I know audiophiles love to overpay but really? Have a laugh.

[Zer09]

Feastrex NOS MA-9 Monster Alnico 9" Fullrange Speakers | eBay

Please keep in mind that this is for a pair of raw speakers.

[Tom Phillips]

...Please keep in mind that this is for a pair of raw speakers.

Oh my...Look again. There are two available but the $20,000 price is for Qty 1.

[Enzo]

yeah, well.

Did you scroll down to see just who the hell is selling this? And did you happen to link over to see what else they might be selling? MAybe even sign up for their newsletter? If so, then this trick worked.

When I see a listing like this, I think... marketing. Put something up at an absurd price. If some moron actually BUYs one, OK fine, make a zillion dollars and stick another one up for grabs. But mainly, a $20,000 driver listing gets people to post threads about it online - like this - generating free advertising, and more potential people looking at the company web site. I bet he doesn;t care if he ever sells one.

[J M Fahey]

Of course !!
And add: I was intrigued by his 312 points, 100% positive record, and went straight to his qualifications page, wondering : "did *anybody* buy one of these before?
Weeeelllll, of course NOT.
He has 312 positives .... 296 of them as *buyer* , 95% of them of stupid cheap stuff such as "slightly used BIC lighter: 20 cents" or whatever (nice way to inflate your score, by the way) and only 16 sales.
Average value: $100.
The most expensive: a couple JBL tweeters for $400 a pair and tops: a single horn "tractrix" cabinet for around $800.
Any $20000 speakers? Nope !! (as Enzo guessed)
Speakers which by the way are not even built: you have to pay them first and then "Mr Teramoto " is going to build them for you, in Japan.
Oh!!: freight is free , anywhere on the Planet.
Or the speaker is *really* worth, say, $1000 (being *very* generous), and Freight is $19000 , take your pick.

[soundguruman]

Feastrex NOS MA-9 Monster Alnico 9" Fullrange Speakers | eBay

Please keep in mind that this is for a pair of raw speakers.

I would rather get the cabinet / field coil combo...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Feastrex-NF-...item2eb7140e9d
Is that 22,420 "each?" or for a pair? I need a pair.

[Zer09]

Next there will be 50 year old guitars selling for $20,000 +. I guess in the end it all depends on what your addiction is. Apparently it's not unusual for Charlie Sheen to drop 5k+ for one night with an escort. At least with these you hopefully get to enjoy them for a while and it doesn't hurt when you pee.

[Enzo]

Well, if you pay $20,000 for a speaker driver, I don't think peeing is what will hurt. I think more from the other end the hurting...

[J M Fahey]

Pain when peeing is nothing; escorts must be chosen very carefully, because with some of them, next day it hurts when you cr*p.

[R.G.]

This makes me think I couldn't afford the duty and insurance on these, let alone the speakers. Let alone discovering that the neato, machined brass magnet cover hides a 0.5 oz alnico slug.
Dang. Hand-assembled when you order and NOS at the same time?

I'm impressed though. And we thought John Wayne had brass... er, ... cartridges.

I'm reminded of the poem..., er, limerick:

A tough young guy named Glass
Had ...uh... "cartridges" made of pure brass.
When they tinkled together,
They played "Stormy Weather",
And lightning shot out of his...

Well, you know.

[tedmich]

there are MANY audiophiles who proudly describe their +$50k systems and that they have receipts to prove it! As far as I know NONE of them have ever sued the charlatans who sell them this stuff, its a +1000% profit margin with a tiny market and almost no risk! No different than selling "indulgences" by the clergy of old...and equally based in science. Technology can exist completely outside of science; this is proof positive.

I've always thought that if music was YOUR LIFE, you'd pick up an instrument and bypass the $100k of reproduction equipment...naive I know.

[Steve Conner]

The thing about music is that it can be appreciated on a whole lot of levels. I'd say that sound quality is the lowest level. Drawing a (somewhat strained) analogy with the written word, the recording technology is your ink and paper.

On the higher levels we have the musical equivalents of spelling, grammar, plot, characters and ultimately the archetypes like tragedy, love, war, heroism and so on.

I'm aware that this argument is strained to the limit with modern music which is created in the studio. (I wonder what Jungian archetype Alice Cooper's "Bed Of Nails" represents.) But that stuff is all mastered to sound good on NS10s and car stereos anyway.

[guitician]

Well, this is no surprise, with all the hype on Japanese cars, electronics etc. being so much better. But if this stuff is handmade, like a crafted work of art, by a Master of that art, then the price could be justified. But then again...money isn't all that anyway.

[soundguruman]

You need to understand the philosophy of Japanese society.
It's different than ours.
A pound of sushi, from the most praised tuna fish, is worth $40,000.00
A Lychee fruit, from the Emperor's royal 600 year old Lychee tree, is worth $5000, for ONE piece of fruit.
Tradition, handcrafted excellence, is worth much more in "that" society than it is in our society.
The appreciation of "the best" is much greater, and has a much higher value.

Now, "I" like Magnapan speakers, powered by class A 400 watt tube monoblocks.
And that equipment will cost you $35,000.
But "if" I had the money to spend, I would buy it. Just Because I like the sound.
And to me, it would be worth every penny.

[R.G.]

Yup.

'Course, that makes me wonder why someone from that culture hasn't snapped this one up before one of us ugly, cultureless foreigners ever got to see the pictures.

The real problem with the idea that everything-is-a-priceless-art-object is that crass economics intrudes at some point in the form of diminishing returns. In terms of sound quality per dollar, if these speakers really produced sound to die for, how much cheaper are speakers that just make you deathly ill? And how much for just a bad case of the flu? And how much for a headache?

[rjb]

...And how much for a headache?

You can buy speakers that will give you a headache for pretty cheap.
-rb

[oc disorder]

You can buy speakers that will give you a headache for pretty cheap.
-rb

Well in that case you could gently be nudged towards speaker leads that will provide an extraordinary sense of calmness and coherence!

At $55,000/pr, The Modena speaker cable by Allan Shane is perhaps the most expensive speaker cable in the world at present. I only know its claim to fame include superconductors said to be outrageously expensive. I am not too familiar with the theories behind the technology but the Krell reference system wired up with the Modena had an extraordinary sense of calmness and coherence over the South-African Vivid Speakers.

The Hong Kong Hi End Audio Visual Show 2006

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/hk06/show.html

(copy and paste into browser)

Actually the whole site is interesting with turntables to um be born for and heaps more.

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/industryfeatures.html

Think I would have to take my best Auzzie B.S. detector and take a few measurements.

Wonder what the hi end hi fi wifes think... maybe there's a forum somewhere.....

With the cost of those power leads and the associated problems of the power grid I would be inclined to buy
big banks of batteries and mount them under the house so I didn't have the worry that my hi fi might be compromised
even though I couldn't hear anything untoward .

Oh the hoops one has to jump through just to enjoy quality music..

[tedmich]

the same guy who brought us a $15K chip amp LM3886 based audiophile amp also developed MASSIVE sealed lead acid based power supplies to avoid that dirty and oh-so-common AC.

Jeff Rowland :: How does Jeff Rowland blaze the path as a true leader in the High End Audio industry?

rich dudes need hobbies too...

[jmaf]

The real problem with the idea that everything-is-a-priceless-art-object is that crass economics intrudes at some point in the form of diminishing returns.

I think elementary school should teach everyone "financial education", along with math and physical education. Every finance 101 book will mention the Dutch tulip craze - all of a sudden tulips were sold for vast amounts of money, princes, kings, lords, everyone wanted tulips and nobody knew why. Their price vanished just like it appeared, overnight, with no reason whatsoever.

Speaking of which. Any of you heard of Dumble amplifiers?