I was asked a couple of days ago to help set up some audio equipment for someone with a lot of money. When I say this person has high end audio equipment, I mean the stuff that mostly doesn't come up on "google shopping" or sold on Amazon. What I discovered was very interesting...
 
First off, real quick, my background is over 20 years of audio experience. Playing music, recording various bands, engineering, mixing ect, ect... so I am familiar with audio. I guess I would say I'm an audiophile but maybe a budget/casual audiophile.
 
Before I share my opinions and thoughts, I will break down some of the equipment this person has and the amount they cost. I can't calculate the room itself or the custom floating floor and there is also an isolated power run with some fancy filter on it as well.
 
I have got to work with some high end equipment in my day but I had no idea people would actually spend thousands on custom power and speaker CABLES. His power cables were all custom made and looked like this

The one pictured is $3500. I know his was not the same but he mentioned that he spent "a few thousand" on power and speaker cables. Most of them were sleeved with gold connectors and had some cool carbon fiber twist lock ends on them. From the cords, there was a big steel box that was not a battery back up but I am assuming it was some type of regulation and filtering which was also "a few thousand". From there, he has a Brinkman tube power supply for the turn tables. The power supply is a little over 4 grand and he has a turntable that is $60,000 and another that is $30,000. I believe they are TW-acustic with an upgraded needle/cartridge (I don't know much about turntables) From there he had a phono stage made by Pass Laboratories that is $10,600 and then this preamp

Which is $16,500. From there going across the room, the signal is sent to some very cool looking mono block power amps. These are class A amps that weigh more than 100 pounds each and also run $29,000 a pair....

Finally, these are powering the ugliest speakers I have ever seen in my life and also the most expensive speakers I have ever seen at $48,500 for the pair

 
The top drivers have a pivot that you adjust to ear height and I think they have some adjustment that moves them closer for time delay. I wasn't allowed to touch them but the grills were removed and I was shown the drivers.
 
Along with the speakers, he also had a very expensive headphone preamp and headphones that are one of the most expensive in the world at right about $2000.
https://www.audeze.com/products/lcd-collection/lcd-3
 
Easily a quarter of a million dollars that I saw just in audio equipment. So we set everything up, warmed up all the amps and I went through the thousands of records and picked out something I was very familiar with. I took a seat in the "listening chair" and closed my eyes.
 
The verdict:
 
The highs were nice and fluid. There were subtle nuances that popped out that I never remembered hearing before... Vocal backing tracks that were whispering in my ear but in perfect harmony. Cymbal crashes and soft dynamic ghost notes that were pulled out from the mix adding new vibrancy to an old familiar song. The mid range was solid bringing out the punch of rhythm guitars and deep earthy and tone filled tom hits from the drums and the higher frequencies of the bass guitars were pronounced, defined and tactfully separated from the mix. The low end was a tad unfocused, at least for my taste. Kick drum sounds hit fairly hard but were almost muddy. Bass guitar parts were distinguishable but kind of felt a little dead. I usually listen to music with a sub-woofer so I guess I am used to having a little more "ump" on the low end. One thing I particularly noticed is that these speakers are very directional; even turning your head a few degrees would alter the sound quite a bit. I believe that the majority of my time listening, I was right around 80-85db and the system/amps felt like they were hardly breaking a sweat. Overall, this sounded pretty good.
  Having some time with the headphones was actually more enjoyable for me. Very comfortable and about the same response; great highs, tight mids and a little lacking in controlled bass. I was listening so critically that the worst thing about these headphones was that my face was not so clean shaven and my stubble would occasionally rub on the padding making a small amount of noise. All of this is tough because sound is something that is very subjective and very personal. This isn't like trying to compare gaming on a 1080P monitor with a 4K monitor.
At this point, if I was to rate this system, it would about an 8 or maybe a 9. Things somewhat changed when I went home...
 
 
 
I put on the same album on my poverty, box-store disk player, middle of the line Denon receiver and my 10 year old crutchfield, close-out Infinity Alpha speakers. The differences became less noticeable. And that's exactly what they were to me, "differences". I am sure I would get internet-punched and laughed at if I attempted to say that my system sounded as good or as close to as good as a one costing 10 times more but it made me realize that sound is really subjective and that opinions can be swayed very easily.
 
 
When I was setting this system up, it was almost like I was supposed to like it. After being told that such and such equipment is highly praised by audiophiles and that such and such wires or amps are the best you can buy, I felt pressured to hold it in high regards. Being sat in the "listening chair" with my eyes closed, I felt the pressure of critiquing every note and analyzing every bit of equipment. Maybe it's the reviewer side of me, maybe it's human tenancy to perform under pressure, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that most of the time lately, when I listen to music, sadly, I am cleaning or driving, not "listening". I think this is something that has largely left this generation and time we live in. Music used to be something people actually sat and listened to, reading liner notes and appreciating the talent instead of having background noise while we facebook, watch vine videos or occupy our time with something else but that's another subject... After comparing and really listening, I still think the guy has a nice set up, I just think mine is nicer than I thought before. Nicer than his? I will just say a better fit for me. I am sure if I spent anywhere close to that on anything, buyers justification would have me score it high and call it better without thinking (or listening).
   Part of the reason I did this thread was because I was thinking about this thread:http://forums.evga.com/A-few-updates-to-my-Home-Theater-system-m2402042-p2.aspx
Afterburner can afford way more than I could dream but he chose to use some very affordable Polk speakers. It just goes to show that people have different preferences and in the end, more money doesn't always equate to better. Sorry for the long winded spew of opinions, just thought I would share my experience.
 
 

Nope, but he does own quite a few reel to reel and masters from studios. Next time he may have those ready to listen to which will be neat.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been dabbling with audio equipment here and there and although I have not and will probably never get the opportunity to listen to such high-end audio equipment up close and personal, I must say that I ended up jumping to that same conclusion; in the end sound is very subjective much like the music we listen to. It's basically an attempt to re-create a live band performance which is nice but I don't think I could ever justify spending even 10% of what this person spent if I had the means to do it.

People like this are more of a social engineering target of legal sorts than a customer. There will always be these types of people out there though, so why not exploit them legally to sell them absurd stuff?

What part of the country did you do the install?
( assuming you did it herein the US)
 
If you're just getting into high end audio the PolkAudio forum is a great place to learn and chat about stuff.

You lost me at audiophile.

stalinx20

fearpoint
You lost me at audiophile.

hahahahahaha.

It's like pedophile, but instead you're raping people's wallets. 

I liked the write up until you got into how it sounded to you.  I can never read reviews of audio/visual products because how they sound to you, would be probably the same way they sound to me, great.  Like wine tasting.  My friend is a wine snob and he tries to describe wines like smooth... im like its a liquid, of course its smooth!  But you hit the nail on the head. You put the same audio in yours and it sounded good to you.  Stuff like this is nothing but bragging rights.  You don't need class A mono blocks for bass.  You can great audio from A/B amps instead of A's and save some money.
 
I still laugh at those power cables.  Did he do any type of shielding to his infrastructure wire?  is the wires in his house shielded or they are just like mine going through the 2x4's and into a generic circuit breaker panel.  why would you need cables that expensive is an absolute waste of money.   Having worked with audio equipment for over a decade I still fall back on my radio shack RCA cables.  Not the $3.00 ones, but the $12.00 gold plated ones.  They sound the same as uber expensive monster cables. 
 
I had a monster cable rep come to my shop once and tell me about these fancy cables (circa 2001ish) that routed the bass through these cables, and highs through these cables.  I looked at the cables, and asked where the crossover was. He looked at me like a deer in headlights.  I said yea, somewhere there has to be a cap to block the lows, and somewhere there has to be a coil to block the highs.  I don't see them, they look like regular cables.  More deer in head lights look.  I knew it was a gimmick right away.  Also how monster cable used to peddle their "high end" main power wires for car's.  they use the SAME COPPER as welding cable, but welding cable is so much cheaper.  Yea its not as pretty, but pretty is not a concern in a stealth installation that hides all the wires anyway.

Lol, Agent I used to do high end wiring and system installs like this for a local company, Advanced Installations, which did all the million dollar homes in NJ and NY and it was ridiculous what these people would pay for components. These are the people that had elevators in their houses, private trains, yachts, custom helicopters, planes, everything pops out of the walls and floors, everything was automated etc.... They didn't care what it sounded like or looked like, just that it was expensive and hardly anyone could afford it, so they wanted it and they wanted it installed in some ridiculous, outlandish way. Its just a status symbol for them to impress people with. Anyone who installs audio/video for a living and hears/sees this stuff day in and day out knows that there are very few higher end units that are really worth some money. You end up seeing and hearing for yourself that a lot of the better low end equipment is actually just as good as the ridiculously priced equipment and that the builds internally are very similar. So don't feel like your crazy or alone in your thinking because your not wrong man, your actually right on target! :) 
 
Heres a vid or two of some of the weird stuff we did: http://www.advancedinstallation.com/gallery_unique.php 
 

agent8

wmmills
Lol, Agent I used to do high end wiring and system installs like this for a local company, Advanced Installations, which did all the million dollar homes in NJ and NY and it was ridiculous what these people would pay for components. These are the people that had elevators in their houses, private trains, yachts, custom helicopters, planes, everything pops out of the walls and floors, everything was automated etc.... They didn't care what it sounded like or looked like, just that it was expensive and hardly anyone could afford it, so they wanted it and they wanted it installed in some ridiculous, outlandish way. Its just a status symbol for them to impress people with. Anyone who installs audio/video for a living and hears/sees this stuff day in and day out knows that there are very few higher end units that are really worth some money. You end up seeing and hearing for yourself that a lot of the better low end equipment is actually just as good as the ridiculously priced equipment and that the builds internally are very similar. So don't feel like your crazy or alone in your thinking because your not wrong man, your actually right on target! :) 
 
Heres a vid or two of some of the weird stuff we did: http://www.advancedinstallation.com/gallery_unique.php 
 

 
Shoot... the plug ins are not supported on my work computer but I would like to see that.
 
Yeah, I used to do custom work (entry gates, mirrors and windows, stainless steel, ect..) on homes like that. I've worked on one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's homes, the Kelly Blue book guy, some football players homes, The CEO of Remington guns, ect.. but the greatest was when I was asked to sift through broken glass for a bullet on an elevator because Mr. Hemingway (not Ernest but one of his kids or something) was worried that someone took a shot at him. He offered me lunch and said I was welcome to use his shower to clean up if I wanted to... So yeah, I have seen people ask for crazy, crazy stuff just because they have the money.
This one guy had ALL the floors in his office glass so he could look down at his car collection below in his "garage." He had 50 some cars, all very collectible and his garage was bigger than most department stores and was cleaner than a 5 star restaurant. LOL at people with that much money. Half the time, they still seemed unhappy too.

YES!!! So true, stuff really does not make you happy and I know some people who read this will be floored by that statement but its the truth. I couldn't turn my house into a museum like that, its totally against my philosophy of what a "home" should be. You should be able to do whatever you want in your house and make as much of a mess as you want while your doing it..... and have the mrs' clean it up!! :( I better erase that part , huh?!?!? :P

Don't worry, you are still "ballin" . I have heard a few of the reference speakers from Klipsch and they sound pretty darn good. If my infinitys ever broke or I had the opportunity to do things again, it would probably be a toss up between Polk or Klipsch. Both have some good speakers.

I saw some audio equipment cost up to 1.000.000$.
There are only pair of speakers few hundreds thousands dollars.
That's for people like Roman Abramovich F.C. Chealsea owner, for Donald Trumph, owners of Oil companies and similar...
Who knows who even made such things, because most expensive serial productions is not even close to that. 
These two Speakers... What you mean how much cost???
1.200.000$


 
 
 
I'm satisfied with 5.1 system 300-500$... :).

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.

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.

I thought those sonus aidas that I posted were beautiful. :D

Lol @ Doctor Who, I was thinking the same! They look pretty sweet. Can any of you guys get a decent deal on an Inuke 6000dsp? Just thought maybe....