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Moderately priced audio

So I have been a audiophile for 40 years and in that time I have seen and owned a huge amount of equipment. Lately I have been reading Sterephile magazine and attended the last 2 years of Axpona. My question is what about the people that love the craft and get tremendous joy out of their audio systems that are in the $2-5K price range. Are they to be ignored? I know this hobby holds a lot of enthusiasm by people that have great sounding systems of new and vintage gear that they are proud of and enjoy listening to. While I appreciate the sound and the technology of the systems that cost more than a house I think there is a slice of enthusiast that are silent. Back in the 70s I worked at a stereo store that your average person came in and spent $600-$1000 and got a good sounding system. And we sold a lot of them. Seems a lot less interest today. Could it be the price of what you see in magazines and shows? 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. Feel free to share what you have. I know you are out there. 
schmitty1
Post removed 
inna
8,240 posts
 
Yeah, another point is that what one calls moderately priced, either new or used, is very subjective, at least to the point. $5k new excellent amp is moderately priced in my view, $5k excellent cartridge is not. It doesn't matter whether or not I can afford it right away or ever. I try to assess the intrinsic value of these things and will not pay $3k for mediocre amp but might pay $5k for an excellent one.
However, I think I reached the limit of what is possible to achieve with inexpensive components. If I really want to make a big step up it is going to cost even used. As an example, the least expensive speakers that I might want is Kharma for about $4k used, on ebay right now.
ahofer
225 posts
 
Two thoughts:

1. A few thousand dollars is actually the sweet spot, where you get high quality gear, and the first derivative of quality per dollar from there is decreasing rapidly.

2. All the folks with the audio bug are letting stuff go for a song.  The 5 years ago $50k system can be had for this price with some searching, particular if the manufacturer is out of business.
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