The infamous

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.

Albert's limits are out of this world, IMO. Twinsdad and Fineberg are absolutely correct that you don't have to spend megabucks to have gorgeous sound, if you buy used/demo and do lots of auditioning and careful component- and cable-matching--a lot of which has to be done trial and error, unfortunately, which of course contributes to the used/demo market for the rest of us. For myself, after years of listening, lusting, buying, selling, and overspending, I have settled on a tube system that is the best system I have ever owned or listened to--but I don't live in a big-time audio store area so I haven't listened to the best of the best. My system is listed in virtual systems on this site and retails for around $50,000. The limits I would place on various components are based on my experiences building this system over the past 5 years and are as follows (retail):

amp $8000-10,000
preamp $5000-7500
speakers $15,000-20,000
CD playback $8000-10,000
vinyl playback $8000-10,000
tuner $2000
cables and power cords $5000 total
stands and racks $2000-3000
power isolation/conditioning $3000 total

I know I could put together a DYNAMITE system to live with for the ages at the low end of these ranges! I guess it would look very different from Albert's, but to each his/her own, of course! One more thing: I spent $13,000 on a high-end fancy amp a couple of years ago and it was the worst purchase I ever made as a spendthrift audiophile (with a long history of ridiculous purchases). My current amp (ARC VT100 Mk III) cost me $4500 (I bought it right before the price went up $1500) and sounds/operates much, much better. Thus I know I will never spend anywhere near $13,000 on an amp again, even if my fortunes change and would allow for it in the future.
Sarah