oivind_dahle
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I used to be into high end audio equipment. Nothing is expensive compared to that. 400 dollar vacuum tubes, 1000 dollar speaker wire, and all the other nuttery that comes with it. Just go to Audiogon.com and check out the prices for used gear.
Well, my wife likes to say when I get caught up in knife geek stuff: "At least you're not out whoring." I think that is pretty funny, but she is probably right. Frequenting prostitutes would be pretty expensive I bet and there is nothing to show for it.
k.
This. I was into headphone stuff for a while... still am a little bit. Even a modest headphone setup will run you well over a grand, unless you build your own stuff like I did. The crazy thing about the audio stuff is that so much of it is snake oil... like for serious absolute snake oil. When you as a company can buy a couple hundred meters of copper wire for less than $500 bucks, cut it into 1 meter segments, drop it in liquid nitrogen for a week, then sell them for several thousand dollars a pair, something is wrong. The audiophile consumer has really killed that market for people who really do want something that sounds better than a crappy Bose but doesn't want to pay out of the arse for it. I never was even able to get into an actual "high end" stereo system, the cost was just way to high. When people will drop $100k for a turntable... well, then you can begin to imagine what the whole system costs... not to mention the dedicated rooms you can build for the equipment.
I still do high end audio and while it is expensive used gear is usually a fair price and cables from monoprice or bluejeancables, transports the signal as well as I have seen. True though that an entry level headphone rig will run over 1k easy, if you want you can pay 2200 or so for a pair of cans. Hobbies make your life more interesting, just having discipline enough to wait until you can pay cash is the hard part.
"Audiophiles" don't buy their cables at monoprice. Do you want to see what a 2000 dollar power cable looks like? :scratchhead: Yes, the cable that connects the wall to your electronic component. What makes it more ludicrous is that that is probably 50-100 feet of "crappy" cable from your circuit box to the outlet, and people claim that 3 feet of expensive power cable makes enough of a difference to justify spending hundreds/thousands of dollars. That is why audiophiles hang out at a board called audioasylum. They are all crazy and at one time, I was one of them.
A friend of mine in Germany started a company for audio gear that may not be totally insane but scratches at the high end level. But his real passion - and money-maker - is working with architects to plan the house and the wiring for optimal sound. Makes a few thousand $$ for a cable look cheap...
Stefan
Hah. That's a great example of the snake oil. One of my favorites is also the cables for digital data transfer... you can't seem to drive it into their heads that it's ones and zeros, it works or it doesn't. Funny how my printer never "loses quality" because of the cable, but your digital audio stream does.
I told my bosses that I started collecting culinary knives, and that they can go up to $20,000 a piece. He told me they collect apartment buildings, and $20,000 won't even get him out of bed.
So to put it in perspective, knives are not a very expensive hobby, and I think it's great to be more into and collect things you're passionate about. Even if it is more then the average person. For me, it's better then collecting blenders, pots, or pans.
When I can afford that $1,000 Popsicle, then I know I have arrived :juggle:
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