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What is the most you have ever paid for X? (Page 2)
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BasketofPuppies
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Jun 27, 2008, 10:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by hayesk View Post
I have to roll my eyes every time Americans complain about high gas prices. Canadians have it worse, and Europeans have it a lot worse. Outside of Arab countries.
"Expensive" is relative. For a few months in the late 1990's, there was a price war going on among local gas stations, and it was common to see gasoline selling for under a dollar per gallon. Compared to that, $4 per gallon is plenty expensive.
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wataru
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Jun 27, 2008, 10:28 PM
 
Paid for X? X is free!
     
Kerrigan
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Jun 27, 2008, 10:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by hayesk View Post
I have to roll my eyes every time Americans complain about high gas prices. Canadians have it worse, and Europeans have it a lot worse. Outside of Arab countries.
I don't follow. Are you suggesting that there are "Arab countries" in Europe?
     
Stogieman
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Jun 28, 2008, 03:16 AM
 
$129 + tax. That was before I found out about the education discount.


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Shaddim
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Jun 28, 2008, 10:00 AM
 
Originally Posted by mattyb View Post
Uh, that means $45,000 doesn't it? For some speakers? Do you own a night club or something?
Wilsons are expensive.
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Tiresias
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Jun 28, 2008, 10:41 AM
 
I paid $2 for a banana at an airport cafeteria. In 1994.
     
SSharon  (op)
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Jun 28, 2008, 09:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by BasketofPuppies View Post
"Expensive" is relative. For a few months in the late 1990's, there was a price war going on among local gas stations, and it was common to see gasoline selling for under a dollar per gallon. Compared to that, $4 per gallon is plenty expensive.
On top of this, our cost of gas has doubled and we don't get anything more for it. Many of the countries that pay more for gas than the US have national healthcare, no debt, a well funded equivalent to social security, etc. I'm not saying that the extra tax necessarily goes directly towards those services, but it means more dollars going to the government so that other taxes can be used to fund healthcare, etc. If gas was $6/gallon but I got free healthcare with it I would jump on board in an instant.
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thirsty
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Jun 28, 2008, 11:47 PM
 
paid $1500AU for a Philips Pronto Remote Control for the Home Theatre System. Crazy yes.... it's only a remote. But it works better, way better than the lesser ones. Most people can't fathom doing such a thing, but how different is it to spending $100,000 plus on car.
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BigBadWolf
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Jun 29, 2008, 12:29 AM
 
Let's see, the most irrational thing that I spent a lot of money on would be a pair of bespoke John Lobb's that were about $4500. They're very nice shoes though.

edit: I should say, I don't normally spend that much on shoes. I had just always wanted custom made shoes and felt like being frivolous.
     
Trygve
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Jun 29, 2008, 02:21 AM
 
$10.03 per US gallon for petrol in Isle of Man (spring 2008).

$150 for an 18 minute helicopter flight Tallinn to Helsinki in 2001 (too much ice for ferries).

$70 for a 1 or 2 minute phone call (fax) from rural Laos to USA in 2004.
     
Tiresias
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Jun 29, 2008, 03:05 AM
 
Originally Posted by BigBadWolf View Post
Let's see, the most irrational thing that I spent a lot of money on would be a pair of bespoke John Lobb's that were about $4500. They're very nice shoes though.
I hope they're diamond-studded.
     
Tiresias
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Jun 29, 2008, 03:46 AM
 
Originally Posted by Person Man View Post
Not necessarily. Watch this YouTube video. Somewhere along the line the people get asked how much they spent on their audio equipment. Some of them spent upwards of € 100,000 on speakers and turntables alone. Fun to look at their wives' faces as they rattle off the amount of money spent.
Interesting video.

I notice that audiophiles always, always, use vinyl. But isn't "every" analogue process digitally replicable?

Digital photography will eventually squeeze as many pixels into a square inch of screen as there are silver bromide crystals on a square inch of celluloid film. Is it possible that digital audio will equal and surpass analogue?

I remember a sound engineer explaining it to me once. It had to do with the shape of sound waves—digital sound waves been geometric, and analogue sounds waves organic—but I didn't really understand.
     
analogika
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Jun 29, 2008, 04:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by Tiresias View Post
Interesting video.

I notice that audiophiles always, always, use vinyl. But isn't "every" analogue process digitally replicable?

Digital photography will eventually squeeze as many pixels into a square inch of screen as there are silver bromide crystals on a square inch of celluloid film. Is it possible that digital audio will equal and surpass analogue?

I remember a sound engineer explaining it to me once. It had to do with the shape of sound waves—digital sound waves been geometric, and analogue sounds waves organic—but I didn't really understand.
The fundamental difference between photography and sound is that film has grain which limits resolution, while analog sound is limited to individual *electrons* (theoretically).

Of course, one can (and does) argue till the cows come home about how much of an increase in precision is audible at all (a factor which depends mostly upon the person doing the listening, his experience, priorities, preferences, training, etc., as well as the context and the source material), but it is simply a fact of physics that analog audio has practically unlimited resolution, while any digital process MUST impose a resolution limitation.

In practice, both analog and digital audio face different limitations, and have advantages.
(For example, the dynamic range of a vinyl record is limited by how much movement the needle can take before jumping out of the groove - this is compensated for with various tricks, like the RIAA equalization curve, which reduces the bass on an LP, which is later added back by the phono pre-amplifier, but any equalization on the signal necessarily involves phase shifting and imprecision, simply due to how the electronic components involved work.)

In general, though digital audio is MUCH harder to get right, because
- digital technology completely thwarts our "intuition" (e.g. digital signal cables should be *at least* three feet long to minimize clock jitter caused by reflections at the connectors, which audibly degrades the signal due to mismatched sample clocks), and
- digital technology suffers the limitations of BOTH digital AND analog realms, as every signal must be transferred to analog eventually in order to be heard (in fact, in most budget D/A stages, it's the ANALOG circuitry that's the problem), and
- digital audio is far less forgiving, while an analog signal path will fail gracefully (e.g. if the signal is too hot, analog distortion gives you some headroom before the signal sounds really broken, while digital clipping immediately gives you nasty square wave horrors), and
- we've had about 80 or ninety years of experience with analog recording and reproduction, vs. about 30 with digital tech, and
- any digital audio device is, at heart, a computer running software, and we all know about those...
     
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Jun 29, 2008, 09:09 AM
 
$45/pill
     
Atomic Rooster
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Jun 29, 2008, 09:24 AM
 
I thought this was going to be about seX?

I will never admit to paying for it. But come to think of it, even when it's free you end up paying for it. Ya know what I'm sayin'?
     
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Jun 29, 2008, 04:15 PM
 
I paid about $350 for 4 MB of RAM back in '95.
     
mattyb
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Jun 30, 2008, 05:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by analogika View Post
I'd MUCH rather spend that kind of money (if I had it to splurge) on a stereo than on a car.

To each his own, I suppose - but I somehow doubt you'd consider someone "sick" or in need of "treatment" for owning a high-end Mercedes or Aston.
Unless the winning lottery numbers come my way, then I couldn't afford to spend loads on stereo equipment OR a car. When (I wish) I become a millionaire, my house will benefit first from my money. Swimming pool, billiard table, etc.

I have nothing against ANYBODY spending whatever amount of money they want on anything they want - as long as there isn't a child/husband/wife/parent that suffers for it. This is my opinion only, each to his own.

Oops nearly forgot. You spend 100,000€ on something that makes a really good sound, then to get that sound you use a 0.99€ bit of plastic. Odd.
( Last edited by mattyb; Jun 30, 2008 at 05:36 AM. )
     
analogika
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Jun 30, 2008, 05:49 AM
 
Originally Posted by mattyb View Post
Oops nearly forgot. You spend 100,000€ on something that makes a really good sound, then to get that sound you use a 0.99€ bit of plastic. Odd.
Pressing a vinyl disk is more along the lines of €4 or 5 (the margins on vinyl are actually MUCH lower than on CDs), with higher-quality pressings increasing raw production price quite a bit over that.

Also, you're using air to transmit the sound from the speakers to your ears, which is FREE. Odd.
     
Andrew Stephens
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Jun 30, 2008, 06:46 AM
 
I paid £75 for a pair of Liberty "Tana Lawn" black 501 jeans. Basically a pair of 501's with some art deco Liberty's of London fabric sewn onto the back.

After a few months the fabric had fallen/been worn off leaving the worlds most expensive pair of black 501's (which were around £35 at the time).

Mug!
( Last edited by Andrew Stephens; Jun 30, 2008 at 06:53 AM. )
     
 
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