What are the three most expensive audio purchases you've made? How would you do you see them now post hoc?

[BobbyTimmons]

What are the most expensive audio purchases you've made? How would you do you see them now post hoc?

 

[Svend P]

Denon AVP-A1HDA and POA A1HD. It was a 13.000 € surround set, which performed fine, but it just didn't offer anything spectacular in relation to the price. Surround gear ages badly, and it didn't have Atmos or Dirac which would make it obsolete by today's standards.

I sold the set after a year, because I felt I had buried too much money into it. (I traded in a NAD M15HD which I loved for 12 years, but now I am back to a Denon X4800H, so no bad feelings)
I have later seen that most of the pre-amplifiers die from bad boards, which would make it a 6500€ paperweight.
Also the Denon DVD2500BT blu ray player that matched was truly awful. Extremely slow loading time, and eventually it just broke.

(copied from here)

What was your best (and worst) audio purchase for the dollar?

I love mine, helps with everything from keeping my speakers set-up, to doing property measurements for our home owners association. An amazing little toy.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[TulseLuper]

Fancy ScanSpeak drivers for DIY 2-ways (beryllium tweeters included). Although I like the speakers, the parts cost was silly.

Sony TA-E7B preamp and refurbishing ($1600 all in). Worth it as it is appreciated as decor.

Arcam AVR ($1500). Poor technical performer according to ASR review, but worth it as it was the cheapest way to get Dirac in an AVR at the time and it has performed reliably, as it should.

I find it hard to spend more than $1500 on components other than speakers, even if I admire the design and engineering in some products above that.

 

[mhardy6647]

Biggest single audio expenditure I've ever made was a pair of Altec 515B drivers for my loudspeakers. Very happy with the investment in a glorious pair of epochal (and very good) drivers.



Second largest was for a used Marantz (Clearaudio-made) TT-15S1 turntable, arm & cartridge. Lovely* early 21st Century "audiophile" record player... but utterly unsatisfying to listen to. Soul-less. It's packed up in its box upstairs, and has been for a long time.



Oh, I guess my Simple 2A3 amp (designed by Joseph Esmilla and built by a good friend and hifi fellow traveler named Nate would be number 3. Love it to death.



These are the only three $1k-plus purchases of audio stuff per se I've made to date. The cabinets I had built for the Altecs (originally to house a pair of 604E Duplexes) were also about $1k if memory serves. They're also a forever investment. Indeed, the wife of the cabinetmaker who built them for me said of them when she saw them: "Oh, Mark and [his wife] can use those as coffins when they die!"



__________________
* My daughter was quite taken with it -- she thought it looked like an Apple product.

 

[Blumlein 88]

In my case all are speakers. Soundlab Aura ESLs purchased 2nd hand. Then some Revel F208s purchased new and some Quad ESL 63s purchased 2nd hand. I've had a couple power amps that just barely missed making 3rd place along with a couple more speakers.

I was/am very satisfied with all after owning them for a few years. Including those just missing third place. The one large purchase I was most happy about, most satisfied with and that I think improved my musical enjoyment the most were the Quad ESL 63 speakers. My relative income vs the price I paid the Quads would be the most expensive.

 

[fpitas]

As I recall, my J2 was about $2800 as a demonstrator model, so that leads the pack. The A21 was around $2k, and the TAD TD-2002 horn drivers $1.5k each. They are all still operating fine after 12 years.

 

[Platypus20]

Ex-wife #1, very loud, terrible tone and could not carry a tune……

 

[Chr1]

Neumann KH310s - £3200 (new)
VTL ST-85 - £1400 (used)
Pioneer SC-LX86 - £600 (used)

Very happy and certainly no regrets... But definitely glad that I took my time to learn here before spending this much.

Doubt I'll be upgrading and still have some gear to sell that they have replaced.

The first two only actually happened due to a long awaited RTA compensation cheque recently... (Admittedly, big treats to myself...But hell, life is short. Why not!)

 

[Somafunk]

All low cost compared to many I imagine

Dynaudio Lyd 48 monitor, Dynaudio 18s sub, Cambridge Audio CXN v2 bought a couple of years ago for £4k ish once cabling/stands included , sitting in front of them now and i consider i’d have a hard time to better them for the sound and features I enjoy in use.

 

[anmpr1]

Most of my gear was bought second hand over the years. I had a pretty good dealer connection, so I was able to get trade-ins and such. A lot of unusual stuff came and went. As far as buying new? I could never relate to the 'spend as much for your preamp as a German car' mentality.

New, the single largest all at once outlay for me was a pair of Klipsch LaScala II I purchased five years ago. I think at that time they were 8K for the pair. A polarizing loudspeaker for sure, but each time I read something telling me I should not like them, I listen and realize it was a great purchase. The latest AK models are too expensive, IMO. Then, a Benchmark AHB2/DAC3HGC combo I bought to go with the LaScala loudspeakers--those were about 5K for the set.

Next was probably a 'package deal' I bought new--> Acoustat TNT-200 amp; TNP preamp; and 2+2 electostatic loudspeakers. As an 'all in one system' I most likely received some sort of discount from the dealer, but I don't remember. This was in the early '80s. I thought it was a good combo. If I still had it all I'd probably be happy. As long as it was working. Parts for that brand are probably unobtanium. Interestingly, that dealer who sold me all of that is still in business, but now does 'home automation', dedicated movie rooms--stuff like that. High end gear is nowhere to be found on his sales sheet.

Last on the 'new' list, for a 'single' purchase was probably a ReVox B77, or maybe it was the Teac X-1000. But probably the ReVox was more expensive. I'm happy not to have those anymore. But they were pretty cool to look at, and did what they were supposed to do--until they didn't.

 

[Deleted member 48437]

What are the most expensive audio purchases you've made? How would you do you see them now post hoc?

Most expensive audio purchase? My ex-wife. Post hoc? Bye bye

 

[Deleted member 48437]

Most expensive audio purchase? My ex-wife.

 

[GXAlan]

What are the most expensive audio purchases you've made? How would you do you see them now post hoc?

Marantz PM-10 and Marantz SA-10

I thought they would be my forever gear. The amp is 600W of HypeX Class D amplification with Marantz's flagship pre-amp and flagship phono stage and D&M famous protection/reliability features. The SA-10 had the convenience of shared remote controls and very fast loading of physical media and could double as a DAC for use with a WiiM Pro. Although it wasn't "SOTA" for measurements, it was well beyond the threshold of hearing and the convenience of a shared remote was hard to beat.

Then I got active speakers to replace the setup that the Marantz was being used with and the active speakers necessitated selling my PM-10 and SA-10. My heart wanted to keep the Marantz, but my brain told me otherwise. The upstream electronics were downgraded to a Sony UBP-X800M2 feeding via HDMI a Yamaha CX-A5100. The integrated remote was achieved through HDMI-CEC (no display). Even though the I know the DAC, pre-amp, and amplifiers are "worse" than the SA-10/PM-10 combo in measurements, the end result of the superior speaker was superior sound.

So the most expensive audio purchase is now my Meyer Sound Amie. So far, it's been well worth the investment.

 

[Deleted member 48437]

Mine is a McIntoshh MC2000. I sold to upgrade to PS Audio. What a mistake. I wish i still had it. For a Christmas present I was given EVO 150. Wow, what can I say without sounding histrionic. For a real review: they got rid of their award winning A/B, now only available on the $6.5k which I have not heard. They went with a cheaper ESS 9018 chip instead of the higher end 9038 or 9039. The got rid of the toroidal power supply. Most of all it is class Doom. For anyone upgrading you will swear by the clarity of a class D in the high range. I don’t think anyone can brag about the (non-existent) sound stage and timber. Don’t most people on this forum respect those as a difference between a good amp and a great amp. I already have permission to do with it what I like. I do like class A/B. I do like the older analog amps because my brain just likes to listen. My biggest regret was selling that McIntosh. I bought the B&W Diamond II speakers. I love them. I have to be honest though. I still have s pair of SCM 1 B&W speakers. With those and a high band pass sub I would say the difference is so little (about 20%) that the upgrade was not worth spending thousands. Hope this helps answering your good question. I await some of the other member responses

 

[Chrispy]

1/ Buying a house to put all the gear in and use at will.
2/Paying the upkeep on said house.
3/All the money spent on recordings over the years.

All worth it.

 

[Middle Earth]

Bryston 5B ST $800
SMSL PL200 $670
Akitima Pre-Amp. $400

 

[Duke]

My most expensive purchase as a hobbyist was the very first pair of SoundLab Millennium-1 electrostatic loudspeakers, Serial Number M1001, in 1999. They cost more than my car, even after a bit of a discount because they had a few miles on them, having been exhibited at multiple audio shows.

How would I characterize that purchase, in retrospect? Life-changing. I liked them so much I left the industry I had been working in for fifteen years and became a SoundLab dealer, and a dealer for other lines, and eventually even a speaker manufacturer. [Cue Darth Vader's voice] And now my journey to the Dark Side is... complete. [/Vader voice]

Was it worth it? Well, I made more money per year in my old industry than I ever have in audio. But I've had more satisfaction and fun in audio than I ever did in my old industry. So I guess it depends on which yardstick we're measuring with.

 

[Dunring]

Heddphone, wouldn't get them again.
Hifiman Audivina same, neither is worth that kind of money compared to the 400-800 range. My kilobuck headphone dreams have been crushed. Sticking to Hifiman Arya Stealth as the highest price I'll go for headphones.

 

[tmtomh]

Pair of Genelec 8351, about $8200, by far the most expensive audio purchase I've ever made. In fact, the most expensive purchase of any kind I've ever made except for a house and a car. So far I feel even better about them now than when I bought them.

After that I guess it would have to be $1299 for an Oppo UDP-205, and $1295 for a MiniDSP SHD.

Loved the 205, best disc player and best preamp I ever had. Sold it recently for about $1k more than I paid so still feel quite good about it.

The SHD I got because I needed DSP room correction EQ with what turned out to be the final amp+passive speaker combination I had before getting the Genelecs. Liked the SHD okay, until I noticed that it emitted a mechanical/electrical PSU buzz (99% sure it was coil whine) when in standby, and until I tried to use its built-in version of Volumio, and until I started to deal with MiniDSP customer support about the PSU whine. They eventually sent me a 2nd PSU that is signiificantly quieter. Fortunately the Genelecs made the SHD redundant so it's out of my signal chain. Don't feel very good about the SHD. It's on my to-do list to take it out again, run it through its paces with an amp and backup speakers to make sure all is well, and then sell it to a good home where someone will make good use of it.

 

[MattHooper]

My Joseph Audio Perspective 2 Graphene speakers were easily the most expensive purchase in my audiophile career. I bought them 5 years ago.

Almost all my previous speakers were bought second hand, and I always found wicked deals, but these speakers were much harder to come by. I had wanted to by the latest "graphene 2" model but they were ridiculously expensive new. So I bought my dealer's floor model of the older, original Perspective speakers, and when I sold some other gear later on I put that in to upgrading my Perspectives to the "2" version (new drivers/crossover installed at the factory).

How do I view the purchase at this point? Deliriously happy. They've continued to blow my mind. Plus they "look like a million bucks" in terms of design and fit and finish, something I care about. Also, they work perfectly for my purposes - since my two channel speakers share the room with my home theater, I needed a narrow and diminutive enough speaker that wouldn't edge in on the image of my projection screen. But I didn't want to give up the "big sound" I was used to with my previous larger floorstanders. And these things sound Really Big too.

Aside from those speakers, the other massive purchase had to do with the design and construction of my AV room in 2009, with the help of an acoustician. All together that room, the home theater, how it works with 2 channel as well, was the best decision I ever made.