Is there a ceiling limit on what you are willing to pay for an audio component?


A very informative fellow on youtube reviews high end audio gear. He pays an insane amount of money on ampifiers, speakers and digital sources. He tells you what he thinks about quality, price, customer service and performance on such brands as Magico, Boulder, Wilson Audio and many others.

So here is the question. What are YOU willing to pay for a pair of speakers? An amplifier? A DAC or turntable setup? I am interested in what you WOULD PAY, not what you have paid in the past.

For me, I cannot see myself paying over $5K on speakers and likely not more that $3K on any other component.... even if I had the kind of money Elon Musk has. Am I crazy in saying that?

 

128x1282psyop

Obviously there is a limit to what you are willing to pay. The limit however could be a trillion, billion, million, thousand, hundred dollars. Just don’t pay $1 please.

Let’s see… a decent integrated is 7k - 10k, speakers 12k - 16k min.  So if you avoid vinyl and shop cheap for all else you can do it for 25k. The system I use was put together over many decades with many false starts that cost money but in and of itself is only worth around 12 - 15 k and I would call it modest by any audiophile standards. T sounds pretty good tho. The more you can spend the less work you will have to do, hobby wise. Don’t! Write me about that last you guys.

That is a loaded question , for example a $4k speaker n average only $1k goes into this including packaging ,this too applies to electronics ,the rest R&D overhead and markup, this why you truly spend what you can afford to spend , That  being said 

after say $50k on a Loudspeaker the differences to $75k maynot be as substantial say from a $5kto $15kLoudspeakers ,  the parts quality gets substantially better .

for $5k that’s a good starting point , you willnot have even average quality Xover parts ,and drivers ,cabinet meaning both speakers are roughly $525  each including the packaging ,sad but true .having owned. A Audiostore  MFG need to make this ,with Audiocables the profit margins on average far bigger . That is why lower priced items can be modded much easier .for Digital for example $5k is bare minimum for a good quality digital front end for example the exception $7k T+A 200 dac is a bargain vs even dacs at 2x the cost. digital cables say 2 Ethernet cables ,and usb$3k a good Ethernet  hub Sonore ,or uptone audio $550+ $750 for  A very  good linear powersupply such as the excellent Linear TubeAudio . + Audiocables another $2500+ minimum  everything adds up ,iam just speaking of a $50 k Audio system To many older audiophiles $50k is not  even close to a top quality sounding Audiophile System.I have been over many professionals homes near the Boston area with systems exceeding $150k , when i owned a store I spent $50k fora$100k system .I am now approaching 65 and just rebuilding and-just over $50k is my cutoff to get exceptional sound quality after That  you can do much better sounding still but ,at a very high cost , $$ diminishing returns . My point is don’t be frugal if you can afford more within reason. 

As many have said the answer is relative to a buyer's intensity for the hobby and financial worth 

with that said, the decisions I regret are not spending too much but passing on a component I really wanted that was just over the financial horizon so to speak 

that typically leads to early disappointment with a purchase and ultimately increased cost