My small room vinyl setup:ELAC Debut B6 speakers $180 on amazon open box warehouse sale, Emotiva Bas-X A-150 amp $240 open box on amazon, Emotiva PT-100 Preamp $300, Audio-Technica ATLP 7 direct drive turntable$360 Amazon open box, Nagaoka MP110 cart $120, Sony CD changer $18.00 w/Sr. discount at Goodwill, Polk Audio PSW10 subwoofer $70.00 Amazon open-box for a grand total of $1288. Sounds pretty good to my tired old ears.
Moderately priced audio
So I have been a audiophile for 40 years and in that time I have seen and owned a huge amount of equipment. Lately I have been reading Sterephile magazine and attended the last 2 years of Axpona. My question is what about the people that love the craft and get tremendous joy out of their audio systems that are in the $2-5K price range. Are they to be ignored? I know this hobby holds a lot of enthusiasm by people that have great sounding systems of new and vintage gear that they are proud of and enjoy listening to. While I appreciate the sound and the technology of the systems that cost more than a house I think there is a slice of enthusiast that are silent. Back in the 70s I worked at a stereo store that your average person came in and spent $600-$1000 and got a good sounding system. And we sold a lot of them. Seems a lot less interest today. Could it be the price of what you see in magazines and shows? I am curious to see if you people are out there that love the music and get great joy out of listening to your moderately priced audio equipment. Feel free to share what you have. I know you are out there.