Elite Beyond Recognition: JBL’s $800,000 Stereo System

You don’t need it, and damn sure can’t afford it. While you gaze upon the showcase here, you can hear your checkbook crying wherever it is — that’s for sure. We don’t care. We’re just waving flashy stuff around that we can’t afford either.  Welcome to your tour of the unnecessary and elite.

There are plenty of audiophiles out there who will tell you all about how important it is to have the perfect sound. Well, you can get perfect sound, it just costs a whole lot of money. A prime example of that is JBL’s audio system from the 2007 IFA convention. The system is pieced together from pieces from a few different vendors and was put on display for attendees to come and listen. Apparently the system is pretty impressive, but it costs an arm and a leg and looks terrible.

The total cost is around €630,000 (which is roughly $800,000). That includes a 5.1 surround sound system with speakers that go for €50,000 per pair.  There are also four €38,000 subwoofers. Also included in the package are both Blu-ray and HD-DVD players. How futuristic! Those are just off-the-shelf players though, not custom made like the rest of the package. At least it comes with a custom record player.

The thing that surprises us the most is that the system is so ugly. Maybe it’s just the pictures but the wood looks like it’s the same kind you get when you buy a cabinet at K-Mart for $50. For $800,000, this thing should be made from the finest mahogany wood available.

What really matters though is the quality of the sound. These things do live up to the hype, according to attendees for the IFA convention. Most people seemed to say that the system could have sounded even better if they had a more acoustically friendly room.