Dream System. Spectral or Levinson.

I have been obsessed with this hobby for four years now, and my first piece of advice is: don't do it!! Don't let the dealers for this expensive equipment set the agenda!! There is plenty of extremely enjoyable sound available out there without spending $100,000+. Not to mention that the fresh air fund is probably a better use of money anyway. My second piece of advice is: tubes, dude! That ultra-detailed solid state gear only sounds ok if the sources you're using (read: recordings) are impeccable. If not, the system becomes unlistenable. Yes, I've heard Spectral on Avalon. It's pretty trick stuff, but my God, I think my ears would bleed on most source material on most days. Remember, this stuff is for you to listen to at home, for the rest of your life, not to listen to once and be impressed at a stereo salon! If you must spend that kind of money, consider a very good pair of tubed monos, like wolcotts or second-hand lamms or vtl's and a pair of sound lab milleniums (M-1s). Otherwise, cut down on the watts and get a very nice efficient speaker like the Brentworths, Silverline Sonatas, etc. There is a good site with lists of efficient speakers on www.welbornelabs.com. Not to mention some good tube amplifiers. Believe me, when it comes down to it, tubes just sound more right. Or get a pair of zen monos from decware.com, and some efficient speakers. This is a very good site written by an extremely knowledgeable fellow who's not into charging people $10,000 for a pair of amps. $1,000 will do, thanks. Oh yeah, did I mention get a turntable and some used records? I don't remember ever enjoying hi-fi as much as when I bought an NAD and spinned Led Zep on a modest system and my girlfriend and I just about cried listening to it in the dark!! there, I feel better. I wish you the best of luck!! Tom Schuman