favor. And I also installed them for her with my stands (for free to her), some speakers cables I had in my drawer. 

"No good deed...."  @thyname   Some won't ever understand. I'm sure she enjoys them. (I have the Debut 5.2 set-up for a TV room and enjoy it there.)

I've met Andrew at a few shows and liked his personality like others. I think his prior designs show his skill as well. I'm curious to hear these new ones now.

@thyname

During my apartment dwelling days, had one lady (whom I never had the chance of meeting) that would send over her husband. Respectful fella and always asked politely when stopping by, "could you please turn it down a few." Shortly before my move from said apartment I’d decided to splurge with a new set of floor standers / sub. Guess who received my old set of floor standers / sub, free of charge? I’ve always wondered what the look on her face may have been when husband brought those speakers home, the ones she despised! Ha

@grislybutter

Not sure why you should be disillusioned by what others are saying. IT's your choice - you should do what you feel like.

if you love music, you won’t be obsessed with gear, because music is perfectly and fully enjoyable with decent $200 desktop speakers, playing from youtube.

I spend quite some time with family watching movies or listening to the wife and kid's songs. We do that on the Pioneer bookshelf speakers that are a lot less $s than what you mention. And it is fun - I agree. But to get the "full on" experience, I go to my main system. With this system I can listen to new (to me, not others) music from artists and genres I have not heard before. It is an amazing experience. In fact Spotify wrapped 2022 tells me that this year I listened to 59 different genres and 1928 different artists, and this is NOT counting the first 3 months of the year that I was with Tidal.And also my collection of silver discs.

With a metaphor, imagine that you love playing soccer but your main focus is not playing but finding the best shoes.

I don't know about soccer. So I can probably relate to running shoes. Flip-flops are bad for running. But with a well designed shoe from Books compared to a cheaper one, you can go on for miles without straining your muscles and hurting the knees. Specialization helps and I have experienced it. So if you are into driving, are you saying that a Mitsubishi Mirage will provide you the same pleasure as a BMW M3 or Porsche GT3? That would be hard to believe.