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?

devinplombier11-03-2025 11:19pm

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mahgister Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 15,050 posts 11-05-2025 at 11:00pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete How about you, have you heard a lot of gear whose sound was way out of whack with its price? Audiophiles are in two groups: Not only the subjectivist and objectivist gangs conflating acoustics with room acoustic, but the other two group are the filthy rich and the filthy poor... The rich one brag about their brand,the poor at least (i am one) sometimes know that sound quality dont related merely to price but also to basic knowledge... Discussing about which brand is better or with car is better or which wrestler is better remind me of the children playground... The OP experience is also mine... Anything at any price not well optimized may sound and often sound underpar...
parkergetdean Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 1,047 posts 11-05-2025 at 11:48pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete are you 5? Did you grow up in a swamp? What's wrong with you?
bslon Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 2,719 posts 11-06-2025 at 12:51am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete @devinplombier I started reading your post and recognized the shop right away, made me smile. It’s under new ownership, we lost a treasure.
deep_333 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 2,436 posts 11-06-2025 at 01:03am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete - Great sound has to be engineered. It requires a guy with smarts and a good ear to tune things. Some things that can’t quite be measured have to be arrived at empirically. - If you give a dummy 80k, he just won’t get smarter and make anything sound better. He’ll a put a few more polishes on the cabinet or hire some designer to design a fancier looking cabinet...or make an infinitesimal sonic improvement to some driver.... put an extra shine on his teeth and give you a big wide smile..If you pay him 200k, he won’t get smarter either.... only that smile might get wider. - If the wallet is slimmer, ya gotta zero in on the smart guy in the pool without wasting too much cash grasping in the dark/sitting on the merry-go-round for too long. There is usually only 2 or 3 really smart guys in a crowd of 100. On the same note, it takes that guy to provide great sound at low prices. - For example, a pair of Tekton Epic 15 speakers for around $2200 or so from a very high IQ guy, a couple of Schiity Gjallarhorns for around 600 dollars or so (if it clicked for your tastes) won’t make you miss some 80k things from a very low IQ guy...or one could also go the diy route. Subject-wise: if I had to spend 80K, I would give 79K to AOC and from 1K I’d buy a second sub.
mahgister Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 15,050 posts 11-06-2025 at 01:28am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Now be informed : high IQ or low IQ are the new divide between audiophiles... After costly gear focus people versus low cost gear tweakers, Subjectivist versus objectivists, Tube versus S.S.dudes Analog versus digital,or vinyl versus cd.... I am not as intelligent as i think for sure, but some think they are way more intelligent than most... Myself i prefer the distinction between those who study and read about acoustics scientific articles and books(not about mere room acoustic by the way but about acoustics concept ) and those who read audio magazine or audiogon or ASR threads thats all ... I read audio threads too by the way, but it was not enough to learn how to optimize my system by far... I passed by obligation a IQ test at school for a complete day session when i was 13... My position as student who never worked was mediocre at the times but i goes to the elite college immediately after this test result... Ok i will stop boasting like the poster above...We are sometimes contaminated ... As a note : i passed this IQ test with high score not because i was more intelligent than all the school, not at all. It is because i read all day long books without working at all in school. My intelligence is normal slightly above average, but the books i read were written by geniuses. This is why i scored well . Some thing must be said. I never lost this habit, i hate to read by the way. Why did i read so much then ? It is because i discovered hundred of geniuses in all fields. It is impossible not to be in ecstasy reading a great books about numbers, mammals, lingtuistic etc any field, the field dont matter only the genius name matter or alas ! the average dude who wrote the book you will loose time reading it... IQ is a myth useful only for average intelligence dude . It is better to boast about the books we read than about the brain we have not ...I goes with my own advice...I prefer to speak about books than about IQ...