Moderately priced audio

Reading many posts on Audiogon, you would think that people are embarrassed to admit they have a hard time affording anything over, let's say, $2000. Numbers discussed and thrown around are in tens of thousands for speakers and thousands for phono cartridges and cables.

However, a couple of years ago, price of an average audio system owned by a Stereophile reader was around $12 000, if I remember correctly. There was even a number how much an average reader was planning to spend on their system in the next year. It was relatively low. I forgot the number but way lower than $5000. It is somewhere on the Internet. Maybe $1500? I am not really sure anymore.

There is some discrepancy between what we read and what we do, it seems. Maybe magazines need to "review" more expensive products because those products do need more advertising. Cheaper products may be selling themselves just based on price and manufacturers do not allocate so much into their marketing/reviews. See how much noise there is about new Magnepan speakers. They are $650, if I remember correctly.

Car magazines are full of tests of expensive cars while Toyota Corolla still sells well.

Here are some data about Stereophile readers. I was wrong with numbers in the post above. Time for Aricept.

Hi-Fi Equipment & Accessories

Average number of audio systems in home 2.2
Average amount invested in systems $18,500
Have budgeted/expect to buy hi-fi components in next 12 months 71%
Average amount expect to spend in next 12 months $2,400

Home Theater Equipment

Have home theater/video/TV equipment 92%
Average amount invested in equipment $6,700
Average amount expected to spend in the next 12 months $1,590

http://www.avtechmediausa.com/mediakit.stph.pdf

My main 2 channel system set me back about $3500. It took many years of swapping, selling, buying and research to get to this point. I love to listen to music and generally play around with my audio "stuff", but, I think I have maxed out the budget on the major components. The reason I think I have reached that point is less about expendable income and more about the physical limitations of my listening area, my choice of sources and my 63 year old semi-damaged hearing. Considering I generally stream music that is played back in varying bit rates of MP3, serious equipment upgrades are not really warranted for my needs.  Some years ago I did invest in a new, but discontinued Arcam DAC for $200, to connect to the digital out of my so-so stearmer. That made the biggest difference in sound for my usual source material.

One possible issue with the stereophile survey data is that it is likely that those readers having lower cost systems were less likely to respond. Would be nice to know the distribution of the data. 

I have had a subscription to Stereophile and TAS for many years while owning a $2000 system. One one I owned for 25 years with only 1 change in speakers. One I was proud of and many who listened to it were impressed. I did not respond to the survey, mostly due to lack of interest. Now I am retired, my kids are out of college debt free, and my 2nd system would retail at $2000. 

I took a recent interest again in improving my stereo system.  I found it all a bit confusing so I decided to keep it simple and not too expensive for now. My good friend confessed to me that over the years he probably spent $50k buying, selling, trading, upgrading, etc. and added that if he could start over again he could build an equal system for about $10K.  That caused me to slow down and try to learn more before jumping in too deep. So, I purchased a Yamaha N803 receiver and a Yamaha CD player. I still have my old Sansui SR-525 turntable and the Vandersteen speakers I purchased years ago from my good friend for $400. I upgraded my speaker wire and bought a better power conditioner. I'm right around $2K all in and I'm reasonably happy with the sound. I'm sure I'll upgrade at some point but I'm ok for now. Although that little MAC MA252 has been calling my name!