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Insanely Expensive....and Worth Every Penny

There are many threads which discuss things like "80% of the performance at 20% of the price", how overpriced certain components are compared to others, and how some components fail to hold their value on the used market.

So here is a cheerfully optimistic question:

What component, accessory, set of speakers, or tweak have you purchased - preferably new - that was wildly, insanely expensive, and in your honest opinion really WORTH IT?

Something that was delightful to own, and demonstrably superior to anything less expensive...

(I hope this is not a very short thread.)
cwlondon
newbee
4,794 posts
 
"Wildly, insanely expensive", I don't know, but my SP10 wasn't exactly cheap in 1984 terms, close to if not SOTA, and was the core of my main system until recently. Its still worth on the used market 2/3ds of what it cost. Zero regrets.
plato
1,543 posts
 
My feeling is that those terms are mutually exclusive... i.e., nothing "insanely expensive" is worth every penny! You're lucky if you even get a perceived value of 50 percent when it comes to super-expensive gear.

On the other hand, I have a lot of gear that is incredibly inexpensive that I think is worth at least twice its MSRP in terms of performance per dollar.

I mean who cares how good something sounds if you have to pay over $50k for it? No matter how much you pay, you can't change the basic laws of physics. But as soon as some prescient company offers a unit that can do exactly that... well, that would be worth pretty much any price...
Post removed 
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Newbee

I would say that the price of ARC in the 80's was pretty insanely expensive.

I bought my SP-11 years later, when I could better afford it on the used market.

I, too, have no regrets - its the last component I would ever sell.

This thread was in part inspired by a proverb which says:

"Buy the best - only cry once."

Lets hear more about expensive components with no regrets.
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