What Does 80 Grand Get You Nowadays?

@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.

@allenf1963 that's an excellent question. Maybe they are good at reproducing certain specific music genres, I don't know.

I've heard Watt Puppies, Sashas and Sabrinas. All best summed up as competent and unexciting. Granted that's only Wilson's low end, so I would be curious to hear properly driven Alexxs for instance.

Op, I’d guess that if you went to a dealer who actually knows how to put together a system for $80K , or maybe in the case of the place you went to one in any amount, you’d walk away with a different reaction

For $80,000 based on going to various audio shows, it's hit or miss what you'll get.  However, it's a sure bet that an $80,000 system isn't 8x as good as a $10,000 system.   

My impression of  modern hi-end audio is that many of the components lack aesthetics; speakers are made to look different for the sake of being different, and as far the sound, sometimes the speakers have really have a great sound, but unfortunately you might need a gymnasium to hold them, other time you wonder if the people who designed them had lost their hearing in a war.   

My point is there's very little correlation between price and sound, and the best judge is to listen to it regardless of price point.  And there is often a vibe in reviews that the more expensive, the better it is, and that doesn't correlate with reality.

Finally, if someone wants to give me one of those new fancy reel-to-reel tape machines, I'd love to replace my RT-701.