Can the need for novelty and change be mitigated by rotation?


There is a not too serious term audiophilia nervosa; it may be a joke, but it builds on a valid observation: there are people who are never content with their equipment in medium term.It is not the initial period, when one does know much about gear and learns; or the question of disposable income, when one gets the best they can afford, and upgrades untill he (or, probably less often, she) buys the dream system. Audiophilia nervosa is a state later on, a plateau, when a desired piece initially gives much satisfaction, yet it wears off, and the person gets uneasy and looks for smth. else.
To give a personal example, I was on a quest for my ultimate power amp. Had to be Pass Aleph; happened to find Aleph 4. Did not suit the speakers (Lowther Fidelio) too well; got other speakers (MBL 101b or c) ; still not there; got ML no. 23. Much better; but still uneasy about Aleph and speakers for it; got Gradient 1.5; fine with ML, Ok with Pass; exploring options, got Parasound 2200 mk2 (and a couple of PA amps). And I needed a preamp. Seller insisted on only trading ML no. 28 together with no. 27, — another power amp.
Now the ML 28 is there to stay; Gradient 1.5 are keepers too; but I’d keep old MBL101 even if they stopped working (I’d probably use them as garden sculptures), so they stay, too. But I have way too many power amps (the listed, and a few more), I would need to sell some.
The trouble is, I cannot decide. So, in order to decide, I rotate them. ML 23 is very good with MBLs, fine with the Gradients. ML 27 is very good with the Gradients. Parasound 2200 2 is very good with the Graients, - but in a different way. So I swap every few weeks, and I still cannot decide.
And after each break I [re-]discover things I like about the particular amp / amp-speaker combination.
Again and again...
Which made me think:
— What if this ‘rotation’ takes good care of my need for change and novelty?
After a while I will decide which one(s) to sell, and later on I will probably want smth. new. But for the time being, keeping and rotating them slows down my pace - and I see it as a good thing, as in the aftermath I do not think my decisions have been sufficiently well informed (for instance, I am getting used to the fact that I actually do not like sound of Pass Alephs as much as I thought I do, and my Aleph 4 may be the first to go).
inefficient

Showing 2 responses by fsonicsmith

I have a dedicated listening room with a lot of excellent room treatment. I have three Symposium equipment racks. And my main choice of loudspeakers are quite "full of character", Devore O/93's. My amp, an ARC 150 SE plays well with the Devores despite having 10x the power the O/93's need-no hiss or hum whatsoever with the volume turned up. But be that as it may, I get a big kick out of subbing a pair of Spendor D7.2's for the Devores. I rotate them every six months or so. The Spendors are great at imaging and detail, and don't have the slight flaw of a murky/woody upper midrange that I sometimes notice in the Devores. The Devores are kings of touch and timbre. The Spendors are vanilla in those two attributes but do just about all else very well. I am about to have a low powered SE zero negative feedback classic and overbuilt amp delivered, an Ampsandsound Nautilus. It has transformers rather than caps to input balanced signal from my true-balanced ARC Ref 6 preamp. I also have from time to time swapped in a McCormack DNA.5 and DNA 1 given the "Full Monty" upgrades by SMC Audio/Steve McCormack. I love being able to swap speakers and amps. 
I have four headphone amps (about to be five) and five sets of upper tier headphones for the same reason. 
Those who have weighed in that rotating equipment is silly and one "optimum" should be striven for confound me. Life is short. Changes are good. Would you want to live in a bubble where the sunrise, sunset, temps, and season remain static 365 days a year? It is bad enough that I am stuck with my wife of 33 years!
@ mahgister 
You have beyond a doubt the most bizarre system I have ever seen. The copper pipe fittings with crystals are something I am acquainted with. Someone markets a more sophisticated rendition as a tweak and you decided to make your own. I gotta admit, I did the same. They did di nada. But the fans, hubcaps, bags of shells, and by all means, the gas can???
EVERYONE on this board owes it to themselves to check out mahgister's system. What Country are you in mahgister? Why do you list "N/A" for your Country in your profile? Are you perhaps an alien as in "outer space" and UFO's? 
And last, forgive me for asking, but do you live in your mother's basement?