What Does 80 Grand Get You Nowadays?
A system was playing in a shop. I sat down and pretty soon I thought gosh, I’m glad my system sounds better than this.
That system - just preamp, amp, and speakers - cost about $80,000 new.
I didn’t make the speakers at first, because Sabrinas look far better than the usual Wilson house look. They were driven by one of those new high-end Marantz amps, and I don’t think that was a match made in heaven. The Marantz was driven by a Dan D’Agostino pre that looked like a Minion had been crushed in a hydraulic press. Audiophile music was streaming, but I did not catch whence issued those dulcet ones and zeroes.
I suppose that system constitutes high-end for some. Now, it certainly sounded competent, but it also sounded boring. I thought, this is the Audi SUV of audio: competent and boring.
Conversely, I was impressed and pleased to no end that the end sound of my modest system from the last century could play in the same league as an almost-six figure modern system, and do so in a more engaging and fun fashion - to my ears, at least.
I’m biased, of course; and I am certain many high-priced systems out there leave mine in the dust. Still, I would have thought $80,000 guaranteed a better baseline sound.
How about you, have you heard a lot of gear whose sound was way out of whack with its price?
@onhwy61 I think it's a very important post. I don't think anyone argues that in general a $10 anything will be better than a $5 anything. I see two points here:
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My experience in that shop was (clearly) not positive, and I sought to tell it without embellishment nor caricature. Should we only say nice things? I started this thread to spark a honest conversation about the relationship between sound quality and money spent. This, I think, is something we all relate to, although in practice we go about it in very different ways.
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Yes synergy is important.matching the output of the pre to the amp and then the speakers is importand.have high end krell dagostino and it's fine with no minions popping out.maybe i could put them to work and pay for the equipment like the goose that laid the golden egg.wilson has some great speakers i have the max paired with mcintosh monoblocks sound great.marantz is not the only manufacture with class d it's comming of age. Wish I had a brick and morter store close.enjoy the music. |
Having compared the amplifier section in a Marantz PM10 with C-J, Audio Research, Krell, D'Agostino, the P.S. Audio hybrids, and Accuphase, within the past year, I am respectfully suggesting you need a hearing test. They all sound slightly different, but the differences are very nuanced. None can in any way be characterized as rolled off or constipated. It is certainly reasonable to develop preferences, but any of these amps would be acceptable to any reasonable person. Personally, I hear greater differences in preamps, phono stages and even perhaps in cables. None of these differences can be compared in any way with speakers or room acoustics.
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