Quote Originally Posted by Ajani
When I used to own a $3K speaker setup, I would regularly audition systems in the $5K to $10K range and think "meh, what's the big deal?". Sure they sounded better in some areas, but I never noticed any HUGE differences.... I suspect if I had actually owned and spent enough time with those more expensive systems, then the differences would have been more apparent to me... And as I said at the top of this response, I believe the same thing likely applies at the $15K versus $150K level...
Funny but when I say it is about experience level - you imply that I'm a snob. Now you are saying that people with experience will notice the difference more - like your brother didn't notice the improvement until he got more experience listening. Isn't that the entire point? An audiophile is a person who "deeply" cares about the "quality" of audio reproduction and is going to want to hear the best systems - regardless of affordability. It's not even about money - it can be but it isn't necessarily. The old saying "big speakers create big problems" is true - they have to overcome self created problems - the more drivers the more crossovers the physical size etc - are all issues they need to overcome. Small speakers don't have the same problems - they have a whole other set of problems.

And PS - it should not take many many hours of listening to figure out what is going on with a loudspeaker or whether you heard it at a show - sure you can't do a full review - but you most certainly can tell what systems are doing it right and which ones are not. It takes one track to do that. The rooms at CES were typical sized living rooms of reasonable quality and allow for proper set-up. Other than the odd gigantic system in a too small room - 90% of the rooms were "fair" Granted it might take some more time to set-it up bang on - but even then I take issue - the manufacturers are provided blue prints of the room well in advance and know what the walls are made out of. They know what room treatments they will need and how to set up the room a month in advance at least. Most houses are made out of wood with plaster walls - so is the hotel. There really should not be too much excuse - again unless they changed the room last minute or the maker could not get a room that fit his speakers (like the Soundlab guys who got stuck with a room they didn't order and was too small). And all the makers are in the same boat getting the same kind of rooms. Apples to apples largely across the board.