I lived in Los Angeles for 10 months, and saw more Ferraris there in 10 months than in 50 years in Pennsylvania. LOL!
You are right about the average person stereo Taters, but then the average person has probably never heard the Vandersteen name. I've noticed in general, the high end manufacturers prices are going up, waaaaay up. I can't think of a single manufacturer whose top of the line product isn't at least twice the price of his top of the line 5-8 years ago. Many have gone up 3, 4 or even 5 fold.
For instance, VAC's top of the line preamp used to be $10-12K, now it's $50K. They used to sell several models under $10K, now, you can't buy anything under $10K. VAC is NOT an anomaly, it's the norm in the industry. I can't blame them, they are simply chasing the money trail.
You are right about the average person stereo Taters, but then the average person has probably never heard the Vandersteen name. I've noticed in general, the high end manufacturers prices are going up, waaaaay up. I can't think of a single manufacturer whose top of the line product isn't at least twice the price of his top of the line 5-8 years ago. Many have gone up 3, 4 or even 5 fold.
For instance, VAC's top of the line preamp used to be $10-12K, now it's $50K. They used to sell several models under $10K, now, you can't buy anything under $10K. VAC is NOT an anomaly, it's the norm in the industry. I can't blame them, they are simply chasing the money trail.