The infamous

"if you're not afraid, you're not brave. if you can afford to lose it, it's not gambling. if you set limits, you're not an audiophile." cfb-2001

Well, Ill be shameful too! Along with Fineberg, Ill put my system; $1200 CD/ $800 Amp/ $275 cables/ $450/pr Spkr....Ive
got more in my CDs! And if I put my system next to a $50K system, Ill take mine and the $47 thousand to go, thank you!
Dont get me wrong, I love a high end Magical System and Ill most likely keep on upgrading here and there. But I think you reach a point where its all overkill, even if you are a millionaire!

A wise man once said "Why spend TRILLIONS when you could spend BILLIONS" or something like that:~)

I always find it interesting that there is so much emphasis on gear and how much it costs in relation to benefit, diminishing returns and the like. What I don't see is much talk about where its going. Certainly gear on the order of magnitude of Albert's limits would make sense if you had a proper room (read "full sized") to place it in. In my space I don't know if spending 100k would be warranted, it would probably be overkill. My room isn't big enough to justify spending that kind of money for presumably a full range system that is not very efficient that would require a powerful megabuck amp to drive it that would REALLY get the bottom octaves along with everything else. Too many variables concerning room and listening objectives IMO. Someone correct me if I'm wrong would you please?

Tubegroover, as far as the very deep low end is concerend, I could not agree more with you. But as far as the other parameters are concerend, which are generally held in high esteem in our circles, if find Albert's limits right on the money, even for smallish rooms. In-field listening can both be very rewarding but also very critical, mercilessly showing up even the tiniest lack in musical coherence or a faulty voicing of your system, whereas big rooms are often quite forgiving, as far as these two aspects are concerend. Here in Europe, living space is generally smaller as compared to the States, so audiophiles here generally have to contend with smallish listening areas and are quite savvy to make the best of that fact.