What Does 80 Grand Get You Nowadays?

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

Certainly the design prowess is at full display in both the expensive and cheaper scenarios here (also with woofers that are likely of B&C origins in the Pro Pioneer XY-3B’s, if they are what your are referring to).

What it comes down to (because at the end of the day, pragmatically speaking, flaunting design excellence doesn’t move mountains): if we are to really give people an idea of the sonic outcome of these designs - apart obviously from listening to them for oneself - we need those with actual, unbiased experience with pro segment speakers in a home setting to report on this. 

Although, would it matter? I’m sure many around here don’t trust anyone but Stereophile, The Absolute Sound or the likes to report on the perceived impressions of speakers and audio gear at large (possibly even more than their own ears), and what do you think are the chances of those parties reviewing pro segment speakers, let alone used, more vintage items? We all know the answer to that. 

And so here we are, you and I and few others with our pro speakers that most - contrary to ourselves of course - don’t really give a crap  about. And that’s alright, because as you point to:

That’s just it, we don’t want that. But unless we’re speaking a wide scale mentality change and it’s a broader range of stuff that’s no longer made that somehow gains wild traction, I don’t really see that happening. 

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

I somehow managed to get an economics major....

 

My son spent a lot of time in a recording studio with his band.  He and his drummer got quite good at music production.  He bought a fairly expensive pair of Barefoot monitors (probably $7k).  Awesome for studio use, but we weren't blown away when we connected them to my two channel setup. 

@devinplombier 

 

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?

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. 

Well, I recently heard a system compromised of the Wilson Audio Sabrina V ($28k), D'Agostino Pendulum integrated ($18k), dCS Lina DAC X ($15.5k), and dCS Lina Master Clock ($8k) plus quite a bit of higher end interconnects and power cables and it sounded really good.  Without the cables it was $69.5k which leaves room for cables to be added.

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.

@newton_john 

These are all very good points.

The Sabrinas were the 3rd Wilsons to which I have listened, after Sashas and some variety of Watt Puppies. If I’m going to be honest the WPs had surprisingly decent bass, but all three shared a competent but unexciting, somewhat remote sound signature. Granted these are Wilson’s "budget" offerings, so I would not generalize to their high-end speakers. Also, I have to wonder what role, if any, its somewhat haphazard pairing played into my perception of that Sabrinas-based system.

Your point about expensive systems we hear at dealers or shows seldom coming close to our own is well taken. Sometimes I do wonder if I’m too accustomed to my system’s end sound and I reject speakers that sound different, equating different with worse. But I have been impressed by several speakers with very different end sounds, including a Sanders 10e set that sounded absolutely wonderful.

I would have been happy to take it home, if it hadn’t been for the panels’ extreme beaminess.