I know what you mean guys, but I think that the complexities of putting a good system together are so great that there is a degree to which we have to go through a long series of mistakes before we can gain the appropriate wisdom - rather that than just deny anything other than speakers makes a difference and never try anything. But I reckon that learning from others' mistakes is a good thing and so I try to get to listen to lots of other peoples' systems too.
Audio Hype!!
Well I have to be honest,I love high end equipment and all the fun tweaking,and trading,and trying out new stuff. However, it has much hype behind it because I think that we all understand by now that--we are never totally happy with any one piece of gear. By hype I mean we read great reviews of some cable and the miracles that it is suppose to create,but we know deep down(if you have any experiance in this hobby)that it never stands up to our expectations once we use it for some period of time--that is just an example but I believe this holds true to all equipment--and then we sell and try the next flavor of the week which is normally just a side step VS. an upgrade of the last piece we owned. Its a vicious cycle does it ever end?(I know that question is like asking why the earth exists and there is no answer)However, my question is have we just created this illusion of what we wish 99% of the products out their should do, while at the same time damaging our checkbooks to prove the illusion wrong?