Choosing the right home theater system can be daunting, but when money is no object it becomes even more difficult. With countless companies competing to make the highest end, most over the top components imaginable, it’s hard to determine where quality stops and smoke and mirrors begins. These 9 home theater components represent a cross-section of the most ludicrously expensive, pointlessly lavish, and ridiculous wastes of money imaginable. Still, if you’ve got a couple million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, some of these are pretty darn cool.
SPEAKERS: Grand Enigma Manufacturer: Kharma Price: $1,000,000 / pair You can probably think of any number of ways to spend one million dollars, but there’s only one that ends with you being the proud owner of the world’s most expensive set of speakers. Custom made for some wealthy guy in Belgium, there is only one set of these in existence. But, if you’re willing to cough up the money it’s likely you can commission Kharma to make you a pair that’s worth one-million-and-one dollars. Infinite Wisdom Grande Loudspeaker Manufacturer: Wisdom Audio Price: $700,000 / pair If you’ve always dreamed of having a pair of speakers that’s over twice your height, look no further than these. At 13 feet 4 inches tall and an imposing 3,800 pounds, these speakers will ensure that no amount of free beer and pizza will ever convince your friends to help you move. There’s absurdly huge, and then there’s the Infinite Wisdom Grande Loudspeakers.
CABLES: The Whitelight Glass Fiber-Optic Cable (LEFT) Manufacturer: Nordost Price: $32,850 Yes, you could purchase a fiber optic cable from Amazon for five bucks. You could even opt to spoil yourself and throw away forty or fifty dollars on a Monster Cable. But both of those options pale in comparison to purchasing Nordost’s Whitelight Glass Fiber-Optic Cable for the cost of a nice sedan. Rather than spending almost thirty-three grand on this one “premium” cable you could actually buy enough standard fiber optic cables to cover almost 3.75 miles. Odin Supreme Reference Cables (RIGHT) Manufacturer: Nordost Price: $26,000 / pair Another gem from Nordost, these speaker cables make those lame normal ones look like strands of dental floss. If you absolutely have to have, “twenty-four 20 AWG conductors made from 99.99999% oxygen free copper (OFC) with an extrusion of 85 microns of silver on the surface” then the Odin Supreme Reference Cables are designed just for you. If, on the other hand, you like treating your hard earned money with a bit of respect, you might want to take a pass.
AMPLIFIER: Telos 2500 Monoblocks Manufacturer: Goldmund Price: $107,800 Dubbed by the maker as, “a dream come true,” this amp boasts specs that we won’t even pretend to understand. But, what we do understand is that if you’re going to shell out 100k for your amp alone, you’d better be using it to power a one of a kind pair of the Grand Enigmas and not some JBL loudspeakers you picked up at Best Buy. “For the discerning audiophile only” doesn’t even come close to describing the market for this product. This amp is for people who just want to be able to say, “I have the best.”
RECEIVER: Evolution 707 Processor Manufacturer: Krell Price: $21,000 A relative bargain at just $21,000, this receiver can be purchased for less than the cost of a Nordost fiber optic cable. Looking incredibly hardcore in its aluminum chassis with “diamond cut detailing,” the Evolution 707 Surround Processor has an impressive four subwoofer outputs so you can be absolutely sure that no matter what room you’re in, the entire house is shaking.
TELEVISIONS: Diamond Crusted 40 Inch LCD TV (LEFT) Manufacturer: Yalos Price: $140,000 Why not take a decent LCD and throw a bunch of diamonds on it? Suddenly you’ve transformed a run of the mill item into something truly remarkable. Just like the henchman in Die Another Day, if something isn’t compelling enough on its own, throw a bunch of diamonds at it and see if that helps. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. Plus, what do you do when the TV is outdated? Yank out the diamonds and have them embedded in a new one? 150 Inch Plasma TV (RIGHT) Manufacturer: Panasonic Price: $150,000 Even if bigger isn’t always better, it’s definitely more manly. This recently revealed TV from Panasonic is enough of a beast to temporarily lay claim to being the largest screen on the market. The one obvious catch (aside from the price tag) is that once you install a TV this large, you’ll never want to leave the couch. Oh, that and the fact that your wall will be dominated by a 150 inch black monster.
REMOTE CONTROL: Solid Gold RC1 Remote Manufacturer: Lantic Systems Price: $50,000 Much like the diamond crusted TV; this gold plated remote has all the functionality of something you could purchase for a fraction of the cost. However, it’s much much shinier. Busting out a fancy Logitech remote doesn’t quite convey your incredible status as one of the privileged few. On the other hand, pawing at a $50,000 piece of gold whenever you want to change the channel absolutely does.