Is it important to long demo or own HIGH END gear to have a fair accurate view about it?

The only piece of gear I have owned in teh last 20 years that was a absolute clear bottleneck on good sound was a Carver pre-amp. I had Carver amp and tuner (still do) and the tuner was/is quite good and teh amp actually not bad if used properly.

A fellow audiogoner whose advice I trusted told me flat out dump teh pre-amp. So I did and replaced it with a Audio Research model.

I have had many changes since then each of which introduced a change in sound, mostly for the better. I have been in a very good place in relation to live music I hear and teh best "reference" systems I hear around for a number of years. That’s not to say there is probably almost always something one can do to get even better. It may or may not cost more. It all depends on educated decision making. Nothing great ever comes easy. How much it costs is another story and can vary widely. My $130 Fosi amp does a top notch job in its role on my little nearfield desktop system. Some day I may try to ask more of it and see how it sounds when given a much tougher job.

Any serious audiophile understands the basics of room acoustics, has nothing to do with the level/cost of gear one purchases. Another outdated misnomer is HEA is just bling. Dan D’agostino is not the only HEA company, take a look at Convergent Audio Technology making some of the best tube electronics available. Finally HEA is not about million dollar systems its about effort/passion/learning/listening with an open mind and understanding a substantial financial investment is a prerequisite.

@dayglow Well count me out as a serious audiophile then (which is quite OK) because I would not drop a fortune on gear before first understanding the acoustics of the room it was going to be asked to perform in. That's a recipe for vendor success and buyer disaster.

Some conclusions can be legitimately and logically/rationally reached, and some not so much.... 

@mapman My point is room acoustic treatment is a given(must have) regardless of the cost/level of the audio system. One can be a serious Audiophile with Burmester or Parasound gear, the point is getting as close to 100% out of the system.