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Okay, I'm an old 2 channel audiophile and my income has just been halfed by corporate management. I've never had a system over $11,000 and now I have s tube system worth about $2200 used...still nice but a real step back for me. I've also heard systems at trade shows worth well over $80K-$130K. dream systems.So I am asking my fellow audiophiles 2 real questions...
1) How many hours do you listen to your system each week?
2) how much would you pay per hour if you had unintererupted access to a dream system in an acoustically perfect room to play your software?
I'm curious and I thank you for the feedback...
Follow Ups:
Being a user of Credit Cards, I view the monthly interest 'fee' as the 'rental cost' of the item I have 'borrowed' until I can afford to pay for it in full.
My current rental cost for my home theater system: Sony 42" plasma, Denon 5910 DVD, Denon 4806 AVR and 7.1 Canton 300CD, 360CD speakers, is..
about $60.00 mo. That is $2 a day. LESS than the cost of Cable TV subscription... and much, much more useful.
(sorry to 'steal' this post.. but it is an interesting different approach to the same topic. How much would it cost to 'rent' that system.. $130K @ 8% (good credit risk!) ($866. month) or $29.00 a day.
So for $29.00 a day... you can 'rent' such a system in a long term contract if you have impeccable credit.
And puts the subject into perspective.... Kinda
Julien
"There's someone in my head, but it's not me"
I listen about 1 hour a day on weekdays. Much more on weekends. Maybe a total of 10 hours a week.If you gave me an extra $1 I would not spend it on hifi. If you gave me $100,000 I would spend $1800 of that on a set of speakers.
I had a pretty good 150k+ system, so I wouldn't pay anything. Besides, many of the uber-systems I've heard have left me pretty cold. Some have been absolutely awesome, but I'd MUCH rather buy tickets to a kick-ass rock show than pay to hear some audio system--ANY day of the week.
And that can be had for free in my city, and at a high performance level, too.Sphile shows work out to about $2 an hour for me, I think, although it's hardly uninterrupted music listening. Unfortunately.
- This signature is two channel only -
I've managed to acoustically treat my listening room well enough to eliminate much of the "smear". So my listening room provides me with a realistic listening experience that given the recording has the ability to emotionally draw me into the music. I listen to my system most weekdays for about 3 - 4 hours for a total of 15 - 20 hours each week.If I had unlimited access to a dream system within reasonable driving distance in a perfect acoustic dedicated listening room I would be willing to pay almost the equivalent of the cost of attending a live concert. I say that because many live concerts today are performed in either poor acoustic venues or over amplified.
Len
nt
I would have an open house.You can all come and we will party.
1. I listen about 10-15 hrs per week.2. I would be willing to pay to listen to (another) good system, but the dollar amount would depend on several factors. - Would I have to drive to a location accross town (this might take an hours time), then I might go once, pay $10 - 20, but probably wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis. - If the location and arrangements were convenient and the acoustics of the room excellent, then I might want to do it every month so often. - But for several hours, not just one. - I would hope I could get a "volume discount" for such an arrangement.
I have what I consider a good system, with Maggie 3.6's, Maggie surrounds, sub, etc., but it's also enjoyable to listen to other systems with different sound characteristics from time to time. Another factor might be that one could sample a variety of high-end systems at minimal cost.
I suppose I might spend 0 - $150 per year for such an arrangement. - At that rate, it would take a long, long time for me to add substantial high-end equipment to my own system.
I imagine he might have something to say :-)
Best regards,
He'd probably claim he wouldn't lower himself to listen to a $100K budget system of table scraps and "sloppy seconds."
Like many have mentioned, I'd pay for tickets or software instead.I've heard systems costing more & not just at dealers/CES/etc. Top home system I've listened to (more than once) ~ half-million (retail). It might be more, I didn't ask.
My personal system listening hrs. are maybe 10 hrs. week. All music listening is around 30 hrs. week.
Hello!
I listen to my system about 10 hours a week, but I listen to the music while I work at the computer, when in my office, at my friends' places... for an appr. total of 20-25 hours.Your question #2 calls for a question in return:
Are different options availible?
I am ready to pay 50$ for an hour and a half once every 2-3 years as a point of reference IF it were a Very good sounding system. However I'd readily pay much more to listen to My Own system (that is quite expensive)in an ideal room but I don't want to push and pull all these heavy boxes and risk scratches and damage loading-unloading.
BTW, how many people, You think, might refuse to listen even free in order to remain deliberately ignorant of how far their own system sounds from a good one? Do You imagine the number of EGOs hurt?
Serge.
P.S. Very interesting poll!
I probably listen 10-15 hrs/week and would pay $0/hr! I'm not into hourly charges: You start to watch the meter ticking, and can never really relax.Dedicated sound rooms just aren't for me: Just put the blasted Avantgarde speakers out where I'm likely to actually be hanging out, like the kitchen! No joke, if I had that kind of space and cash, that's probably exactly the sort of thing I'd do.
I can see paying up to $25/hour to listen to music of MY choice on a "best available" system, whether that system cost $50,000 or $5,000,000. The key factor is not how much the hardware cost, but how good the music sounds!My own "main" system would have cost about $6K at full retail, new. I paid less than half that, because I bought my gear used and/or at a big discount. I used to listen an hour or two per day, less now.
"Music is the medicine of a troubled mind." -- Walter Haddon, 1567
I'd much rather put up with what I had at home and save up for concert tickets. Or more records.
nt
I might pay say $10/hr to hear a genuinely great system, (especially a multi-channel system), for perhaps 1 hour once a month.It certainly won't pay a dealer to set up a $100k system in order to change one person at a time $10/hr to listen to it. Charging potential customers an hourly fee would might serve to "ration" public access to the system at times when demand to listen is very high; it would be a very stupid thing to do otherwise.
Bill Bailey
___________________________________________
See my stereo config ... but always looking for cost effective improvements
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... There're some things money can't buy. But for everything else, theres Mastercard.
.......I listen anywhere between ten and thirty hours per week to my systemI wouldn’t pay anything per hour to listen to an audio system but I have paid up to $250 per hour to listen to live music.
Smile
Sox
After that listening experience, it reminded me that all I need to listen to something similar, is to pay $30 to enter an exclusive disco club. Whenever I go clubbing, I think of the Goldmund expereince... whoo hoo ha ha!
1) Approximately 16-20 to my home system each week. 25-30 hours each week at work as well.2) Nada. Why invest in someone else's system when I can use that dough to invest more in mine, not to mention more music, live and otherwise?
The novelty of paying to travel to listen to a system in what would probably be an uncomfortable environment sure would wear off quickly...
"I always play jazz records backwards, they sound better that way"
-Thomas Edison
We listen for about 3-4 hours during the workweek and 8-10 hours on weekends.Wouldn't pay for listening time because for us, listening in our home is the whole point.
> 1) How many hours do you listen to your system each week?>My main system in my dedicated listening room I listen about 3 hours a week.
My iPod with all 2100 of my favorite songs from the past 50 years I listen to probably three times that much or 9 hours a week. Either through Shure E5c earbuds or in my Altec iM-7 boombox next to me while I read.
Both are completely satisfying to me, but in different ways.
> 2) how much would you pay per hour if you had unintererupted access to a dream system in an acoustically perfect room to play your software?>
Doesn't interest me.
I've heard some systems worth that and more over the years, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it now.
If it's music I like, I'd rather see the live music.
.
Audio Unlimited Denver let me play completely unsupervised one Saturday afternoon with some very nice Accuphase and Boulder electronics driving huge JM Lap Utopia BE speakers.Carl was in the office taking care of paper work and talking to some customers on the phone while I had the entire main listening room to myself to play with all the goodies. ;-)
X
I had a blast and appreciated the fact that my dealer let me play. Was there supposed to be some other result you were looking for?
Well at that price level one would at least hope you experienced the best audio system you had ever heard and perhaps, at best, something even approaching the real thing.
Well, it was surely an awesome sounding system but cost at least 10x the price of any system that I would ever be able to afford. The speakers are taller than me and way too big for my listening room. The setup had incredible dynamic contrast and a very "effortless" presentation. It was a great sounding system but I feel that even the dealers showroom wasn't large enough to bring out what that system is truly capable of. A larger listening room is needed.
.
____________________________________________________________
"Nature loves to hide."
---Heraclitus of Ephesus (trans. Wheelwright)
Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald these days?
"1) How many hours do you listen to your system each week?"With the 3 systems combined...oh about 90 hours.
"2) how much would you pay per hour if you had unintererupted access to a dream system in an acoustically perfect room to play your software?"
None!!! Take that money and apply it to your own system. Take care of your room acoustics and THEN ask yourself if U need to upgrade!!
I would rather hear a mid-fi system in an accurate room than a full blown "high end" system in a room that is an acoustical nightmare........U do the math.
Cheers,
I've heard quite a few in recent time that didn't impress me at all.....
-- and I MEAN IT: overpaid CEOs. Yes, some are champions. But, most are fleadogs.
A couple of comments:(1) I will not pay for many things that do not qualify as an asset. I definitely would not pay to hear any system, no matter how good, just for the privilege.
(2) My system has gone from minimal dollars to dollars I never envisioned ever spending when I reentered this hobby in 2000. However, if my job went away tomorrow (which is always possible), I could sell it all and be very satisfied with a $500 to $1000 total setup. There are a few systems out there at those price points which are a steal.Why do I not do it now? Because I have the excess cash, choose to spend my discretionary income this way, but like I said, this could all disappear in the flash of a merger, downsizing, or other business decision.
I wish you the best.
.
weekdays approx 1.5 hours before work and 2.5 hours in the evening.saturday 3 hours in the morning and an average of 5 hours in the afternoon/evening.
sunday sometimes almost all day (12 hours) other times just a little depending on what the wife and i are doing.
answer to #1-so 30 to 40 hours per week on average.
answer to #2-whatever i have invested over 13 years divided by 35 hours per week.....over the time i am alive and my ears still work.
who knows what the number would be......i feel i'm getting my monies worth.
I would be afraid to do so. This whole audiophile hobby is like a drug. I was perfectly happy with my mid-fi system until I heard a Naim system 20 yrs ago. Until then I never thought of listening to the system. Do instruments sound as they should. etc. I just listened to the music. But NOW……upgrade, tweak, change this, change that. I was happy with my Tannoys until I heard some speakers at Brooks audio. The Radio KUSC was playing Heifetz , sounded better and clearer then my home system playing a CD of the same performance! It was so clear and Musical that I wish I could erase that moment from my brain. Unless I had $5000 for speakers! But I don’t. So my answer is NO way!
as
To be honest, I don't remenber the name. This was a yr. ago.
HowdyHaving a fairly expensive system (I don't want to add it up, but I'm sure it's above your number: http://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/3367.html ), I obviously value using it a lot.
I listen to my system as background about 10-12 hours per day and I seriously listen maybe an hour or two per day.
You can do the math :)
Also I jump at every opportunity to listen to inmate MikeL's system http://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/663.html
Hey Ted,
It was sure worth the cost of gas to drive across the lake to hear your system!Hope all is well.
Clients pay $75 for me to Master their music and to sit and listen to me do it.
Bruce, you need to seriously consider breaking out of those mid level rates. :)
Hey.. as soon as I quit my full-time gig, the prices will be going up. Better jump in now while I still have food on the table!!
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