Just how good are...

JoelSim

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systems costing upwards of £10k?

Or even £20k?

I see there are some reviews of £12k speakers, Kef Reference etc and actually although I consider myself to be a mid-fi audiophile, just how much better than a £5k system is a £10k system?

 
 

Craig M.

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i think you'll have to wait for Thaiman!
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Anonymous

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matengawhat:twice as good obviously!

I have to disagree. What about the concept of diminishing returns.
 

chebby

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I heard an Absolute Sound presentation by Ricardo Franassovici once (back in the 1980s) of an Oracle Delphi, Black Widow arm, Koetsu Signature (or Gold Signature, memory is a bit hazy) with an Audio Research SP15 pre and Krell KMA-200 power amps driving a giant pair of electrostatics. (Martin Logan or Apogee, again it was a long time ago!)

Luckily Absolute Sounds had snagged a largish conference room so the system was able to let rip in a large space. I simply could not believe my ears! It sounded bl##dy fantastic. Totally impossible to describe and stunning stereo image, scale and authority.

Even at 1980s prices it was up there in the upper region somewhere between £20k and 30k. (So probably more like about £80K+ today)

I am always glad I got to hear what was considered 'state of the art' hifi at least the one time, even though it was only two 20 minute sessions and two decades ago.

(Please excuse me if I got some details wrong but it was a long time ago and I have a few less functioning memory cells nowadays.)
 
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Anonymous

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I have this system at the Bristol show with nobody else around playing "We've got all the time in the World"...the best hi-fi setup ever and I cannot believe anything is better than this. Dunno what the stuff was, and I didn't care because the sound was unbelievable...http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Ol0YoFA8c&NR=1.
 
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Anonymous

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IMO, with the law of diminishing returns, a system costing £10 will never be twice as good as a system costing £5k, but should be significantly better.
 
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Anonymous

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EvilWolf:IMO, with the law of diminishing returns, a system costing £10 will never be twice as good as a system costing £5k, but should be significantly better.

£10 well spent then!
 

matengawhat

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raym87:
matengawhat:twice as good obviously!

I have to disagree. What about the concept of diminishing returns.

doesn't apply as to you if you had paid twice as much you can guarantee you will believe its twice as good
 

JoelSim

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raym87:
matengawhat:twice as good obviously!

I have to disagree. What about the concept of diminishing returns.

I think he was joking, otherwise the best sound would be about 20 times as good as what I have which would be pretty damn good to the point of euphoria every time it was switched on

ÿ
 

bigblue235

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I've heard a few megabucks systems and most have left me a little underwhelmed.

Not because they sounded in any way poor, probably more because I was just expecting too much!

Though, that said, there is a dealer nearby with some high-end B&W speakers hooked up to some awesome electronics. I must try and get a demo soon!
 

Big Chris

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bigblue235:
I've heard a few megabucks systems and most have left me a little underwhelmed.

Not because they sounded in any way poor, probably more because I was just expecting too much!

Though, that said, there is a dealer nearby with some high-end B&W speakers hooked up to some awesome electronics. I must try and get a demo soon!

Totally agree.

A few years ago I had a job up Honor Oak way, and the customer had a Mark Levinson system (transport, DAC, Pre & Power...Some of it was even water or oil cooled!) And massive ATC speakers. Kimber select speaker wire and he even had these funny ceramic cup type things to keep the speaker wire off the floor!

I got chatting to the lady of the house (it was her husband's system, but he was out) And she basically did a demo for me!

I sat there for about 10/15 minutes or so listening to the few CDs we had in common. And I walked out thinking it sounded great, but not life changingly great from my current set-up.

I guess I too was expecting to be utterly blown away and listening in awe, but great as it was, it didn't happen.

I heard a greater improvement going from my £500 Sony mini system, to my current kit, than I did that day.

However, I would have liked to have had a longer listen. And one area it did astound was out-and-out volume!!
 

JoelSim

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Big Chris:bigblue235:
I've heard a few megabucks systemsÿand most have left me a little underwhelmed.

Not because they sounded in any way poor, probably more because I was justÿexpecting too much!

Though, that said,ÿthere is a dealer nearby with some high-end B&Wÿspeakers hooked up to some awesome electronics. Iÿmust try and get a demo soon!

Totally agree.A few years ago I had a job up Honor Oak way, and the customer had a Mark Levinson system (transport, DAC, Pre & Power...Some of it was even water or oil cooled!) And massive ATC speakers. Kimber select speaker wire and he even had these funny ceramic cup type things to keep the speaker wire off the floor!I got chatting to the lady of the house (it was her husband's system, but he was out) And she basically did a demo for me!I sat there for about 10/15 minutes or so listening to the few CDs we had in common. And I walked out thinking it sounded great, but not life changingly great from my current set-up.I guess I too was expecting to be utterly blown away and listening in awe, but great as it was, it didn't happen.I heard a greater improvement going from my £500 Sony mini system, to my current kit, than I did that day.However, I would have liked to have had a longer listen. And one area it did astound was out-and-out volume!!

I suspect he didn't have a Tacima 929

ÿ
 

Big Chris

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JoelSim:Big Chris:bigblue235:
I've heard a few megabucks systemsÿand most have left me a little underwhelmed.

Not because they sounded in any way poor, probably more because I was justÿexpecting too much!

Though, that said,ÿthere is a dealer nearby with some high-end B&Wÿspeakers hooked up to some awesome electronics. Iÿmust try and get a demo soon!

Totally agree.A few years ago I had a job up Honor Oak way, and the customer had a Mark Levinson system (transport, DAC, Pre & Power...Some of it was even water or oil cooled!) And massive ATC speakers. Kimber select speaker wire and he even had these funny ceramic cup type things to keep the speaker wire off the floor!I got chatting to the lady of the house (it was her husband's system, but he was out) And she basically did a demo for me!I sat there for about 10/15 minutes or so listening to the few CDs we had in common. And I walked out thinking it sounded great, but not life changingly great from my current set-up.I guess I too was expecting to be utterly blown away and listening in awe, but great as it was, it didn't happen.I heard a greater improvement going from my £500 Sony mini system, to my current kit, than I did that day.However, I would have liked to have had a longer listen. And one area it did astound was out-and-out volume!!

I suspect he didn't have a Tacima 929

ÿ

That must be it.

:)

Don't get me wrong, it was in no way poor, the polar opposite to be precise, but when you're paying thousands of pounds for a 1 or 2% increase in performance (actual or percieved)...You can count me out.
 

Big Chris

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True.

A belly full of Madras, and a few pints of Kronenbourg may have aided my appraisal.

(Plus, the couple had no heavy metal, so I was finding it hard to connect on that level)

;-)
 

southdownswolf

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So......

what amount do you need to spend to get the best value for money?
£1000
£5000
£10000
£50000

?????

As Big Chris says, I think the biggest improvement is going from an all in one system to separates.
 

JoelSim

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Value...

Have you ever bought anything that wasn't good value? No, thought not.

I something isn't good value, then you won't buy it. Something that's expensive isn't necessarily bad value. If Roman Abramovic was to buy a bargain Marantz set up, and never listened to it then it would be very bad value, if however he was to spend £100k on a dcs scarlatti, Kef reference combo and listened to it all the time then that would be good value.

ÿ
 

JoelSim

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Big Chris:True.A belly full of Madras, and a few pints of Kronenbourg may have aided my appraisal.(Plus, the couple had no heavy metal, so I was finding it hard to connect on that level);-)

Hmmm, I could go for the madras and belly full, but you'd be disappointed with mine too methinks given the closest thing to heavy metal that I have is a doorkeyÿ
 

southdownswolf

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JoelSim:
Value...

Have you ever bought anything that wasn't good value? No, thought not.

I something isn't good value, then you won't buy it. Something that's expensive isn't necessarily bad value. If Roman Abramovic was to buy a bargain Marantz set up, and never listened to it then it would be very bad value, if however he was to spend £100k on a dcs scarlatti, Kef reference combo and listened to it all the time then that would be good value.

ÿ

Yes a Philips MP3 player. Wish I had never bought it. Chucked it away and bought an Ipod.
 

Big Chris

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JoelSim:
Big Chris:True.A belly full of Madras, and a few pints of Kronenbourg may have aided my appraisal.(Plus, the couple had no heavy metal, so I was finding it hard to connect on that level);-)

Hmmm, I could go for the madras and belly full, but you'd be disappointed with mine too methinks given the closest thing to heavy metal that I have is a doorkeyÿ

I'm not a complete headbanger.

I like (early)Queen, Radiohead, Bowie and some more mainstream stuff too.

But it's the metal that gets my pulse racing and my foot tapping!

:)
 

Big Chris

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Meh......Not really. Never got into Nirvana personally, but my Wife likes/liked them, so I've also got Nirvana in the CD rack.

I try to stop her buying CDs. The last one was the new Kings of Leon CD.......Despite my protestations....

;-)
 

JoelSim

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Big Chris:Meh......Not really. Never got into Nirvana personally, but my Wife likes/liked them, so I've also got Nirvana in the CD rack.I try to stop her buying CDs. The last one was the new Kings of Leon CD.......Despite my protestations....;-)

What on earth would you do if she bought a James Blunt album then?

KOL is pretty full-on, no?

ÿ
 

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