An interesting argument. I usually try getting one or two key pieces at great prices, but then I know that in order to get a complete system I have to buy the remaining at regular prices. It is the price to pay to choose and optimize a system. Some people are victims (I also did this mistake once in the past) of getting only gear that is "at great prices". But the needed finishing elements never showed "at great prices" ...
Hi Micro,
I’m stating the obvious, I think, so perhaps my post is redundant, and this one with it.
Nevertheless, a specific example. The speaker we’ve identified as the one we’ll build our system around retails for €75,000. However, irrespective of whether I pay €75,000, or €7,500, or indeed, €750,000, the price itself will change absolutely nothing about that speaker’s inherent abilities to convert electrical energy into sound energy in a way that interprets and conveys whatever sound energy was originally captured and turned into electricity, and the intention of the musicians who created it.
Likewise, no amount of loquacious word-smithing on behalf of a reviewer, nor any amount of online trolling on behalf of a bigoted forum dweller, nor any measurements on behalf of an Audio Precision/Earthworks-owning zealot posing as a “scientist”, nor the shipping case in which it arrives, nor the limitations/linearities of the room’s acoustics, nor the quality of the wine at the dealer evening, nor the aesthetics of the font used in the marketing will change anything about the speaker itself. That these things do occasionally have sway in purchasing decisions is a given, and I accept that.
But none of the above will change the sensibilities of the subject, unless of course, the subject him/herself is willing to allow their sensibilities to change.
In other words, most people in my experience assemble systems relative to their perception*, with a number of justifications offered only one of which is the ability to play music relative to the subject’s sensibilities, with all others being completely unrelated.
Best,
853guy
*That is, I've never met someone who assembled a great system without using their perception, though I've met many who've discarded lesser systems for superior ones as their perception has evolved, and in some cases, have spent less, discovering price has nothing to do with the ability of a system to play music in a meaningful way.