Happen to you? Gear chasing because the fundamentals were wrong.

@hilde45 - I don't disagree with your observations- the amp-speaker synergy, the acoustics of the room and effective placement of the gear (I don't rely heavily on room treatment) and noise- both ambient and inter-component as well as the quality of power feeding the system.

I guess I played it safe- I was a long time Quad listener who focused mainly on midrange- I did add ribbons and a sub or two, but sometimes, that was like three good systems playing simultaneously. Cheap Hafler and later analog surround added a 3d quality to some LPs but not all for a brief period in the late '80s.

I switched to horns and SETS back in 2006 and over the years, and two dedicated rooms later, got it to a level I'm satisfied with. This took time with room set-up, careful attention to power, starting at the meter, and the "right" combination of associated components to bring out the best in what I have- adding more woofers with DSP, changing to the seductive Koetsu- midrange here was always good but the elusive Stones add a gravitas to the bass I never had- along with tone, texture and more harmonics.

I don't know that there are too many shortcuts, but making costly mistakes is no fun either. Which is why, if there is a short-cut answer to the "magic" we believe we hear (and it is an illusion), seat time, lots of it, is essential. As is home trial to the extent possible. There are differences in equipment, so much so that it is amazing we can get it right. 

PS: for me, it is still a knife edge- if I put a different tube in certain places, the voicing changes. The same would be true of a change of cartridge or simply a bad adjustment of a tonearm. 

I guess I believe in a little luck, too. 

Apropos hearing loss, mine is age-related, not due to damage. I don’t go much beyond 12khz, which is normal for a male approaching 70 years. This does not affect my hearing or judgement of the midrange, which is where most of the critical musical information resides. I’d say my judgement of what sounds "real" to me is as good as ever. Maybe I’m missing some high frequency harmonics on cymbals or whatever, but it doesn’t detract from my enjoyment. The system is tuned to my taste based on all the factors I mentioned, including tube choice. Switching out a rectifier tube can make a difference. I can still hear little differences in tone. The system is not "analytical" or "bright" sounding- to the contrary, it is a little on the warm side without sounding euphonic (to these ears).

PS: where I have difficulty is in public environments, like a noisy restaurant with high ambient noise- where I can't even hear a dinner companion to hold a normal discussion. This has little bearing on the hi-fi, where the ambient noise of the room is relatively low.