07-16-12: Marakanetz
From the engineering stand point the technology of new audio componets degrades in order to deliver higher profits.
Really? Where do you come up with that?
Modern amps on average have wider bandwidth, faster rise times, higher current, higher damping factor, lower distortion, and audibly better signal-to-noise ratio. Do they achieve this with cheaper parts? No, they have better build quality with better transformers, glass epoxy printed circuit boards (instead of phenolic), better wiring, closer tolerance-matched components, and even better RCA jacks and speaker terminals.
Around 1972, the audio world gasped when Bob Carver offered the Phase Linear 400 at around $450. Adjusted for inflation, that bargain would be $2300 today. Do you really assert you can't get a better--and especially better built--amp for $2300 today? Or how about the excellent amps available today priced below that from Parasound, Adcom, Rotel, Emotiva, Cambridge Audio, Marantz, Odyssey Audio, Rogue Audio, PrimaLuna, and many others? If anything, larger production runs and automated processes make narrower profit margins viable via economy of scale.