Survey - How much should you spend on kit? Is there an easy rule of thumb? Posts your stats here!

PJPro

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This may have been covered in a previous thread, but I have often wondered if the level of investment in kit reflects the investment on CDs, DVDs, etc?

So for example, I bought £70 worth of CDs/DVDs this weekend, making my spend on the Aego M (£140 plus cutome cabling) for my kitchen looking a little cheap.

So I reckon I have around 200 CDs, 300 vinyls and 50 DVDs. Total guestimate on what they cost me to buy? I would say £3-4K.

In terms of kit (excluding PC....although this is becoming my media hub) I reckon I have spent in total about £1.5K. This does include my PVR (Humax) and TV.

So, for me anyway, the investment ration is 1:2 or every £1 in spend on kit, I spend £2 on media.

Is this the same for others I wonder? I would be interested to know. It might provide the magazine an simple rule of thumb to guage how much one should be looking to spend on kit.
 
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Anonymous

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erm, different approach for me - just kept trying different stuff till sumat hit the spot, not necessarily (although it did) getting more expensive.
 

PJPro

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Thanks for the reply bloney.

So much much have you spent on kit and how much on media.? The ratio or an percentage will do if you don't want to post pounds, shillings and pence.
 
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Anonymous

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Don't think I've added it up yet, erm £600 (spk)+£750(amp)+£250(cdp)+£200(wires etc), so about £1800, compared to about 300 cd's and records (ish). Shameful really when I think of all the toys I could have bought the kids and pressies for the missus for that money :(
 

nads

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Hell cant say i really want to do this,

Vinyl about 300 albums,100 singles- turntable £750
DVD 150 films DVD player £ 800 ( it is also a good CDP and will also play SACD (of which i have about 20)
CDs about 250 CDP about £400
HD DVD's 10 and waiting for another 10. player cost me £350

then for streaming net radio and music on the PC's about £100 not bought any music from download just pick up some of the legal free stuff.

then of cause there are the amps speakers and cables!

:(
 

fatboyslimfast

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I would say as little as possible, stopping when you are spending more time buying music than kit!

How much that actually is, depends on your ears. As you can see from my sig, my sources far outweigh the amp/speaker, yet I get a lovely detailed sound that gets me digging out more and more albums, both from my collection and also Ebay!!!

Just my 2p of course...
 

JoelSim

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About £7k's worth of kit at RRP.

But my one CD does sound good now.

Although it's not so good through the DVD player.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="JoelSim"]About £7k's worth of kit at RRP.
But my one CD does sound good now.
[/quote]

Agreed. I've only got one second hand old copy of brothers in arms on vinyl, but it does sound good now I've finally got me a Koetsu.
Lots of my kit is second hand or factory second, but it adds up to several thousand as RRP, mostly due to the Sondek and the Pana Plasma (2yr old now). But I've got a couple of hundred on vinyl, samish on CD and about a few hundred DVDs. Heavens only knows why, I hardly ever get to watch them now I've got kids - the habits haven't stayed in tune with the reality.
 
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Anonymous

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How much to spend on kit? I'm pretty sure there's no golden rule, but whenever I decide to upgrade anything I seem to follow the rule...........

Step 1 - Explain to girlfriend what I want and she sets a sensible budget.

Step 2 - Double it

Step 3 - Go to fav audio store, get amazed in demo room, take budget and double it again!
 

Thaiman

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[quote user="bloney"]Don't think I've added it up yet, erm £600 (spk)+£750(amp)+£250(cdp)+£200(wires
etc), [/quote]

Did you manage to get the bargain MF A3.5? I would be interest to see how would you compare the MF to the CA.

Oh as for the survey, it depending on what week of the year it is (I change my kits too often) and Does my wife reading this thread or not! If she does then my GamuT only cost me £25 :)
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Thaiman"][quote user="bloney"]Don't think I've added it up yet, erm £600 (spk)+£750(amp)+£250(cdp)+£200(wires
etc), [/quote]

Did you manage to get the bargain MF A3.5? I would be interest to see how would you compare the MF to the CA.

Oh as for the survey, it depending on what week of the year it is (I change my kits too often) and Does my wife reading this thread or not! If she does then my GamuT only cost me £25 :)[/quote]

Hello Chap and welcome back (if you are back that is!)

Yeah! Drove down to Reading way today to collect the A3.5 from Bryfiero's work! Was a bit worried (I do rate the 840A, highly but alas more problems so it's going back to RS tomorrow), after being disappointed by Primare, Arcam etc. But - wow! Fantastic! Why didn't someone tell me before... :)

Actually, the 840A is in my book still ruddy good, but the A3.5 is better by a fair jump - has tighter more controlled bass (and I thought the 840 did!), richer midrange. And other stuff that is quite beyond me to explain! The 840A is 'drier' and a bit cleaner, sort of more space around everything. Maybe more detailed too but not sure - the dryness might just give this impression.

Sorry folks - off topic. Clawing back on topic-ish - I've just changed to a 2nd amp, swinging my ratio a bit. Fnarr.
 

Thaiman

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[quote user="bloney"]But - wow! Fantastic! Why didn't someone tell me before... :) [/quote]

Er...I thought I did, I used to have the A5 and couldn't stop bragging about how good it was then (A3.5 has a very similar sound).....anyway, well done mate
 
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I'd value my audio media at about £7950 (assuming an average of £10 each)

DVD's/hd dvd £660, Laserdiscs at current value maybe £60, VHS, Beta etc prob not worth more than a £1 each anymore £167, but ten times that when bought!

My Kit

TV £599, JVC Super VHS £30 (ebay), Sony Beta £120 (ebay), Pioneer Laserdisc £60 (ebay) Pioneer DVD/sacd player £80 from a pawn brokers (RRP value was £400+) Turntable, Minidisc, Cassette, 8 track and reel to reel - £350, Stereo Amp £60, Speakers £50, 5.1 Hi fi £499, xbox360+hd dvd drive - £400

so thats about £4.50 spent on media (£10430) for every £1 spent on Kit.(£2248) thats bearing in mind that i bargain hunt and don't object to second hand equipment, this year i expect to spend £900 on a new AV receiver and Speakers,

I should point out That £10430 represents 22 years of being a CD/Record Collector and not just one binge.

I think the amount you should spend is the amount you can afford, but if your putting A/V equipment in the Kitchen you've probably gone too far, after all you wouldnt put an oven in the lounge!
 

PJPro

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[quote user="TheLastManWithBetamax"]

I think the amount you should spend is the amount you can afford, but if
your putting A/V equipment in the Kitchen you've probably gone
too far, after all you wouldnt put an oven in the lounge!
[/quote]

Thanks for your reply. Disagree with the A/V in the kitchen comment. I can play COD4 while my wife watches the TV in the living room. I can listen to music streamed from by PC to the PS3 while I'm washing the dishes, my wife can browse the net while the kiddies (i have three) are eating their tea, the kiddies can watch their movies/cbeebies or whatever while my wife watches Loose Women, etc, etc, etc. As the kiddies turn into kids I am expecting the cheap and cheerful A/V in the kitchen to play and even bigger role in maintaining good relations in the house.

I did take some photos to include in this post but I can't figure out how to upload them to the server/website. I don't seem to have any formatting options available (but do know a little html)! If anyone can give me a hint about how to upload photos I'll post my kitchen setup. I've been told by my wife and sister that it looks like Mickey Mouse.
 

JoelSim

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[quote user="Ketch"]
How much to spend on kit? I'm pretty sure there's no golden rule, but whenever I decide to upgrade anything I seem to follow the rule...........

Step 1 - Explain to girlfriend what I want and she sets a sensible budget.

Step 2 - Double it

Step 3 - Go to fav audio store, get amazed in demo room, take budget and double it again!
[/quote]

And then tell her it was less than the budget she set...
 
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Anonymous

Guest
350 DVD @ £10 each
20 Blu-Ray @ £20 each
50 CD's @ £5 each
100+ Cassettes @ £0 in total :p
Total Media - £4150

Total A/V equipment - £7500 approx.

Equipment to media cost ratio = 1.8:1

Next purchase is a display for ~£3500 so this will change to 2.7:1

?? Should sofa count in the equipment costs?? :p
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
[quote user="JoelSim"][quote user="Ketch"]
How much to spend on kit? I'm pretty sure there's no golden rule, but whenever I decide to upgrade anything I seem to follow the rule...........

Step 1 - Explain to girlfriend what I want and she sets a sensible budget.

Step 2 - Double it

Step 3 - Go to fav audio store, get amazed in demo room, take budget and double it again!
[/quote]

And then tell her it was less than the budget she set...[/quote]

Ha. I told you you shouldn't spend that £3k on those ProAcs......
 
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Anonymous

Guest
[quote user="Ketch"]
How much to spend on kit? I'm pretty sure there's no golden rule, but whenever I decide to upgrade anything I seem to follow the rule...........

Step 1 - Explain to girlfriend what I want and she sets a sensible budget.

Step 2 - Double it

Step 3 - Go to fav audio store, get amazed in demo room, take budget and double it again!
[/quote]

i would imagine most people do a fairly similar thing!!!
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Hmm, I've been willfully ignoring this thread for as long as I can...

Total spend on hi-fi equipment including interconnects, rack, everything, £1400 (not including my second system though...)

Approx 250 CDs at average of £8 maybe, £2000
Approx 75 vinyl at average of £5, £375

Conclusions:
(1) I'm fairly happy with that balance.
(2) I haven't actually spent as much as I thought I had.

@ketch
I actually took my girlfriend along last time I auditioned kit. Quite helpful, I found. :)
 

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