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Price/performance curve

Hey you guys who've heard 'em all, could you help me understand the price/performance curve of audio equipment? I keep seeing people write about truly high-end gear and I'm wondering what the price points look like in terms of sonic improvement. So let's say that our scale is 0 to 100. 0 is basically white noise, 100 is you are sitting in the ideal spot at your favorite symphonic hall/jazz club/blues or rock forum and nobody in the audience is even breathing too loudly within audible range. For the sake of some reference point, let's say a decent boombox is about a 15, a decent set of components (say Sony/Pioneer/JVC electronics, Boston Acoustic speakers) chosen from your local mainstream audio outlet is a 30 and a decent set of entry-level components made by more musically inclined manufacturers (NAD, Paradigm, etc.) in the $1,500-2,000 range is a 50. What do the price points look like as you go to 60, 70, 80. 90 and 95+? I ask because I see people spending vastly different levels of money on this stuff and, while I don't expect to ever spend in the high five figures that some of us have doled out, I'd like to see where this road leads.Suggest alternatives on the scale if you like. I'll bet you all have some very interesting answers.
nichael7dd8
sedond
1,387 posts
 
i find it interesting that the *room* has come up in this thread so much, & i think that's a good thing, cuz, imho, the room is the single-most-important component of an excellent system. my listening room is ~25'x38', w/8.5' ceiling, & it is by *far* the main reason i get good sounds from reproduced music. it allows *real* bass from a good subwoofer set-up, among other things. and, ironically enough, i find this more important on simply-miked acoustical music than, say, reggae, for instance. also, a lot easier to get a good soundstage in a large room - less speaker interaction w/walls/furniture, etc. re: how much $$$ will get you how close to "100" an a scale of 0-100, i can't really say, but, for example, if $10k will get you to 80, then i think it would take $20k to get to 85. that being said, i would rather listen to a $10k system in a room my size, then a $20k system in a room, say, 12'x18'... so, improvement of sound vs dollars spent is largely room-dependant. doug
michaelb
39 posts
 
Here's what I've learned so far 1) performance is as much room-dependent as it is system-dependent, once you reach a certain part of the performance curve 2) the "percentage improvement" scale is valid only up to a certain level, which may be somewhere between $5K and $10K 3) the scale itself does not reflect the qualitative differences between a very good system and an outstanding system, which shifts the overall effect into a whole different realm of experience. So adding it all up, I'm concluding my question probably is applicable only in systems below a price point of some debatable level. Is that a fair summary?
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Overall I think you sumed it up well from my perspective but would add the fact that a good room is the wild card in the equation. It can transform a very good system into an outstanding one. Outstanding components and a mediocre room will not equate to an outstanding system.
kthomas
911 posts
 
Two critical points, one already mention, one not. It definitely matters what the upper end of the scale (100) represents and how valuable that is. My daughter avidly plays cello and is quite happy listening to classical music on a boom box. I'm not a musician, but get totally into getting a drum thwack to sound right on my system. The original post targeted 100 as indistinguishable from live, which implies valuing greatly that last little bit of "realness", which I think moves the price/performance point up quite a bit. Somebody new to building a system asking the same question, I'd put it quite a bit lower since you can get pretty phenomenal performance at pretty reasonable cost (certainly less than $10K). The other thing that seriously affects the knee of the curve is the type of music you want to listen to. Getting down into the 20's in terms of frequency response is very expensive, but also essential if you like organ music. If you're going to be listening to Metallica and Dream Theater, you probably don't get anywhere near the benefit.
michaelb
39 posts
 
Kthomas, I think I followed, but I'm not sure. Where would you put the various dots of the curve?
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