What Does 80 Grand Get You Nowadays?

@facten  I will seriously count it tomorrow. I actually went on their web site just now and I could easily count 25 pairs in their main rooms each from photos that show most of those rooms. They have 3 of those large rooms. Then they have 2 smaller showrooms, and the used stuff room with 10+ pairs in each. A bunch of speakers in the hallway and the entrance area.  So I could have been off 10%. (+ or -)

Since this is not my first rodeo here, I do not wish to disclose where I am and who they are. But it’s in the top 5 largest cities in the US so it’s not unimaginable we have a few very established hifi shops with large floorspace here. 

I know someone will comment here about what they ever observed and say that I am lying because they know there is no audio store ever with 6 show rooms. And I totally forgot about their 2 HT rooms so that’s 8.

• @parkergetdean    I don’t care if you are off 10% or whatever percentage. I asked more out of curiosity of what brands and the breath of  each particular brand’s lineup they carry. While I haven’t been in a store such as HiFi Buys in ions, they carry numerous speakers including those of 2 or 3 higher end brands so yes a store with a lot of speakers to potentially listen to exists. That said, in those situations  the auditioning set-up isn’t ideal, and the lineup of brands/models generally favors an "affordability" market niche. Now , if  you feel the store you are referencing needs to be kept a mystery so be it. I think from your above post that it likely is similar to a Hifi Buy. Depending upon what someone’s goals/focus is there’s nothing wrong with that. Likewise, there’s nothing wrong with someone being more focused on higher end

How far will 80 grand go?

Royal Caribbean are offering an all in drinks and gratuity package balcony stateroom round the world voyage, for just shy of $83,000 per cruisephile.

Chill out. Swap show rooms for staterooms.

This would take some hot headed angry minds off this mind boggling subject for 275 days.

@facten they carry the cheapest Polk and Wharfedale and the most expensive Børresen and second most expensive SF speakers. So yes, from $250 to 50K. 3 out of 5 of their speakers is probably between 2 and 4K.

The setup in most of the rooms is awful. Other than for nearfield listening, it’s useless. It sounds awful, like a 10th of the value of the gear that’s being played. I spoke about it with many people who frequent the store. They all agree that there is just little need to make it sound good, the new buyers won’t know what to hear and the experienced buyers will know what they are missing.  (It’s not a good logic but we assume it’s what the store owner thinks based on his character.)

The audiophiles will just take home a demo piece and check it out with their own setup.

I guess I'm just "uninformed" with "pedestrian ears", because I have never understood the hype around Wilson speakers.  I have a Wilson dealer in my town, and the store owner is a friend.  I have heard every model except for their flagship, the Chronosonic.  Every time he demos a line for me and I see the price tag, I just ask myself, "Why??"

I just don't get it.