2. amps-preamps
  3. 180000-155632

When someone tells you it's a $40,000 amp, does it sound better?

I've always been a little bit suspicious when gear costs more than $25,000 . At $25,000 all the components should be the finest, and allow room for designer Builder and the dealer to make some money.

I mean that seems fair, these boxes are not volume sellers no one's making a ton of money selling the stuff.

But if I'm listening to a $40,000 amplifier I imagine me Liking it a whole lot more just because it costs $40,000. How many people have actually experienced listening to a $40,000 amplifier.  It doesn't happen that often and usually when you do there's nothing else around to compare it to.  
 

I'm just saying expensive gear is absolutely ridiculous.  It's more of a head game I'm afraid. Some how if you have the money to spend, and a lot of people do, these individuals feel a lot better spending more money for something.  Now you own it, and while listening to it you will always be saying to yourself that thing cost $40,000 and somehow you'll enjoy it more.

 

jumia
razor2022's avatar
razor2022
19 posts
 

Agreed you should let your ears make the decisions.  I also believe most people live within their means.  No one can tell you what sounds better or what you should spend.  Not everyone can spend 250k or a million bucks on a sports car but I don't criticize those who do.

ps
740 posts
 

Every time I listen to my Luxman Class A integrated I tell myself it's a $40,000 amp and by gawd, it does indeed sound even better.

kw6
691 posts
 

Keep in mind allow for a $10k budget for the power cord!😅

jl35
3,918 posts
 

so if they made the new list price on our amps $40,000 but they were always on sale for much less, then we would like them more ??

yyzsantabarbara
4,461 posts
 

@jl35 I say yes. A great example was the TAD ME-1 speaker. It was $15K with stands, which was very high for a monitor. They dropped the price by $5K (I think) to be more competitive with gear like KEF Reference 1. That last about a month or 2 and they raised the price again to $15K. That told me that they could make a profit at $10K but wanted the cache of $15K exclusivity. 

With a warm amp that is a great monitor, but I lost interest after that price gymnastics.

More to discover