Mike O Neill designed the drivers and everything else for an audiophile speaker which sells for 200k.
Do you mean Electro-Voice Mike O'Neill? Which audiophile speakers did he design?
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?
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Daniel Hertz (by Mark Levinson)....the M1 system sells for 200k.
@devinplombier wrote
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It’s all a farce.....the drivers are superior, the engineering is superior.... and apparently the home audio guy put some polish on his mdf, so the price got up to 80k (Well, i’ve got real Finnish Birch Beatchbosch, polish that) Yes, i’ve got that pioneer and a danley horn and some other things in my cabin. Unfortunately, i can’t bring everything to my regular house and do a back-to-back demo against the regular audiophile speakers for the naysayers (no space left and risk of divorce, etc might go up). But, a couple of guys have showed up at my cabin, heard it and changed their attitudes shortly thereafter about the sound....
@phusis wrote
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you heard the wrong thing....These are not some dinky li'l studio monitors i am referring to. There is a category of higher end pro installation grade speakers that get installed in higher end venues (you have to even be on a special guy list to get into some of these venues somedays, y'know). They are not studio monitors and they are not barrel bottom touring crap....They get installed, they don't move and they tend to be kinda large. But, they are still very affordable by audiophile standards.
I had a Schweikert 55 up until a year ago, it got talked about somewhere for sure. I know exactly what your point of reference is. Retake Econ 101...i'll come up with the exam questions and grade it this time, no curves and a 79.3% shall still be a C.
@sls883 wrote
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To me a hifi system is a highly personal thing that is developed over many years or decades. We tailor them to fit our evolving tastes and work in our rooms. Components have been acquired, sold and upgraded over time. We have grown with our systems. Rarely can even expensive systems that we hear at dealers or shows come close. Often they are a lot worse. There are no shortcuts. Splashing eighty grand on a new system is no substitute for years or decades of careful system building. This is a process not an event.
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