Good old days

Simply step away that of which is ailing you, (the main rig.) Remember, "it’s a relationship" and you / everyone need alone time. Absence makes the Heart grow Fonder.

Get your daily fix and keep the Music flowing elsewhere in the meantime, return a rejuvenated man.

Works for me ......

Well, I wouldn’t go that far…..

Nor would I!  Frankly I think you are just basically a tad bored with your music, its all so familiar to you you just focus on the audio aspects. You love the music but you know it so well that unless it something new/different/outstanding you get bored with the music but not the audio. Time to refocus on things musical that you haven't spent much time on in the past. This is exactly what I had to do. I dumbed down my system some to get past those high(er) expectations and dug into new/different/unexplored music. Worked for me anyway. :-)

It is hard to get off the hi fi obsession and just go back to enjoying music for its own sake.  I think I was in the same place as the OP about a year ago and eventually I just decided eff it, the system sounds great, the secondary systems sound fine, bluetooth headphones and car stereo is also pretty good, and am back to enj9ying music again.

"...As I mentioned near the close of the last record, this record you are now playing is another example of the Completion Backward Principle. If you can possibly manage the time, please play both sides at one meeting.."

Firm believer of the CBP.

Started out, just enjoying..."This could sound a sh*tload Better...."
Starts harmless enough, but... 🙄

When a ’nearby neighbor’ of the Mission (next door, mere feet) decided to share his ’concert’, I lurked until the end of the ’side’ (assuming lp...)...

Follow with Dire Straits, pleasantly loud.
(about the peak of my addiction, Jane...)

Time changes, and me with it. Now, I just amuse myself with whatever does. ;)

CBP: Get back to where we both belong.... Enjoying ourselves by being here now.

Enough drivel...

....and 'she's still around...

I want to thank all of you who have offered compassion and suggestions.  
They really have been very helpful.

Pack it in get a boom box ASAP!!

What a helpful response!

Any progress?

As a matter of fact, yes.

Despite my proselytizing about how one should put the music first, that’s exactly what I was not doing. With the big expenditure and being preoccupied in the world of stereo I was trapped in an obsession of sound production forgetting the primary love of my life, music. I was seduced by the glorious noises my set often produced.
This passion for sound has long made me forget which side is up. The insidious preoccupation blinded me to the truth. Of course there were times when the music slipped through, but they were too far and few between.
I guess I got an inkling of what was going on when I listened to that car radio and was thoroughly entranced by the pieces being played. I also have to thank this forum for helping me to see my hypocrisy.

 I’m now enjoying music more than in a long time, and am more selective in my choices, making them not for sound, but for musical pleasure.

Good to hear.

Sounds like you made peace with your stereo.

I use variety of components to listen analytically, relaxful, or getting emotionally overwhelmed by the music: detailed carts, musical wood and stone carts, SPU carts, SS linear neutral, tube midrange magic including flea watt amps like my 300B.