What truly determines a high end setup? Is it the amount one spent in buying expensive equipment higher than others who can't afford to spend as much as oneself?
Audio & video equipment are important if you want to setup a high end audio room. But who determines what is high end and what is not? Many will buy things based on reviews for one reason only; that is you cannot get to listen to a perfectly setup system in most dealers' showroom. Either the products the dealer is selling is not all compatible with one another or they do not have the proper knowledge to help you design and custom install everything including post installation work such as tuning and calibration.
Different equipment produces different characteristics and no one can determine if your mid budget system is not as good as a high end system if you have great calibrators at work to assist you in the designing, building, installation and finally tuning and calibration.
Never judge equipment by the price. Listen and see for yourself. Experience the ultimate true cinematic feel in a properly setup room. You can spent millions but without proper environment and room acoustic calibration, your high end equipment is only good in its price, nothing more.
So next time when you were to be invited to a friend's house to audit their system, please listen with an open heart and do not ask what equipment they bought and spent. Listen and judge by its performance. It's the same as someone who invited you to take a ride in his million dollars sports car but he's a lousy driver. You won't feel the performance but rather feel like throwing out your breakfast that you just consumed.
To me, high end is when your system is properly calibrated and with frequency response blends perfectly with the environment and is able to reproduce what movies directors' intention to their audience and people will forget they are actually watching movies but as part of the character in the movie itself. This is what a good high end system should resembles.
No offense to all high end users but a word of advice to listen with an open heart. Never use money to press among those who can't afford more than yours.
