What is the most expensive piece of hifi equipment you have paid for?

I just got an incredible feeling of deja vu.

 

My Audio Note AN-E HE Kit 4 speakers with silver voice coils and wiring, hemp cones and AlNiCo magnets. Worth every penny.

There's that deja vu again.

 

I payed $65,000 for a Bose Blu Ray player with two fold down video screens. It came with a 2015 Chevy Suburban

 

This is surprisingly not that easy for me to determine. My Naim 555 cd player requires an outboard power supply, the combination would probably be the most expensive item if treated as a single item. But, if the Naim NDS music server + iPad + NAS storage + cd ripper + laptop is considered as one server system, it would be pretty high too. My speakers are a combination of an S.A.P. J2001 horn-based system and a replacement midrange horn; if you add the two together, this becomes the most expensive item.

 

I went from Vandersteen 2CEsigII to Harbeth 7ES3 monitors. Both are great sounding "musical" speakers. In my case i went from a very large room with the vandies to a small/medium sized room for the Harbeths. Please take your room size into consideration (and room treatments too). Also both those speakers need at least 100w to really shine...good luck!

 

My CD player

 

Klipsch Cornwalls in 1976. $1050 a pair in oiled walnut. Waited eight weeks for them to arrive.

jerol

 

Excellent response, thank you.

I may go to a smaller room in the future, so I appreciate the advice.
how does the bass compare to the Vandys? (I do not use a subwoffer).

 

I found out that i underpowered (70 W tube) the Vandies so i have a hard time answering that completely. Plus the room the Vandies were in were very large 20' x 22' x 20' h (est). For the smaller room im in currently the Harbeths are a good match. I listen to everything from jazz to alt rock. For the alt rock i do use a REL sub just lightly to fill in <40hz. Others will scream and yell and say the Harbeth 7ES3 are fine without. For Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine a sub is helpful. It is. Ive done the comparisons. My two cents..

 

Speakers/turntable.

 

McIntosh MA6900.

 

I wonder what became of The Good Guy. He was all over the equipment forum with threads like this, then one day

Took his ball and went home, as it were. Yet, his threads live on...

 

For those who can't afford or don't want to pay for new there's absolutely nothing wrong with buying used.

 

Hahahaha!

 

I used to work part time selling Hifi and I loved selling Vandersteen and Rogers, back in the very early nineties. My favourites were the Vandie Threes. They were so clean that they convinced you to keep pumping more power into them, until a little red light came on. Too much power! They would clip at that level.

Vandersteen Threes would have a hard time in your large room. The Twos are meant for an even smaller room. I would have guessed that 70 tube watts was bang on with Model Threes. You just needed a smaller room.

But...that was over twenty years ago, so I could be wrong : )

 

All my equipment except my roksan turntable, phono pre and Oppo I have purchased used. So with that said my Roksan Radius 5.2 is the most expensive piece of gear I have.

 

$600 for a refurbed Fisher 500C. Drove it hard during a party and it ate three power tubes and failed to go stop life property with repkacents. Another tech failed to get it going. Currently on the shelf till I decide what to do with it.

 

Denon POA 5000 and AVP 5000 demos from a HiFi shop on Beach Blvd north of Huntington Beach. I've used the AMP for almost 25 years and it still works
fine. I'm setting up a two channel system upstairs with the Denon components and a soon to be purchased Marantz SA8005. Paid 5K for the Denon's and the've outlasted
everything bought during the interim.

.

 

Turntable / tonearm combination - George Merrill PolyTable / Jelco SA-750E

 

Sonus Faber Cremona M

 

I love it when people speak from conviction, experience and humility. It gives them great credibility IMHO.

 

My amp, Plinius SA-Reference.

 

Just received my fully restored McIntosh C28 and MC2105 combo
As the speaker cables have not yet been delivered, I'm reduced to looking at the things for now ...

 

My speakers B&W CM8 series 2 a few months ago.......loving them

 

I have been surprisingly lucky on prices. SL1100a -$220, Sansui AU-717 -$25, Cerwin Vega AT15 speakers -$175. My cart is what cost me the most because it was brand new unlike everything else. AT150MLX -$440 or so. Havent been so lucky with vinyl though, I have paid way too much for how few records I have. that's what it get for listening to music that is a bit rare to find.