How much have you spent on AV from your humble beginnings.?

Droolinggimp

Droolinggimp

Droolinggimp

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Location
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I started my AV addiction when I was 18 years old. That was 12 nearly 13 years ago now.

Started off with a Denon amp, Cd player and Tuner. To go with that little setup I had some Castle bookshelf speakers.

Then came a Technics twin tape deck.

Then my Marantz Dolby prologic surround amp with 5 mission speakers.

Next up was Sony DD and DTS surround amp and Yamaha Sub woofer

Then 5 BW vm1`s (speakers)

Yamaha 6.1 DD DTS surround plus another Vm1 and the matching BW sub

During this spending fest add 3 TVs.

Now I have got a Themescene DLP HD72i PJ plus 92" screen.

Final set up is the PJ the Yam amp and the BW set..

Total £7,350 Estimated.

Whats your addiction like.
 
Hmm, now that's an interesting question, partly because I have always used my stereo for AV duties, so that goes back a long way.

Here's a quick hitlist:
Late 1980s, started with:
- Walker CJ 58 record deck, Ortofon Cartridge, mission arm, Quantam IA100 amp, Tannoy Mercury (first generation) speakers - Approx cost of around £500
- Sony 21" TV - £200

Upgrades since then,
Early 90's
- Mission Cyrus 2 and PSX, Philips CD373, Musical Fidelity Digilog, Musical Fidelity MC4 speakers, Phlips hi-fi stereo VCR, Sennheiser 540ref headphones - Approx £1900
- Target TT5 and Target TT1 stands - £150
- JVC NICAM VCR - £300
- Sony 29" TV - £500

Late 90s:
Various AV bits and bobs, starting with dolby pro logic, then going to 5.1
- Linn sondek LP12 - £350
- Mordaunt short decoder one, Kef cresta 3, Mordant short MS25i, JPW monitors, Royd A7s, Jamo Centre 200 - £500
- Marantz 52se CDP, Cyrus DAC1, Arcam 7se CDP - £450
- Creative labs Encore DVD player for PC - £150
- Pioneer DVD player, Mordant Short 902s, Partingdon Master SE stands - £400
- Marantz SR880 (DD amp), Linn Centric, Marantz SR4300 - £650
- Sony 32" widescreen 100hz - £800

2000s:
- Naim Nait 5, Meridian 203 DAC, Teac VRDS7, Naim Hicap, Naim Nap200, Naim NAC112, Naim NAC82, Mana amp stand, Linn Kabers, Naim CD5i - £5400
- Kef eggs, REL Q100 sub, Panny AE500 LCD projector, Pioneer 575a - £1400
- N OS DAC x2, Meridian 500 transport, Bel Canto DAC2, Bel Canto Evo2i, Impulse Lali, Impulse Ta'us, cables (lots), Benchmark 2496, Stillpoints - £5900

Don't ask me how much kit I've heard/auditioned to chose the above, too much to remember.

So my guess is that I've actually paid out over the last 20 years around £20k, though please bear in mind that as I've gone through kit, I've sold a lot of it on again. Where I've bought the kit s/h, it's not actually lost that much in value, maybe 15%, so the Naim gear was sold on for fairly close to what I paid for it. Of course there were big hits on the AV side of things, but at least I've got out of that area now.
More to the point, I now have a system that is my benchmark and is on par with pretty much anything I've ever heard. It's not perfect as I've heard other systems that do certain things better (e.g. the £100k+ Kuzma, Kondo, Living Voice system at Heathrow a few weeks ago, which did mid range slighty better, but gets pasted by mine in bass control and overall scale). So there's always room for improvement, but for my own personal preferences, it's close to as good as it gets. I'd still like to listen to some better front ends, and I've been recommended to try some valve amps as they apparently match very well with my speakers.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
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Your ending comment on what is your benchmark is interesting. I have much the same feeling towards my current setup. Like you said there is room for improvment.

Money nowadays is a strong deciding point, not having enough is the main one.

I for one am looking at upgrading my current set up soon. I wont be going for the really high end AV equipment as I dont have the expertise like some people on here or even the AVforums.

I like what I have got and it does me proud. My friends and family like it so what more do I need really.

For reference here is my setup. Nothing great but is the best I can afford.
 
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If my wife ever found out how much I've spent there will be a divorce on the cards. I have a habit of buying say a dvd player for £600 and saying to the missus it was £200(It keeps her happy). My biggest problem is I'm always looking to upgrade.
 
I absolutely dread to think how much I have paid on mine

from school I had a 2nd hand Sony mini stereo (which was surprisingly good in the mid 80's when I had it)

Various Sony hifi amps and cd players with ods and sods speakers attached

(various crt tv's from 21" - 25"crt)

first serious av setup was

Sony £500 av amp (DD & DTS)
Floor standing Acoustic Energy front stereo, centre AE + rear bookshelf AE + REL Storm Sub
41" Sony Rer Pro TV

Now

Denon 1906 AV Amp
5 * AE Bookshelf + same REL Storm sub
Samsung 32" HiDef LCD

+
26" LG Hidef LCD
Sony av amp from above
crappy pc speakers
small s939 Opty Shuttle

various mp3, cd players etc

too drunk to work out how much it cost (thats not including the PC gear I have bought for my main rig hahaha)
 
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