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.
I've posted about this before. It was well enough known at work that people would come up to me for advice. Not only advice, but a few hired me to set them up a whole system. I always asked the same three questions: what's your total budget, how's it being used, and what are your special requirements? (Must have turntable, must have CD changer, etc.)
None of these was over $2500 all-in, and the best one, the one I actually miss and wish I'd have duplicated if for no other reason than to have around to show people what's possible, was barely $1200.
The key to these, which is just my opinion but is founded on a whole lotta evidence, is these were complete systems. Despite the low total budget every single one included quality power cords, interconnects, speaker cable, and Cones under every component. The amount or proportion of the budget that went into these "tweaks" was the same high share that has gotten me grief around here every time its mentioned. All I can say, unlike the "audiophiles" who all know better all the people who heard these systems were stunned and the owners thrilled.
The first one I did, $2500, was a wife's birthday present for her husband. He called me up to complain it was making him late for work. He would get up each morning intending to listen for just one track, which became two, three.... This guy was so happy he could hardly contain himself. His work took him into a lot of really nice homes. A lot of these guys would show off and play him their high end systems. He knows his wife did not spend anywhere near that kind of money, and he knows his system sounds light years better than any of those, and he just couldn't thank me enough.
The cheapest and best though was only $1200 total for my father in law. Set up in my listening room to burn-in before delivery it sounded so good I kept dragging people in to listen just to prove to them you do not have to spend a lot of money. And he wanted a changer. That's right. One of the best most engaging systems people ever heard and it used a budget CD changer.
There's a couple others I know and they all really enjoy their budget systems. You hit a nerve here. The way everyone's knee jerk reaction is to run to the showy spendy big name gear is a tragic, crying shame.
Its one thing for people who've been doing this for decades, adding here upgrading there, to wind up with a five-figure (or more) system. Its quite a different thing altogether the way we automatically try and shove everyone into that box. One of the worst features of this site, the way so many are so eager to push everyone into that box just as fast as they can.
People will argue about inflation. That's monetary, don't get me going. Especially when the guy above is right. There's never been a better time to build a fantastic musically engaging system on a budget. Just be sure to include all the tweaks in the budget. I've got the happy customers to prove its what works. You won't find them here though. They're too happy to be at home enjoying their music.