Insanely Expensive....and Worth Every Penny

transparent cable prices vary by, even in the opinion of the people who manufacture them, "a VERY ILLOGICALLY LARGE amount of money". but i got hooked on upgrading them over several years, primarily because i felt my speakers had an almost limitless potential for improvement (eggleston andras). so, when i bought (traded up to) a 20 foot pair of balanced REFERENCE-MM (one step below opus), while the rest of my wire consisted of transparent ultra (they're okay but i can't get no respect from owning those), my speakers gained another octave of bass and the stage opened up like i was overlooking the grand canyon or something. it was pretty magical, and the effect did NOT fade over time; it was like buying a new preamp or an amplifier. neither is this simply a plug for transparent wire, since there are other ways to
get large improvements; this was simply a way that appealed to me, as i was satisfied with most of my other components.
and if i told you what i paid for the andras vs what i have now laid out for interconnects and sp.cable, you would have to agree that an appointment with a mental health professional might make the biggest improvement of all...

s7horton:

if you audition a component in your stereo system and you prefer the sound of the stereo system with the new component vs the original component, you might buy the new component, regardless of your estimation as to its worth because you like the sound of your stereo system enough to want to buy the component.

i'm not convinced that explicitly or implicitly the idea of value or worth enters into the buying decision all of the time.

I was under the impression this thread was started specifically to identify components that some owners believed were prohibitively expensive when they made the purchase, but have proven to be worth their high cost.

The result is to identify components with exceptional value.

Great idea!

Now, all we have to do is sift through the philosophical chaff to get at the worthwhile kernels.

Mr Tennis (and others), In my view the fault in the original question was the use of the words "insanely expensive" which have apparently been criticized by those who interpert them too literally.

To someone on a limited budget much could be seen as insanely expensive but worthy of purchase because of the satisfaction it would bring, but to someone who is fortunately financially blessed the same product bringing the same level of satisfaction might not be seen as insanely expensive, if expensive at all.

FWIW.

If I may clarify this debate, yes, "insanely expensive" was not meant to be taken literally, but only as an intriguing and/or amusing title for the thread.

What I was hoping to hear from you were comments on audio components which, on an absolute basis (not relative to income, or relative to one's perceptions) were - by any reasonable standard - very expensive.

To me, "by any reasonable standard" would still leave us with plenty to choose from - all top of the line or "reference" offerings by ARC, Mark Levinson, Jadis, Boulder, Wilson speakers, Pass Labs etc just to name a few.

And "insanely" might even be taken literally if we include full Rives treatments, Rockport turntables, multi thousand $ cartridges or cables and/or anything ever hyped by Harmonix.

For any of these components, it would be interesting to hear whether or not the owners felt they were worth the high price.

Does that help, Mr Tennis?

I am reminded that I did spend the big bucks for a Mark Levinson No 31 in the early 90's something I always thought was worth every penny.