member system photos???

Drubin,

RE:

Let's update that and say it's now $259K. What amazes me is, how can you even build a home for that amount I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, where housing prices are in the stratosphere, but even if I scraped my lot and put up a new 2500 sf home, it would cost in the neighborhood of $600K to build. Are construction costs so much less in other parts of the country?

Yes, at least in Texas. There are areas North of Dallas where you can buy a new home approx. 2100 SF for $110,000.00. They are not made as well as custom homes but at least it's "your own" place.

My home is in close and (yes) gone up a lot. Still, there are homes in my neighborhood that are nice that can be bought for $240,000.00. They need work but solid homes in a nice middle class neighborhood. Mine has had a lot of work but since we bought so long ago, the investment has been outstripped by inflation over time.

There are some very expensive parts of Dallas, the neighborhood West of me about 10-15 minutes is called Highland Park and is where many wealthy people live, including the people that own Frito-Lay. Homes there begin about 1.7 million and go up to any number you can name.

So basically Dallas is a place where everyone can live at any price. I think SF. California and New York City rank among the most expensive places to live other than Hawaii. I have many friends in CA and my wife and I thought about moving there many, many years ago. Can't say I am sorry I stayed here, my heart is in Texas. I am third generation, my wife is from here and of course our son was born here. I have good friends and no regrets, that's all that's important about any town USA :^).

Good point. Given the long proven benefits of soffit mounting for speakers and the prevalence of this format at the professional high end, it is astonishing to see audiophiles, spend huge $$$ on all nature of tweaks, whilst ignoring a fundamental issue with speaker physics (that bass radiates in all directions causing deep null cancellations as they bounce off the nearby rear wall). I suspect manufacturers and industry reviewers have a vested interest in ignoring this fundamental issue, as they prefer users to upgrade equipment rather than invest in the listening room.

Yes, at least in Texas. There are areas North of Dallas where you can buy a new home approx. 2100 SF for $110,000.00. They are not made as well as custom homes but at least it's "your own" place.

Must be nice, here in Calgary homes have jumped around 50% in the last year. Average price now is just over 400K. I feel for the younger people just starting out, it's impossible for them to get into a home.

Although I have a room that is dedicated to HT and stereo (it does have a computer in it), there is still a compromise because of the location of the door to the room and the alcove leading to a dressing area, walk-in closet, and bath -- it's designed to be a bedroom. The room is roughly 14' X 19', and I would prefer that the LR speakers be more than 4' from the rear wall, but then one would stand in the doorwayr. I think compromise is usual.

We live in a small town adjacent to Santa Barbara, CA where the median price home is over $2.4 million and the mean is reported to be around $3.3 million. There are no listings in 6 figures. But if you move inland to CA's answer to TX, you can find homes in the low 6 figures, and the ocean is less than a half hour drive. We are a block from the beach