see diminishing returns, or: Healey & Ilbery (H&I), p.223 Goodall, p.128

True also for industries other than audio, this phrase refers to the observation that beyond a certain point of expenditure, increased financial outlay purchases smaller and smaller increments of additional performance. In audio, this point for loudspeakers and electronics is often considered to be around $2000 while 16bit/44kHz CD technology has matured such the $1000 mark may now be considered the dividing line.

the principle that suggests the gain from each additional unit of product, activity, or resource becomes smaller as more units are used; e.g., for the marketer, the benefit of each added dollar of advertising becomes smaller as more advertising is done. See marginal utility and law of diminishing marginal utility. Note: popular usage in marketing is for the law of diminishing returns and the law of diminishing marginal utility to be used interchangeably.

a law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectiveness

The declining marginal improvements in service level that can be attributed to each additional agent, as successive agents are added.

The physical law that applies to all production processes so that the marginal product of a variable factor eventually declines as more of the factor is used relative to a given