How can anyone afford this ?


I consider myself a dedicated audiophile. I am 36(which I am guessing is a little younger than the average here) and single. I have been interested in high-end audio since I saw my uncle's Mcintosh and Threshold equipment for the first time when I was 5.
Since joining the workforce and saving a little I have always been trying to put together a nice system on a budget. I do OK financially(I am a systems engineer) but I do live in NYC which may put some of this into perspective.
Over the last 6 months I have struggled to buy(all used on Agon) a pair of Dynaudio Audience 42s and a Threshold CAS2 amp, Chang CLS3200, and cables(I haven't gone out[I don't have a girfriend], purchased anything else and really haven't eaten too much to be able to afford these and it is still a real stretch). I am using the amp with a direct connection from my CD/DVD player(Cambridge Audo Azur 540D...slightly modified[op amps, PS caps, bypass caps] that I have had for almost 10 years). A fellow has a Threshold FET2 series II(to match with the CAS2) he is holding for me but that seems like a pipe dream at this point along with a turntable.
A few years ago the analogue bug hit me.
I had a setup consisting of an Audio Analogue Settanta integrated and a Nottingham Horizon SE turntable with a Rega RB300 tonearm with the Incognto rewire and structural mod. This was not an expensive kit by any stretch but for me it almost put me in the poor house. I had to sell the entire rig to pay my bills and it hurt.
It seems over the last 10 years or so I have not been able to keep a kit for more than 6 months before I had to sell it. Whenever I don't have a rig I am constantly scanning the online Ads lusting for the next bargain to set up a system and cannot even listen to music on a mass market rig(I have been spoiled).
Anyway, I guess my question is how can anyone normal afford this hobby? What type of money do you have to be making to be able to enjoy this hobby.....$100,000/year? $500,000/year? Do you need to be worth millions? $5,000 barely gets you in the door(some interconnects cost more) and you could possibly spend millions. I am not looking to put together a $10,000 system(not even close...and that is modest in this hobby) but if I wanted to I don't see it ever being financially possible. If I had a girlfriend or a family(hopefully someday) I would not event be able to think about this hobby with a good conscience. I guess I am wondering if all these people in this hobby are millionaires? I am close to selling my rig again to pay the bills(the amp needed repair/recap and that was $450). Any advice for an audiophile who lusts to put together a nice rig but can't afford it? Should I get out and save for 5 or 10 years and then try again? Maybe I am in the wrong hobby but it is more addicting that crack to me(and more expensive). Maybe I should be a crackhead instead...that might be the only thing to make me forget about it. Thoughts?
adamd1205

Showing 4 responses by johnnyb53

It's trickle down, baby. The cost-no-object designs bought through high prices paid by rich early adopters pays for the R&D and proof of concept that results in advancements in the state of the art that benefit us all. Without $150,000 turntables, how would the maker know which are the most important design elements to be refined and cost-reduced for lower-priced models?

The results speak for themselves: I bought my first stereo in 1972 on sale for $419. Adjusted for inflation, that's $2125 for an Altec-Lansing compact with 44 wpc receiver, Garrard turntable built into the top, and garden variety small bookshelf speakers. Trust me, you can get much better today for the equivalent money, such as some PSB Image 6's, Cambridge or Marantz integrated amp, and Rega P3 or MMF 5.1 turntable with $200-300 Denon, Grado, or Audio Technica cartridge.

Ultra high end shows us what's possible, and from reading about and listening to such systems you come away with the essence of high end--an auditory virtual reality machine that transports you into a sublime performance complete with artist-to-listener rapport. While the ultra-expensive systems can get you that transcendental experience on the widest variety of music and ensembles, you don't have to spend anywhere near that to achieve a similar experience on most program material and a reasonable facsimile on the rest.
The OP's symptoms sound much more like a raging neurosis than a mere hobby. If at some point you can't settle down and enjoy the music your rig is capable of, there is something else wrong. It could be emotional or it could be a system matching issue.

Perhaps you're spending too much money on components and not enough to clean up the power (power cords & conditioner), transfer the signal (interconnects and spkr cables), and interact properly with the room (racks, stands, traps, diffusers).

We all go through "kicks" and obsessions; it's what motivates us to do upgrades, which properly done, do improve transparency, coherency, etc. But it should always bring you back to enjoyment of the music. Right now my obsession isn't gear, it's those wonderful new LPs remastered by Bernie Grundman, Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, & co. At least I can get my "fix" for $25-35 a pop.
Well I was talking about trickle-down *technology*, not economic policy. Marantz's first customer was a near Eastern sheik; hardly anyone else could afford hand-built cost-no-object high end components. Sequerra's Model 1 Tuner was $2500 in 1975 (almost $10K in today's money for an FM tuner!). Within a year Kenwood had one based on the same principle for $599. In the '40s the IBM CEO famously said that there might be 7 customers worldwide for a computer. At $7M per ($76M in today's money), he was probably right, but today we can get computers for $499 that far surpass the performance of the old ones.

By the same token, you can get a wider bandwidth, more linear, more transparent system today that will run circles around most systems from the '70s (including musical satisfaction) for far less (adjusted for inflation).
02-08-11: Thegoldenear
Wall St Bonuses, mine is coming in two weeks. Oh wait Wife wants a patio something we dont have, ...
Which reminds me:

Q: What's the difference between a penis and a bonus?

A: Your wife will blow your bonus.