WHY IS THERE SO MUCH HATE FOR THE HIGH END GEAR ON AUDIO GEAR?

This is an alleged conversation overheard at an electronics store in the Mall.

“Honey, look at what they want to charge for that stereo equipment.  Isn’t that just ridiculous?  They are just a bunch of thieves hoping to sell a few units and get rich.  No way could cost it that much to make stereo stuff.

But dear, it does sound nice and looks pretty.

Yeah, but it is way too expensive.  My system sounds just as good as theirs and I did not spend anywhere near that much for that junk.

Our system sounds nice, dear, but this does sound a little better.

No, it doesn’t.  You are just hearing things.  And even if it is better, it costs sooo much more which just proves how greedy these people are.  
A lot of this stuff is just snake oil.  They lie to you about what all that stuff does when it is just electricity and sound waves.  Ridiculous.
They build stuff that only the rich people can buy.  It is not fair.  There should be some way that no one can charge this much so everyone can get what they want.  It is just not fair.  
Look at how much those speakers cost.  I could buy a new car for that.
Look at how much they charge for those wires, $2000.  That is asinine.

Now dear, you are letting your blood pressure get too high.  Maybe, we should just leave.  I need to go to the grocery store, we are nearly out of cigarettes, beer and ice cream.  

Not yet, I want to look at the new 90" OLED TVs.  

Why do you want to look at those?  We just got a nice 65" TV 3 years ago.  These large TVs are sooo expensive and really not worth it.

Honey, sure they are.  Just look at the image; it is gorgeous.”  
 

I pretty much think the same as you ...

The goal of audio thread for me the first one goal is to partake ideas about the way to reach a minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold at the best cost ...

Bragging about high end gear is useless ...

Even high end gear need to be embed in the right mechanical, electrical and acoustical conditions anyway ...

The cost of a system dont matter . the goal must be optimize  what you own ...

Price tags dont matter , acoustics science matter if we want to reach the best with what we have or with what we must purchase   at the lowest possible cost ...

@mahgister i researched the hell out of every component speaker and sub in my system using the knowledge that I gained in this hobby over the years. For example my Gato speakers were designed by a former senior designer at gamut. I researched them to the hilt. Say that they were similar to a speaker twice the cost. Realized he designed that speaker for another company as well I ordered it. 9 years later still my reference. My amps and Dac have design elements that have zero noise floor and implement design elements to provide power and limit distortion at every turn. I was the ear for the cabling that we use at the company. So even though the system is expensive I just didn’t pick stuff because it was expensive but it met the design and performance elements that I sought. I have room challenges so it needed to perform in my conditions and it does that well. It’s not about what you spend. Design, performance, environments, personal tastes and equipment matching are all important. Truth of the matter is some of the higher end equipment build quality and design lows it to achieve things sonically that most other equipment just can’t reach. However you can still get pleasing sound out of a well put together system without spending a crazy amount of money.

@firstonetallguy and our wives will go and spend 2,3,4,5 hundred or more on a purse and justify it. 

not to mention the bottle of Scotch that sold for $2.1 Million yesterday...certainly high end audio is a tiny little world in a huge economic/social/political...

I couldn't care less about who has what, whether it's more than all I spent on cars in 4 decades. What bugs me is the attitude. Which has been discussed 100s of times, nothing new to see here...