New Music Direct Catalog

Nice catalog to be sure, but it couldn't unseat my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue for top of the stack by my listening chair. It is there for reading, under the SI issue though. ;^)

I had a chance to flip through this catalog today, and what jumped out at me was: What happened to speakers? When did they become so irrelevant?

I mean $30K turntables, $25K preamps, $40K monoblock amps, and the most expensive speakers they carry are $5K Wharfdale's? Hell, they were selling speaker cables that cost $5K.

I know it's not the 70's anymore, when dealers said you should spend 70% of your audio budget on speakers, but has the system totally reversed itself now? Are speakers simply a side dish now? When did that happen?

Cheers,
John