Tweaked

seth89

Tweaked

seth89

agent8
I'm sorry but it seems that high end speakers all seem BUTT-UGLY! Man, unless I was on Cybertron, I would not want those any where near my house. If I had the money to build an awesome theater/ movie room, I think I would have everything behind an acoustically transparent projector screen and all the surrounds built into the wall. When I am watching a movie, the last thing I want to be reminded of is where the sound is coming from, same when I am listening to music. With those ugly beasts, that's all I could think about.

They are all ugly and stupid because they are not Bowers and Wilkins.

I couldn't agree with Seth more.  I am a huge Bowers and Wilkins fan.
 
While I agree that most high end home audio equipment is not worth the money that is being asked for them and they far exceed the point of diminishing returns, not all high end equipment is created equal. A few months ago, I went to CEDIA and listened a pair of MBL RadialStrahler 101e MKII speakers shown below and they were the most amazing things I have ever laid ears on.  I have never heard such holographic imaging and sound staging in my entire life.  Not to mention that these are so far outside the typical speaker design that they are both cosmetically and technologically a work of art.  I will never in my life be able to afford either them or their big brothers, but I dream of it.
 

I bet you were there with my co-workers! They saw the same demo and we now sell MBL. We sold one pair so far and I just got approval to go as high as 50K for interconnects today ( not a big deal because the pre-amp, DAC, and AMPs are all 30K a piece ). 
 
The stuff looks like it is straight out of the Doctor Who's Tardis. 
 
Small world.

Yeah, the total value of the system with preamp, dac, and amps was around $250k.  But I couldn't help but be mesmerized by them.  I must have sat in that one demo for nearly an hour just listening, where I didn't spend more than a few minutes in any other demo room.
 
While I may never own them, I am planning on saving up and buying a pair of these from my work.  The Revel Salon 2's.

Those are awesome looking. I like the sleek, simple look of the titanium drivers. I know my Infinitys are only polypropylene and Kevlar but I like their idea and look of their MMD cones.

ty_ger07
Audiophiles? You mean audiofools? Those gold plated power cords in the OP are an absolute joke. They don't do anything to help. The speaker cables are probably a joke too. Some people like spending for the best just for the sake of buying "the best"; even if it makes zero difference.

Not all are "audiofools" as you say.  I know enough to only spend money on things that actually make a significant impact on the sound, like speakers, source, amplification, and acoustics (the room).  Cables are cables.

I would love something in zebra wood like these...

Wood burned oak or birch playwood shell, foam, abs and copper mesh would be my choice. Im not even sure if Id even want to know what it'd take to build my own tube amp $$$...

Agreed but to a point, it either gets the job done or it doesn't. The speaker can put out a frequency/db or it can't. A cable is going to send the proper amount of signal to where it is going or it won't. Some may do a better job at shielding it from outside noise but other than that, it transmits the proper signal or it doesn't. That's why I don't go on manufacture specs alone on anything. Many people brag that their subs can go down to 16Hz or they have an amp that is 5000 watts but if that is loaded with distortion or done on a level that is only measurable for a second or two, it only looks good on paper.
It reminds me of these teen idiots putting 92 Octane in their "racer" Ford Focus cars with lame spoiler attached. One a normal car like that, the fuel either ignites or it doesn't and putting a higher octane isn't going to make a difference on it's speed. Once it gets to the point where it is not pinging, the fuel is going to combust the same. The combustion is regulated. That's it. You still drive a Ford Focus and you wasted money on top of the line fuel, not to mention, you would have to drive off a cliff for the spoiler to actually do much of anything.
 
 And just so no one is confused, a class A amp is just a different way of achieving the same end result as a class D amp. It's not like it is a grading scale.

agent8
 
 
 And just so no one is confused, a class A amp is just a different way of achieving the same end result as a class D amp. It's not like it is a grading scale.

 
And just so people know they are not equal.