Hi-Fi audio equipment more expensive hobby than photography?

Hi All!

Aside from photography, I'm a self-proclaimed music addict! I recently got sucked into the big world of high fidelity audio --- and man, its as expensive if not more expensive than photography!!!

I just got my new toys, a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors. just thought id share.

So, is hi-fi audio more expensive than photography? and, in your opinion, which hobby is more satisfying? what say you?!

I have great ears. Enough that I contemplated becoming a sound engineer. My music background runs pretty deep.

I have a budget system and am very happy with it. Altec Lansing front and some JBL rears about 13 feet up. Pioneer amp that cost less than a lens.

I find photography far more rewarding. I get WAY more new and fresh content than music can provide.

Now my sportbike, that was a freaking expensive. Glad I got off it.

It can be more expensive. I know several guys who are seriously in to turntables and tube gear. They have been known to spend thousands of dollars on stuff like tone arms, phono cartridges, interconnect cables...and I'm not talking as a whole but on each item individually. This is just 2-channel stereo stuff...not HT. Like anything else...there are levels. My stereo setup if purchased new would run around $8,000 but I probably only have $3,000 in it since most was purchased used (only the TT and SACD player were new). I have more tied up in CDs and LPs. It would be very easy to drop $20,000 on a very good (but not TOL by any means) stereo system. Currently I have more money tied up in audio gear that camera gear.

i know what you mean Jason. high quality audio doesnt have to be expensive -- it just has to sound right when it hits your ears. the rest of my 5.1 system is of 3 Insignia NS-B2111s! one i use as a center channel and two for my rear surrounds.

yeah, i just dont see myself spending up to 20k for A speaker!

More expensive? Easily.

A great system (some Krell Evolution-900s, Martin Logan floor speakers, a REL Studio 5 subwoofer, a Krell SACD player, wiring, and preamps) costs well over $150,000, and that's just for a 2-channel system with one sub.

One day I really hope to own all that stuff. I love sound and music, and I can only imagine how awesome it would all sound together.

We have a pair of paradigm mini monitors as well. Good speakers those are.

One of my friends as has front and center speakers that are more expensive than my entire photo gear.

Some of the more eclectic audio gear out there is insanely expensive. I'd be happy with a nice low profile B&O system but I'll stick to my mp3 player and dream of glass.

I have seen pictures of an audio system that had specially designed concrete passageways underneath the floor for built in subwoofer arrays. You can also spend an insane amount on photography once you leave the small format realm for medium and large format.

If you start counting music media then audio wins.

Edit to add: you usually don't go on world-wide tours just to listen to music but you do for photography.

SlowBlink wrote in post #5131041
Some of the more eclectic audio gear out there is insanely expensive. I'd be happy with a nice low profile B&O system but I'll stick to my mp3 player and dream of glass.

I had a B&O Beogram 6000 with some crazy Sansui (when they were good) amps and (back then) the latest Beryllium Yamahas.

I continued this right into car audio. Then one day my entire system was stolen from my car. I quickly learned that BASS and ultra crsip highs were not worth the hassle nor the money.

My Sansa player, my $1000 home system and my stock visteon Jaguar sound system make my life easy now.

I'll never go back to the insane money I used to spend on audio.

I had a complete Carver rack system for years. JBL 100T speakers...200 watts a side...it rocked. Loved that set-up.

That system cost a small fortune back in 1990 when I bought it....Parents & in-laws ripped me for being foolish with my cash. After 15 years and the addition of a kid, it was relegated to providing audio for "Little Mermaid" videos so I broke down and sold it.....

Collectively across all the components I lost $300.

Now I have high end Denon stuff that if I tried to unload on eBay I would loose my butt on.....sometimes the expensive stuff really is the better deal.

I think the same can be said about good lenses as well.

cosworth wrote in post #5129684
Now my sportbike, that was a freaking expensive.

No kidding. Going through a set of DOT race tires every weekend, brake pads, etc. really starts to add up. I still miss my bike though.

Yeah, Pilot Race H2 softs lasted me 2 days in Spokane. There goes $500. $500 in hotel. Couple hun to pay fat Tony to feed his chip habit. $500 in transpo and food/beer/women/bail/b​ribes at the border. And god forbid you actually lay the bugger down.

I'll drop zeros on servicing my car, lenses all day long and it's WAY cheaper than keeping a $12000 japanese bike running. No maintenance per se, you just SPEND when you ride.

I think the 'snake oil' is usually the expensive part of a high-end audio setup...