Horrible: a Ferrari costs about as much as a small house ($200,000 - 500,000)

Really horrible: a small house costs $200,000 - 500,000 ( a 1200' starter home shouldn't cost a quarter million dollars).


back on topic: an AVR must first meet all your hook-up requirements. That McIntosh pre-amp isn't worth much if you can't hook all your gear into it.

And an audiophile is anyone who can sit still and actively listen to music. Gear is irrelevant, although they tend to upgrade as soon as they hear what they're missing. I was perfectly happy with listening to the symphony on a JVC boombox until I heard the same CD on somebodys "real speakers".

Really, imagine the millions of Americans who only know audio equipment for what they sell at Wal*Mart (its not like they show TV commercials for Paradigm or B&W). Most people just don't know that can or should buy speakers that don't come permenantly attached to a CD player/FM radio.