Price vs. Performance: When is it too much?
March 12th, 2008 — By Charlie RobbMarch 12 – Reviewing some of the news on super high-end gear made me think about some things.
When does the discrepancy in price increase versus performance gains become large enough to make you no longer consider it an option?
Of course many people don’t have the budget to afford $150,000 loudspeakers, or even $20,000 for that matter, but let’s deal in hypotheticals here.
You have all the money you could ever need, but you don’t want to be completely frivolous with your spending.
At what point does that price truly become obscene relative to the minimal performance gain?
This goes for both home theater set ups as well as audiophile gear.
Does buying a $50k amp to accompany my $150,000 pair of speakers give me a substantive and tangible performance gain over buying a $5,000 amp to go along with my $20,000 speakers?
For that matter, how does a $25,000 system stack up in terms of performance value per dollar spent to a nice $5,000 system?
I am very interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.
This conversation whouldn’t be limited to performance only. The build quality and the look of products also play a large roll in purchasing decisions. The $50k amp manufacturers have many more options with that much more money to work with on a single product.
We should also consider the exclusivity of a outrageously prices piece of equipment. If you drop $150k on some Wilsons you’re likely the only guy on your block and your circle of friends with those speakers. For some people that is all it takes.
Strictly speaking about performance; the performance value per dollar spent varies so much depending on the manufacturer, piece of gear, and even the acoustics of the listening room the gear will be in. I don’t think there is an answer for this one.
Comment by chris March 12th, 2008 @ 2:35 pmIf you leave aside the many claims made about expensive gear being bought for status value (a weird status choice given the private nature of most home electronics), there is the problem that one person’s “minimal” gain is “huge” to another person. That there are perceptual differences between people seems unsurprising, but there are plenty of people on the forums who seem to think this is impossible or unlikely. Similarly, why should a given number of $ (say $50k) be of equal significance to all people? We know that some people make millions, and GNP per capita in parts of the world are under $200. How could it be that “expensive” has one universal meaning in such a world?
Comment by Tom March 12th, 2008 @ 4:31 pmClearly any answers given will be couched in subjectivity, as the previous two posters somewhat alluded without ever really giving an opinion.
Well, to opine further:
1. There’s typically a reason why individuals who can afford $150k speakers can afford them: because they don’t spend frivolously. Much like the slim woman to whom people remark “have a doughnut already! You’re thin!” There’s a reason they’re thin - they avoid doughnuts! IE., in many cases it’s a Catch-22.
2. Having said #1, clearly there is a niche market for people willing to spend that much money, or else such pricey pieces of gear wouldn’t sell.
3. It is hard to figure out just how appreciable differences are between products sometimes, given that specs from different brands can be measured in different ways, yielding no real “standard” by which the incremental gain from a $50K pair of speakers to the $150k speakers can be objectively measured — sometimes only subjectively, by ones’ own ears, which can be “tricked” into hearing imaginary differences, or by putting our faith in the reviewers ears, measurement tools, and/or own subjective biases or agendas.
4. For my money, I’ve always looked for bang for the buck. I’m far from mega-wealthy, but I do OK. Nonetheless, if I had Mark Cuban money and could purchase the unquestionably perfect and/or expensive *everything*, it would leave me feeling somewhat hollow. As a Calibrator/HT Consultant, I like the feeling of getting a good deal, or getting a piece of equipment I can put my mark on by tweaking it a little bit here and there, knowing that part of the reason it sounds or looks good is because *I* did something to it. If I paid mega-dollars for an installer to do it for me, on top of the ultra-mega-dollars I paid for the equipment, with my only requirement ever being that I need to decipher the expensive remote controlling device in order to power on and push “Play,” I’d feel much less satisfied despite the objective/subjective superiority of the equipment in question.
Given the laws of diminishing returns, I’m quite comfortable with this approach.
Comment by ender21 March 13th, 2008 @ 8:25 amMuch of this comes down to the mindset you have when dollars of a certain magnitude become standard. A friend I knew in the category which could afford top items, wouldn’t blink until the cost had 2 more zero’s in it then where I blinked. To him, $50,000 for a speaker was the same as $5000 or even $500 to me. He wasn’t buying for status, though at certain levels, there is sometimes a status you might be expected to maintain. He bought the $150,000 turntable for the same reason I bought the $3000 turntable. He wouldn’t dream of looking below $50,000 as dollars below that were pocket change. This doesn’t explain all the purchases, some will always be status, or audiophile (stretching the budget to get the “best”). But my personal experience has led me to believe that the way we look at the world and its costs vs. values change radically as the amount of money available climbs, especially climbs past a certain point.
Comment by Bruce March 13th, 2008 @ 10:27 amNot to say its a wrong view, but certainly a different one and one companies market to.
Regardless of how much $ You Have, — You must first determine How much $ You want to spend on this investment understanding as you start to approach the 40K mark in dollars you have reached about 94% of 100% of PURE Reproduction in All Areas. To Gain an additional 1-2% you will have to double your investment cost. To gain an additional 1-2% you will have to Double it again. - AND - you will Never reach 100%. Taking this into account whatever your total is it will have to cover All Components at that total dollar level you decide upon. Not just amps and speakers as interconnects, speaker wire, transport, power supplys, Tube or Solid State All come into play in the total equation.
Comment by Jon March 13th, 2008 @ 12:44 pm