Can one ever be "done" in this hobby?


I would like to think I am pretty much in audio nirvana right now but supremely well aware how quickly that can change to audio nervosa!

What do think?

Is it really possible to kick the addiction and be done and just sit back and enjoy the music?

Has anybody managed this trick of the mind?
uberwaltz

Showing 4 responses by unreceivedogma

My motto is: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I upgrade when things fall apart, but rarely. Usually I just fix it. 

The amount of time I have had the following components:

6 months - Semi-anechoic room - this is not something I set out to do. It’s a fringe benefit of putting r26 worth of insulation in the walls of and r72 worth of insulation in the studio/office of my new home, where my audio system is. I covered it with burlap instead of sheet rock. 
1 year - subwoofer system
4 to 30 years - cartridges
25 years - crossovers
34 years - tonearm
34 years - turntable; upgrade 5 years ago (VPI tables are upgradeable)
32 years - CD player 
30 years - preamp; upgraded with new caps 4 years ago
35 to 45 years - amps; upgraded with new caps, converted from pentode to triode 4 years ago by the same guy who built the amps 
41 years - speakers 

I did go through a few cartridges 30 years ago before I settled on the 4 that I have. The new one from 4 years ago was a replacement of a tired cartridge with the same brand but better model.

But as you can see, the foundation of the system has been fairly stable, or “done” for about 35 years.  At 35 years, it feels like a member of the family. 
I desire to be “done” because audio is a means to an end. The end is an appreciation of the music. 

I have got my system up to where, while I know it’s not likely the best, it’s at least 90% there. 

I have 5,800 LPs. It will take me years to go through all of them just on what I currently have.

After a while, like whats the point of fussing with it? Records having the wide range of engineering quality that they do, there’s enuf fussing around with each LP as it is.