Speaker system a little pricey?

Speaker system a little pricey?

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Discussion

crankedup

Original Poster:

25,764 posts

242 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
Whilst waiting for my new tyres to be fitted I was browsing a current ‘What Hi-Fi’ magazine. Not being one of the hi fi officinado, but do enjoy my home system, I was astonished to read up on a pair of floor standing speakers. Looked very nice and the report was of a near faultless performance ‘as expected of the price’ of £44,000. By eck that is a woden of cash me thinks.
Then further browsing brought another eye opener speaker system, reported as perfect and a very unusual look about them. Price tag £700,000 seven hundred thousand pounds!!!
Sorry I cannot recall manufacturers of either speaker systems due to the shock of the price tags. Can any speakers be worth this money?

LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
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You could ask that about most things couldn't you?

If you get enjoyment from them & you can afford them then yes, they are 'worth' it surely?

crankedup

Original Poster:

25,764 posts

242 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
^^^^^
Just to clarify, no way can I afford or justify these speakers. I simply cannot imagine what is in them to justify the price. I do agree with you though, if one has the money to.spend as such then why not. Personally I would rather by a very nice house for the £700,000!!!!

LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
crankedup said:
^^^^^
Just to clarify, no way can I afford or justify these speakers. I simply cannot imagine what is in them to justify the price. I do agree with you though, if one has the money to.spend as such then why not. Personally I would rather by a very nice house for the £700,000!!!!
Presumably any individual considering spending £700k on a pair of speakers has (multiple) homes far in excess of £700k in value!

Vipers

32,799 posts

227 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
Either those who buy them have money to burn, or are the lucky ones who have perfect pitch, and appreciate world class speakers, I recall seeing a turntable for about 20k and that was without an amp.

Ask yourself, do you have a crystal set in the front room, or a decent radio?

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
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I suppose the question Crankedup is asking, and I'm asking too, is what sound difference is there/can their be between speakers costing say £5k and £700k?

And how is that difference achieved - materials, design, electronics etc?

legzr1

3,843 posts

138 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
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As above, eye of the beholder and all that. I've a daughter who gains as much enjoyment from a £40 b/t speaker as I do from a system which cost a fair few bob more.

I know people who pay £2M for an ex-council flat in London.

Go figure...

I'd guess the speakers were Magico and Steinway/Bosendorf.

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
It's hi-fi. It's an industry riddled with snake oil and What-Hifi is built around it (they still insist they can hear differences in HDMI cables).

How about a £975 USB cable smile

https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/vertere-acoustics...

Oh, and don't forget your £25 13a fuse...

http://www.russandrews.com/13a-superfuse-mains-plu...

Should all go nicely with those £700k speakers.

legzr1

3,843 posts

138 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
B17NNS said:
It's hi-fi. It's an industry riddled with snake oil and What-Hifi is built around it (they still insist they can hear differences in HDMI cables).

How about a £975 USB cable smile

https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/vertere-acoustics...

Oh, and don't forget your £25 13a fuse...

http://www.russandrews.com/13a-superfuse-mains-plu...

Should all go nicely with those £700k speakers.
What about the £44,000 pair?

£16,000? Or the £5000 pair mentioned earlier?

Where do you draw the line between 'bloody hell, that's expensive but I have the cash, fancy some new speakers and I think I'll go listen to see what the fuss is about' and 'sod that, must be snake oil' ?

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
These will be Wilson Audio chronosonics. Highly reputable company but these are snake oil imho. Even if I could afford them I would hate to have something so adjustable that I would spend my life twiddling with them. Sweet spot would be pretty small too I guess. The biggest factor in the sound of a hi-if is the room it is in and if I were spending £700k on hi-fi, most of it would go to the architect/builder.

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
legzr1 said:
Where do you draw the line between 'bloody hell, that's expensive but I have the cash, fancy some new speakers and I think I'll go listen to see what the fuss is about' and 'sod that, must be snake oil' ?
I guess it depends on your ears, your room and the rest of your components. An awful lot of it is emperors new clothes though. It costs more, it must sound better right? We CAN all hear it right?

I could understand someone spending maybe £5k for a pair in the pursuit of their idea of the ultimate speaker. Above that I don't really get it. I don't see where the money has gone either in R&D, components or construction methods.

It's always a scale of diminishing returns.

Maybe it's my ears but anything more expensive than a pair of KEF LS50's and I can't really hear an improvement. Tie that with a decent DAC (as in £200 rather than £2k) and a decent amp and for less than £2k you've got a really rather nice stereo set up.

Sheetmaself

5,665 posts

197 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
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A friend of a friend has a set up of Living Voice speakers, each speaker requires 2 x power Amps. I would assume money wise the ballpark figure is roughly similar. Yes it sounded awesome, yes there was a difference between his set up and mine (meridian and b&w 801) but between his and my set up you are paying a huge figure for good improvement.

OldSkoolRS

6,719 posts

178 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
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One time at a dealer open day I heard a pair of Lyngdorf speakers worth around £180,000 the pair (I think Model 80, but could be wrong). They certainly did sound amazing, but well beyond my paygrade. Much further down the price scale, I heard a home cinema set up at the same dealer that used MK Sound 300 series speakers and separate subs...again well above my pay grade at £5,000 a pair (or more likely £7,500 for an LCR set of three). Again I was really impressed with these, but couldn't justify the expense.

Once at home listening to my more modest system, I soon forgot about those pricey speakers and just got back enjoying what I had. It was only when I did some room rebuilding and a total change of layout, that an ex-demo set of the MK Sound 300 series speakers came up for grabs. Even then they were a stretch to buy, but I was going to buy extra speakers for Atmos channels anyway, so some man maths pushed me over the edge and I convinced myself it was 'now or never'.

I'm so glad I did now, as since then I've re-heard the Lyngdorf stuff that is completely out of my price range and while they are better, with the room improvements/acoustic treatments I also made when I rebuilt, I reckon I'm enjoying the best speakers I could reasonably afford: Knowing that it would take £180,000 plus to go a small amount of diminishing returns better, means I don't need to consider replacing speakers ever again.

If you get chance to listen to some really high end stuff, then I'd recommend it: It's an experience to hear/see what is out there, but also just how much diminishing returns starts to kick in once above a certain level.

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
Funny isn't it that on the visual side of the audio visual world if you demand the absolute best of the best 65" display you struggle to spend £4k and can get very close for £2.5k.

legzr1

3,843 posts

138 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
B17NNS said:
I guess it depends on your ears, your room and the rest of your components. An awful lot of it is emperors new clothes though. It costs more, it must sound better right? We CAN all hear it right?

I could understand someone spending maybe £5k for a pair in the pursuit of their idea of the ultimate speaker. Above that I don't really get it. I don't see where the money has gone either in R&D, components or construction methods.

It's always a scale of diminishing returns.

Maybe it's my ears but anything more expensive than a pair of KEF LS50's and I can't really hear an improvement. Tie that with a decent DAC (as in £200 rather than £2k) and a decent amp and for less than £2k you've got a really rather nice stereo set up.
Yes, all makes sense (although I'd suggest low bass and entertaining volume is a bit beyond LS50s as good as they are and I'm a big fan of Kef UniQ!) but drawing an arbitrary line in the sand as to what is good/better/the best is meaningless.

Just touching on your comment about not seeing where the R&D etc goes - a quick example - compare B&W CM10 (a fine speaker) under the £5K 'line' with the 800D (well above it). Note the work done on the cabinet to make it almost inert, the diamond tweeter, the work on the crossover isolated from the cabinet and built into the base, Marlan head taking the Kevlar mid driver out of the cabinet etc etc. It all takes time and costs money in research and materials.

That's a £15K+ speaker and some reasonably argue it's fine value for money compared to some of the offerings from Magico, Wilson and Khama.

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
legzr1 said:
drawing an arbitrary line in the sand as to what is good/better/the best is meaningless.
Absolutely. I think we just have to be honest with ourselves when we stop hearing improvements. Nice gear is nice to have but it's also a means to an end. It's a tool to enjoy the thing we all love. Music.

I agree about the KEF's, a sub makes a big difference.

crankedup

Original Poster:

25,764 posts

242 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
[quote=Hang On]These will be Wilson Audio chronosonics. Highly reputable company but these are snake oil imho. Even if I could afford them I would hate to have something so adjustable that I would spend my life twiddling with them. Sweet spot would be pretty small too I guess. The biggest factor in the sound of a hi-if is the room it is in and if I were spending £700k on hi-fi, most of it would go to the architect/builder.[/quote

Yup, the Wamm model. TBH I am still in shock over!

Vipers

32,799 posts

227 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
legzr1 said:
B17NNS said:
It's hi-fi. It's an industry riddled with snake oil and What-Hifi is built around it (they still insist they can hear differences in HDMI cables).

How about a £975 USB cable smile

https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/vertere-acoustics...

Oh, and don't forget your £25 13a fuse...

http://www.russandrews.com/13a-superfuse-mains-plu...

Should all go nicely with those £700k speakers.
What about the £44,000 pair?

£16,000? Or the £5000 pair mentioned earlier?

Where do you draw the line between 'bloody hell, that's expensive but I have the cash, fancy some new speakers and I think I'll go listen to see what the fuss is about' and 'sod that, must be snake oil' ?
Fuse TWENTY FIVE QUID, mind you it says the ends are hand polished biggrin

But it's still a 13 amp fuse, they are having a giraffe.

And a nice record deck. "German high-end turntable maker Clearaudio’s just revealed its Statement v2 turntable and it weighs approximately 350 kg. Made of bulletproof wood, aluminium and stainless steel, this deluxe audio toy could be yours for $132,000."

Edited by Vipers on Wednesday 13th December 21:01

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Wednesday 13th December 2017
quotequote all
Vipers said:
they are having a giraffe.
That's nothing, I give you the £1619.00 kettle plug biggrin

http://www.russandrews.com/the-superkord500-sdii-u...

Just don't forget to tick the Deep Cryogenic Treatment and Super Burn In Plus options to get the best from it.

Vipers

32,799 posts

227 months

Thursday 14th December 2017
quotequote all
B17NNS said:
Vipers said:
they are having a giraffe.
That's nothing, I give you the £1619.00 kettle plug biggrin

http://www.russandrews.com/the-superkord500-sdii-u...

Just don't forget to tick the Deep Cryogenic Treatment and Super Burn In Plus options to get the best from it.
What puts me off buying one of those is the 10 days before they even despatch it, just toooooo long to wait biggrin

What planet are they on.