Concerning the point of diminishing returns, I've run into this dilemma recently as I've shopped for replacement Speakers. My current Speakers are full-range, review by Stereophile and "A rated" and currently retail for $5.5K
I've had them for 2-yrs now and have been very happy with their performance but was curious to see if I could take it up a notch without breaking the Bank.
What I found after 2-weeks of extensive auditioning of what are arguably considered the best Speakers currently available regardless of price, is that a) the Speakers were too large for my above-average-sized living room b) noticably better sound started at twice the retail price of my current Speakers c) my current Speakers are sonically within single-digit-percentage-points of the best sounding Speakers that asthetically fit my space.
I won't even go into the electronics, noticable sonic improvment (to my ears, not the salesman's) came at 4>5 times what I spent back in 2004 on my Stereophile "A rated" system.
What this has proven to me is that regardless of all the hype from the media/blogs and retailers, Hi-Fi equipment reaches a sonic plateau much sooner than consumers are expected to believe and stays there for much longer. Top-shelf Hi-Fi gear is NOT sonically outdated every couple of years as most consumers are lead to believe.
BTW: Nothing and I mean Nothing made my current Gear sound low-fi. When I walked into the Dealers I would mention my existing gear has components that I heard and liked, then the Salesmen would automatically go into this pitch about how the difference between those components and what I was auditioning was night and day and could not be compared on any level. Then at the end of the audition, I would tell them what I own and the shades-of-gray differences in what I just heard and they would be speachless...busted!
I've had them for 2-yrs now and have been very happy with their performance but was curious to see if I could take it up a notch without breaking the Bank.
What I found after 2-weeks of extensive auditioning of what are arguably considered the best Speakers currently available regardless of price, is that a) the Speakers were too large for my above-average-sized living room b) noticably better sound started at twice the retail price of my current Speakers c) my current Speakers are sonically within single-digit-percentage-points of the best sounding Speakers that asthetically fit my space.
I won't even go into the electronics, noticable sonic improvment (to my ears, not the salesman's) came at 4>5 times what I spent back in 2004 on my Stereophile "A rated" system.
What this has proven to me is that regardless of all the hype from the media/blogs and retailers, Hi-Fi equipment reaches a sonic plateau much sooner than consumers are expected to believe and stays there for much longer. Top-shelf Hi-Fi gear is NOT sonically outdated every couple of years as most consumers are lead to believe.
BTW: Nothing and I mean Nothing made my current Gear sound low-fi. When I walked into the Dealers I would mention my existing gear has components that I heard and liked, then the Salesmen would automatically go into this pitch about how the difference between those components and what I was auditioning was night and day and could not be compared on any level. Then at the end of the audition, I would tell them what I own and the shades-of-gray differences in what I just heard and they would be speachless...busted!