Are you Guys Rich or What!?

In answer to your 1st question Pls1 no, not if you are willing and able and it gives you pleasure. I also don't question, judge or begrudge anyone who spends it. My point is my personal values, not yours. I see no need to and maybe I would feel a bit guilty if I did. Why you ask? Because first off I don't think I need to in order to achieve a musically satisfying system of the highest order. 2nd I do believe that much of this ultra high priced gear is specifically aimed at separating one from their money. It is a play on the emotional irrationality of affluent audiophiles. It never seems to end with some guys and it has not a damn thing to do with musical satisfaction so much as wretched excess. Now you raise a very interesting point. My answer for me DOES change if it is attending live concerts. Concerts are a more enriching life experience to me than listening to an ultra expensive audio system by myself in a room. My wife loves concerts as much as I do. She doesn’t enjoy sitting in a room listening to music or share my love of well-reproduced audio. She has to be doing something. I, unlike you, don’t have someone special to share it with. Now for the last part of your question. One of the better things to do with that wealth which in my estimation would have a more beneficial effect on the economy overall “the trickle down effect” and is a better investment, (this all ties into my value conscious business head) would be to add real value to my home by putting in a dedicated listening room and buying more software. Beyond that, traveling the world to hear some of the great orchestras. How about that? BTW my audio only system would retail for 24K. I spent 9.2K for it (I’m another of the bottom feeders, can’t help it, I like a good deal). Other than ultimate low frequency extension I suspect it is knocking on the door of the best and is completely satisfying except for some fine-tuning to the analog front end.

I guess I do question individuals that are always changing out expensive gear in a never ending quest for owning "the best" which ties into the wretched excess comment. This has nothing to do with music reproduction as much as buying the latest most expensive toy which will certainly be replaced in short order. To each their own.

I have an agreement with my wife that my music hobby can cost as much as we spend on a car. Given she has a passion for Alfas, that gives me a reasonable budget, but I am always suggesting she upgrades from time to time. If you are serious about this hobby I cannot see why you would spend more on a car than on your music, and try adding up the cost of owning a car sometime. I agree with you Tubegroover, throwing money at the best is just silly. As my brother once said "any idiot can put together a good system for $100,000, the real fun is putting something together for $10,000, or even a lot less, that approaches the best." I tend to focus a lot of my activity (outside of listening to music) on learning how to wring the most out of a given system.

Cornfedboy is Right, Although i have not spent 100k on my system..somewhere around 30-35k. The point is I work my ass off to support my family and run my company and if the Left keeps taxing and regulating my butt off im going to start wacking them in the head with my heavy,imorale mono-block amps. If you need to find me ill be staying with cornfeedboy cause it sounds like his system sounds better than mine. Lee

Cogito - I wasn't trying to imply that your comments and ideas on controlling the price of high-end equipment was impractical. Actually, I was trying to point out that you have other people in the world who think along exactly the same lines, and I think your points have a great deal of merit. One of the points that the author of "Luxury Fever" makes is that the paradox we face is that it's a series of individual decisions that have consequences for the group as a whole. Nobody feels as though their making a different decision will affect the overall picture but, in fact, to actually change the overall picture a whole group has to make different decisions. The author's answer was to heavily tax things like $75K speakers as a way of getting large numbers of people who might purchase such a thing to not do so, while allowing those who REALLY want such a thing to still be able to obtain them. If this happened, the effect you suggest would quite likely occur - the high-end models would almost undoubtedly come down in price (and quite possibly performance / aesthetics), and the ultra high-end would undoubtedly go up in price, both because of the heavy tax and the need for the manufacturer to make their money on far fewer sales.