So I propose this; anyone whose audio equipment costs more than twice what his music colection costs has henceforth lost all credibility as a audio spokesperson; and shall renege on offering any opinions involving audio in any way until he has rectified that situation. No excuses; no PHD's or Street cred matters.

Thats Rule NO 1.

so lets say a guy goes out and spends what? 3,000 on a nice sound system? I'm not sure if you go to a high end audio dealer you can go home feeling 5k lighter and say you bought a "stereo" ok, anyway.

3K for entry level other than a Target or Wolly world light show bass effects stereo.
3K, this means maybe 1k for a receiver... ( ick, receiver?) 1200 for some speakers, 400 for a CD and 200 for Turntable and a hundred for some wire. plus tax is over 3K! whadayagot? save that thought....

When I was younger a colection of 100 albums was something nice. surely not a "real collector" but a 100 disk would be a nice entry level place to be.

Lets say we buy a hundred or a few more with a sale now and then. and we have a 100 disk's we can spin and they cost retail of 18 a piece. you got 3K in a stereo and 1800 in tunes.

3K in gear. just over half that in media.

I understand yor position. think about the numbers though. It's a tough nut to get a good system that cost significantly less than your media.

By the same token a person with a pair of Martin Logans costing 100K and 3 cd's, an SACD, 2 LP's and a video disk should not be taken seriously.

your right of course; and I felt need to write a paragraphlongsentance.

whererd day get dis bread anyway?

Say John, How far from Greenport are you? can make a run up the road to Stidd and pick up a few seats for me.

Oh, but if you only had a handfull of CD's; but wanted them to sound really good. at what point to you stop listening to the pop up stereo from Walmart?

audiophool

About the music thing; remmember this thread started as a result of an essay written on John Broskie's site. Could you say; have maybe twenty records you love and just want to hear them and are willing to put together a system at 3k$ just for that purpose; but of course! But would that qualify you to be an audiophile who is consulted for their opinion on how equipment should sound? I geuss so. But his point was more about the nature and quality of the music these people who own 30k$ systems and then use them to play three greatist hits albums and whether that grants those people some credibility regarding sound and what it should be.
He never says they shouldn't be doing that; only that they shouldn't be offering knowledgable opinions on sound based on that sort of approach.
Then of course my 2c is that ...why? Why do that? Like those guys who buy 30k$ Harley Davidsons and then ride them three times a year. Nothing wrong with that but would you take a lot of repair advice from that guy?

stidd.com just teasing buddy, they have some nice stuff up your way

Personally, I would rather listen and swap, but I certainly would not discount one's opinion if it came from a "scientific" perspective. Think of it as sex. It's much more enjoyable to do it than just read about it, but I still like reading and looking at the pictures