Does anyone really need to spend 10k on power

Vhiner, you made a good point. You don't perceive a difference between your old cheap cars and your friends $70k cars. You seem to be a practical person, not buying mid-priced cars just to have them and yet you see value in your $5k power conditioner. I'm certain many would take exception to your comment about cars when some are sensitive even to a type of shock absorber or brake pad. And $70k for a car is not so expensive these days. A new Chevy P/U loaded, stickers close to that now. The motivations for what we do are very complex and sometimes we don't understand ourselves why we do things. I'll admit something here. I bought my current CD player based on brand just so it would match my preamp. I knew it would sound good; but I skipped right over my obsessive research and comparison process when I made the purchase. Luckily, I have been very happy with it; but the me of 10 or 15 years ago would never have settled for brand or looks first over sound. Does that make me a shallow person now? I think we all let how a component looks as well as sound affect our decision- even if it goes the other way to make sure it is as ugly or industrial looking as it can be.

Tonywinsc,

Good story. The world would be a more peaceful place if we ALL admitted the varied and sometimes irrational motivations behind our decisions. I'm glad you can enjoy your "shallow" decision as much as I do mine! LOL

btw- I hit the double nickel this year. I'm trying to focus on retiring in the next half decade or so. Because of that, I am trying to live by the axiom, "be happy with what you got"- as in save, not spend. $10k power conditioners and $70k cars are not in my near future plans. The hardest part is reading about someone's new preamp, amp or turntable and not jumping on board the upgrade train. What I have found to compensate is making small tweaks to my system. I have become intimately familiar with my system since I have kept all of my components for a good while. So the smallest changes are very noticeable to me.

Millionaire??? Oh gimme break! Most of them will count every penny and ending up with some simple Belkin or Tripplight for their Dennon AVR/sound bar entertainment system.
That's one of the tricky part of being a millionaire.

Tonywinsc,

I hear you. Some of my cheapest tweaks have been the most rewarding. I also help friends upgrade and finding good deals for someone else is plenty of fun.