I feel you. I have completely built my system off audio shows - when they occur near me. That and manufacturers. I bought a used SOTA turntable many years ago through the paper. Now I realize what a deal I got. The guy came over and setup the turntable with a Madrigal cartridge and a Fidelity Research Fr64s arm. I swear I've never heard Aretha as good as that! Then, I traded in the table and have Donna upgrade me twice. Same with Conrad Johnson. I had a PV14 potentiometer go out and Jeff gave me a deal on a new preamp. I now have a ET5 and its my third CJ preamp.
Any other lone audiophiles here?
By "Lone" I mean you have no other local audiophile buddies. That describes my experience. My wife and I usually listen together. I have no other friends to borrow equipment or to audition theirs. In spite of that I believe I've done a pretty good job of putting together a system which is very good. I've done it strictly by reading reviews, etc and lots of research. I see the situation as both an advantage and maybe a curse. The advantage is that Maybe I don't know what I'm missing. The curse is may be that I often wonder IF I need to upgrade? Or am m missing something.? Like right now. I just bought a CJ CT5 preamp which is silly good.So now I wonder about my amp? The CJ retails for 8x more than my silly little tube amp...a Bob Latino ST-70. Yet I believe that amp is fully pulling its weight while hooked to a preamp which is silly good. Surely, this amp can't be the be all end all. However It did replace an amp which retails for 4x its price. Who knows? maybe its the ST-70 which needed a better preamp to show off its stuff. Nonetheless, I enjoy the music immensely. and all the advice I've gotten from people on the forums over the years. FWIW, I also play drums and have played live. So I DO know what live music sounds like. So, maybe I'm not shooting totally in the dark.