What else can I expect?

[chimera128]

If you are just using a receiver the biggest difference will probably come when you go the separates route. I plan on getting amps/pre/pro next year as soon as I finish paying off the car (also another expensive hobby). Agreed that there are very high end components out there but there is also a point at which most people have to say is it worth it. Is the 20k cd player really 19k better than my 1k dvd/audio player. Also some of the high end stuff sounds like crap to my ears. I am sure my system wouldn't please some other people (obvious by some people's distaste for bipolar sound), but for me (even if it isn't finished) it does the job well enough that I don't find myself wondering if there is something better out there (which I am sure there is). The only problem I usually have is trying to find music and movies to listen to (and room to store them !!!).

[J*E*Cole]

Well that's kind of what I was looking for. Thanks.

[RGA]

The theory of relatively is all the improvement you will get. All things relative. If for 10 years all I listened to was my stock car radio then that would much better than no music at all. Then if I heard a "good" $400.00 mini system it would be so fantastic compared to the stock radio in my car. And this might Blow the previous systems away. Then I might hear a Paradigm or Infinity system that might blow that $400.00 mini system away and all the while I'd be saying wo w can it get better than that? Yes it very much can. But, the higher you go you will find a lot of stuff doesn't sound as HUGELY better than it should considering how much money you are putting out. Just like there is good and bad at $1k so too is there at $10k.

The trick is to find the more expensive gear from the companies that at each price incriment is "truly" offerring rather staggerring improvements. Such that you wondered how you got by with the current system you love. Been there myself. For instance one of my favorite standmounts when I first started in this hobby was the B&W CDM 1SE. I loved it. Faat forward to now after hearing a considerable amount of gear and I could not live with that speaker. The speaker didn't change - it was and is good value for money and I could recommend it as such - but I "NOW" know what I would be missing.

[J*E*Cole]

Yeah I can see what you mean when you put it like that. I see you use a CDP355. Among the 300 CD changers, do you think it's a stand out?

[Lensman]

Well that's kind of what I was looking for. Thanks.

Ah, so you ARE looking toward something better. Well, the absolute best way to see what things could be like with higher end stuff is to go to a few local audio dealers and listen to some of it. Most will be happy to plant the seeds of lust in you by letting you listen to their best. In my recent speaker buying venture, more than one dealer insisted I listen to their best $100,000+ setups even knowing I had nowhere near that kind of money to spend. Be sure to take some music selections you're familiar with on your current system, so you know exactly what differences you're hearing.

This will immediately tell you exactly where you stand. But as RGA pointed out, don't be surprised if you find $30,000 speakers don't actually sound 100 times better than your $300 Alphas. In audio, the routine is: the more money you pay, the less of an improvement you actually get. In this, audio gear is a lot like race cars. You can spend a little and turn your subcompact into a street racer. You can spend more and build a track car. But as you keep trying to go faster, you get to a point where you find yourself spending millions to build a Formula One car that's faster than your last one by only tenths of a second. Of course it's those tenths that can win races, and for hardcore audiofiles it's things like that almost imperceptable bit of extra air in the high end that can make all the difference.

That said, May I recommend you also give some thought to your listening room's acoustics? How your room is set up and where you've placed things (including furniture, wall art, etc.) can have a much more dramatic impact on the way things sound than changing out individual components or cables. Audioholics.com has a number of good articles on the subject:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...tics/index.php

You might start with this one:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...livingroom.php

[J*E*Cole]

Thanks to all for your thoughts. This is a great forum. Very helpful.