What is the current retail cost of your reference system?

"Point is, why do we judge people for the amount of money they spend on their hobby?"

I judge people when they are jerks. Not when they disclose how much money they spent on X.

Here is my "favorite" quote: "But I didn’t buy a boat"

meaning the dude thinks he is so modest by depriving himself of a boat, he deserves his 100K rig. I know many of you don’t understand the audacity (hint: 97.6% of the people can afford to pay even the docking fees) which is exactly the point.

If you have the money, you do whatever you want with it. When you justify (again your money, don’t need justify it) it with BS or your explanation is just pure insensitive bragging, it might make you look like a unpleasant human being.

@tonywinga ​​@jjss49 and similar posts ...

I find it reassuring that in a thread with the potential for a great deal of acrimony, 

you guys inject a strong dose of common sense ...

Thanks for that!  

Different people have different values and live different lives. Some commit themselves to education and hard work and make a lot of money. Others prefer a more balanced life between work and family and may have less resources.many spend money across a dozen interests… some over just a a few. Then there is your nature… frugal or indulgent. Many more parameters.

Folks that are passionate about work, and with few pursuits can end up with high dollar system. Folks with more diverse interests and less focus can end up with wonderful system but with less dollar value. Too much ego and we end up with folks just accusing others of not being the same as yourself.

Personally I respect folks with $10K systems that have a passionate love of music and put a huge effort into assembling it. I have a lot of respect regardless of the cost provided folks truly love and pursue great high quality systems… even if the cost five or ten times what mine does. I don’t assume just because someone has more money than I do that they are stupid. My experience has been exactly the opposite.

@bigtwin 

Well said and your wife is amazing.  I hide my audio equipment expenditures from my wife and she pretends that she doesn’t notice.

@vonhelmholtz You are correct sir.  In fact, I married her twice, but that's a story I'll save for thread on domestic bliss. 🤣