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How can anyone afford this ?

I consider myself a dedicated audiophile. I am 36(which I am guessing is a little younger than the average here) and single. I have been interested in high-end audio since I saw my uncle's Mcintosh and Threshold equipment for the first time when I was 5.
Since joining the workforce and saving a little I have always been trying to put together a nice system on a budget. I do OK financially(I am a systems engineer) but I do live in NYC which may put some of this into perspective.
Over the last 6 months I have struggled to buy(all used on Agon) a pair of Dynaudio Audience 42s and a Threshold CAS2 amp, Chang CLS3200, and cables(I haven't gone out[I don't have a girfriend], purchased anything else and really haven't eaten too much to be able to afford these and it is still a real stretch). I am using the amp with a direct connection from my CD/DVD player(Cambridge Audo Azur 540D...slightly modified[op amps, PS caps, bypass caps] that I have had for almost 10 years). A fellow has a Threshold FET2 series II(to match with the CAS2) he is holding for me but that seems like a pipe dream at this point along with a turntable.
A few years ago the analogue bug hit me.
I had a setup consisting of an Audio Analogue Settanta integrated and a Nottingham Horizon SE turntable with a Rega RB300 tonearm with the Incognto rewire and structural mod. This was not an expensive kit by any stretch but for me it almost put me in the poor house. I had to sell the entire rig to pay my bills and it hurt.
It seems over the last 10 years or so I have not been able to keep a kit for more than 6 months before I had to sell it. Whenever I don't have a rig I am constantly scanning the online Ads lusting for the next bargain to set up a system and cannot even listen to music on a mass market rig(I have been spoiled).
Anyway, I guess my question is how can anyone normal afford this hobby? What type of money do you have to be making to be able to enjoy this hobby.....$100,000/year? $500,000/year? Do you need to be worth millions? $5,000 barely gets you in the door(some interconnects cost more) and you could possibly spend millions. I am not looking to put together a $10,000 system(not even close...and that is modest in this hobby) but if I wanted to I don't see it ever being financially possible. If I had a girlfriend or a family(hopefully someday) I would not event be able to think about this hobby with a good conscience. I guess I am wondering if all these people in this hobby are millionaires? I am close to selling my rig again to pay the bills(the amp needed repair/recap and that was $450). Any advice for an audiophile who lusts to put together a nice rig but can't afford it? Should I get out and save for 5 or 10 years and then try again? Maybe I am in the wrong hobby but it is more addicting that crack to me(and more expensive). Maybe I should be a crackhead instead...that might be the only thing to make me forget about it. Thoughts?
adamd1205
paperw8
165 posts
 

02-09-11: Raymonda
Paperw8, your statement is overly simplified, off the mark and just plan wrong.
maybe the following report will clarify your understanding:

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

note the following comments following figure 5:
---
"Of all the new financial wealth created by the American economy in that 21-year-period, fully 42% of it went to the top 1%. A whopping 94% went to the top 20%, which of course means that the bottom 80% received only 6% of all the new financial wealth generated in the United States during the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s (Wolff, 2007)."
---
one of the problems in the country today is that there are too many people who can only see the world as it appears to them - if things are ok by them then that means that things are ok period. it's just not that way in the real world and today's ok-for-you may be tomorrow's not-so-ok; i mean, there are a lot of former white collar workers who thought that things were ok in the 1990's who are now 99'ers. i suspect things don't look so ok for them today.
manitunc
795 posts
 
The problem in the world is that we just cannot sustain the standard of living that was enjoyed by our middle class that consisted mainly of our baby boomers. At that time, the world was our oyster, and it was easy to spread the wealth around. But now we have a world with an exploding "middle class" that would be considered poor by our standards, but much better off than they were 20 years ago. I believe that we will have to accept a different definition of what it is to be middle class, and that does not include a car for every driver, a flat screen for every room, and houses many times the size we need. When it is considered to be poor to be making less than 50k for a family of 4, something has gone off kilter.

Oh, and we could take all the money that the top 5 percent have, spread it around, and make no difference to the lifestyles of most of the rest. And dont get me started on the 50 million in America who dont pay any federal tax at all.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,408 posts
 
Its true that that the countries with the leading economies over the last century have enjoyed the benefits that go with being on the leading edge.

The rest of the world is in teh process of catching up now!

The earth is only so big and can sustain so much.

I doubt that the entire world can eventually live like those that profited from teh industrial revolution in the US have.

We'll have to reach a happy compromise somewhere.

The internet changes the game in terms of enbaling people to be informed. Hopefully we continue to use it way more than we abuse it.
jdoris
972 posts
 
Paperw8 wrote:

"Of all the new financial wealth created by the American economy in that 21-year-period, fully 42% of it went to the top 1%. A whopping 94% went to the top 20%, which of course means that the bottom 80% received only 6% of all the new financial wealth generated in the United States during the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s (Wolff, 2007)."

Manitunc responded:

The problem in the world is that we just cannot sustain the standard of living that was enjoyed by our middle class that consisted mainly of our baby boomers.

Could both of these be true?

John
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
Does an owner of a 25K turntable has to feel guilty, because it was made for 3.5k and the rest of it is all mark up?
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