Doug Schroeder's Audiophile Law #5: HiFi Expenditures

[psychotropic]

I think this is an excellent piece and provides some very sane, reasonable perspective on this wallet-busting, wife-bothering little hobby of ours.

Doug Schroeder's Audiophile Law #5: HiFi Expenditures - The Columns - Dagogo

Even when I heard that 10% statistic I was a bit taken aback. I had spent roughly 2.25% of my annual income on my setup and thought that 10% would have been a pretty huge outlay.

 

[GeorgeO]

I think 10% is an extreme figure.

Having said that, I feel the % will vary depending on what stage you are in life-in my case I would never spend even 2.5% when I was in my 30's by today with my children grown up, I will not hesitate to spend money on things that I may enjoy( not necessarily audio related-it could be 2 days at Kabini or a week to Bandavgarh and Kanha for my wife and me)

Being a diy guy, of course most of my projects cost less than a branded box solution.

George

 

[ajinkya]

If you take annual salary to be 6 lakhs, then 10% would be Rs 60K. I don't see why this figure cannot be achieved by someone who is constantly upgrading some component or the other every year. I don't think it's such an extreme figure, specially since it talks about "Audio related" expenditure. This will include CDs, SACDs, LPs, other music material, furniture, wire upgrades. All this can easily add up.

I think unless you enforce self-discipline, the spending can very easily get out of hand without you realising it. As the article nicely explains, do your research and then buy equipment that should last you for a long time. Otherwise, you are just throwing your money away. There are so many better uses for that money, both for you and for others.

 

[psychotropic]

that it is achievable I have no doubt. Whether it would be prudent is the question.

 

[svenkateshsmart]

Hi,

If there is a clinical condition for this, I request you to name that as "Venkatesh's syndrome" as I have hit the 40% mark already.hyeah:

I am slowly convalescing from that and hope to become a DIYer down the road, for my audio setup.

Cheers!

 

[moktan]

in audio most relationships are logarithmic...which means an 'addition' (as in an equipment or an upgrade) could 'multiply' (your listening pleasures?..well maybe) ...the caveat is that the other phrase that you constantly hear is 'incremental'...
..

though mathematically speaking i concede the weakness of my analogy..logarithms are supposed to change multiplications into additions..

 

[marsilians]

We work our tail off and manage all kinds of stress and what not. So aren't we entitled to some treats for ourselves. Unless it overwhelms and causes issues in family then I think its reasonable to spend within one's means. Just dont let the AV financing get in the way of more critical things. If it means 20 or 45% it does not matter.

My expenses vary around the 10 range but this has been happening for many years. But I dont regret it as I never took away from the family to feed my hobby.

 

[anm]

you never know how much pshycho earns - his 2.5% may be more than 100% of my salary :lol:

If you think about the entire system in one go, then 2.5% or even 10% may be small, but over the years if you spend every year (or save for this purpose) , then 2.5% may also suffice.