I've used this technique to great effect for almost 20 years. The problem I have now is that my salary is so high that, without presenting a desired salary, there aren't any easy filter questions left to determine whether a potential employer is remotely interested in acquired somebody of my "caliber".

It is reasonable to expect a company to stretch their budget by 20%. However, it generally isn't reasonable to ask for double their budget. The faster we can get to no, the faster we can talk to other folks.