Reading so many good things about the M80's makes me wonder ........ What is that a $20,000 speaker has better than M80's? Is it just the finish?

I have never heard a $20,000 speaker ....... and nor a M80.

Having 20K speakers automatically make you an audiophile

The $20,000pr Bowers&Wilkins 800D speakers are simply amazing!! My jaw drops when I hear them! They are the best that I have ever heard. If I had the money to spend on 800D's, I would! However, the M80's are in my price range realistically.

If you have a B&W dealer near you, its worth your time to have a listen!

I have yet to hear the M80's, but I am sure they would be absolutely fine for most of us!

A $20000 speaker is not necessarily better than one that costs a few thousand or even some costing in the hundreds. There are a lot of bad expensive speakers as there are bad cheaply priced speakers. Bad speakers out shadow good speakers at all price points in this industry.

A reference $20000 speaker that I would consider to be better built, more linear, better bass extension with higher output, lower distortion based on objective data is the Revel Salon 2. Something worse would be something from Vienna Acoustics or Zu Audio. The thing about a lot of the high-end speaker companies is that most market towards luxurious cabinetry, specific voicing and or making poor tradeoffs that happen to have a lot of marketing allure in order to attract the big money crowd (time coherency).

While I have not heard many glowing reviews of products from Vienna Acoustics, what is the issue with Zu Audio?

They have a lot of problems. Nasty break-ups not addressed, cabinet colourations, wonky frequency response. Zu audio markets efficiency as its main design goal and it comes at a drastic tradeoff to sound quality.

Never trust a speaker maker that doesn't include the ±3 dB range for frequency response. Zu just quotes "bandwidth" without any qualifier at all.

Folks with money and hobbies / interests like to demonstrate just how interested they are in buying what they believe is the best of the best. It doesn't really matter if it is the best, so long as it is the most expensive. Some speaker manufactures know this, and they capitalize on it. I heard a two channel system that I was told was in the neighborhood of 150K. It has a set of the ugliest speakers I've ever seen and a stack of McIntosh electronics. The speakers were made by Wilson and resembled that robot on the 70's show, Lost in Space. It sounded great, but I just couldn't stop thinking the owner was a dipshit for spending that kind of money because it sure didn't sound like 150K. He has, from what I've heard, swapped the Wilsons out for some B/W Nautilus. The ones that look like a flying ear drum. I hope to hear those soon, as anything that looks that ridiculous, and costs that much "surely" must sound amazing.

A friend of mine has a set of B/W 800's and is using Levinson gear that he's had for many years. (He's the own who introduced me to the guy with the Wilson's.) I have to admit that I REALLY like the way they sound. If I had the financial means, I'd have a set of those 800's.

I guess I go tone deaf as the price escalates beyond unreasonable to ludicrous.

I agree Michael. Any fool could put a wonderful sounding system together by throwing massive amounts of dollars at the task.

The appeal of the hobby for me is putting together a wonderful sounding system for the least amount of money.

My path to audio nirvana includes purchasing used high end equipment, for pennies on the dollar, finding great deals like Axiom and Michaura speakers (RIP), and waiting for discounts on new equipment.

If someone has unlimited funds to spend on their hobbies, who am I to criticize their choices. I like the look of McIntosh components, and they sound pretty good.

Shouldn't the thread title be buy-curious?