Yep, the return on investment drops rapidly in the audio biz once you pass the pricing region occupied by the Outlaws and the Arcams of the world. It's a virtually logarithmic wall to scale to eke out that last itty little bit of "I feel like I'm there" performance.

For about $3.5k of outlaw gear plus a decent universal player plus a decent set of speakers you're looking at an easy $6-7k. That's a fairly substantial chunk of change unless you're really into your music/movies or have a lot of extra jingle burning a hole in your pocket. That gets you (in my humble opinion) somewhere in the mid 90th percentile in terms of audio quality. Assume that each addtional percentage point towards the unreachable 100% can easily double the cost of the equipment.

Now that's just my generalisation and using new prices. Someone who's got the time and energy to circle audiogon or ebay might do a lot better (or a lot worse if they get dud gear), but no matter how you slice it, it's a somewhat expensive hobby. If you can afford it, Meridian or Levinson or Classe or (ad nauseum) can certainly fit the bill. I just can't see spending many times that initial $6-7k number to get from "95%" to "99%" on the wow scale.

Cheers,