Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!info-high-audio-request
From: erich@inmet.inmet.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Diminishing returns in the high end
Message-ID: <5745@uwm.edu>
Date: 14 Aug 90 12:56:31 GMT
Sender: news@uwm.edu
Lines: 36
Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu




Sorry if I sound overly contradictory, but I believe that basic premise of your
posting is wrong. You assume that each of us have a static and deterministic as
well as equivalent level of both appreciation of sound and willingness to spend
on sound. 

In fact, each person has an inherently different level of appreciation. For
example, to a poor man who is tone deaf, a $200 Sears stereo would likely
suffice and any additional spending would be thought frivolous. Now take a
millionaire who has grown up surrounded be the best in audio equipment and
concert hall presentations. For this man, perfection of sound may not even be
attainable with today's present technology regardless of his willingness to
invest in equipment.

In the first case the man has been satisfied, any further spending would be
unnecessary and obviously implies diminishing returns simply because there is
no return. For the second man, perfection is an unattainable goal which can be
approached but never reached. So when does this man have diminishing returns?,
never, because his investment always brings him closer to his ultimate goal with
little relative sacrifice.

Secondly, how many of us have bought a piece of equipment or even a system, only
to find that some time later we wish to upgrade because the sound is no longer
satisfactory to our dynamically changing perceptions of quality. 

A decision to spend on anything that brings you pleasure, including audio, is
a personal decision that must be met by weighing factors of cost versus
pleasure. If the pleasure wrought exceeds the associated cost, then you have no
diminishment of your investment, you have made a logical decision to increase
the pleasure in your life.

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