I followed an initially dissapointing trail that, now having walked it, I am still not sure where I came out. In the course of a week or so, I retubed all my gear with NOS stuff, added a power condidioner and made a major upgrade in my speaker cables. First was the power conditioner, didn't hear that much of a difference at all, if at all (although my gear now remains constant when the lights flicker, which they do a lot--so I suppose it was worth it for that, if nothing else). Then I retubed everything (just CD and preamp, so not THAT much of an expense). There were noticible (if only barely) differences, but more in the lines of subtle characteristics, hardly a jump in quality. All in all, nothing that special. Then I swapped in the new cables (from junk to something considerably better than junk). Wow. A huge difference, more or less blew me away. I would have never believed that cables could make such a difference had I not heard (or believed I heard, though I'll stand by--or between--my ears on this one) it for myself.
However, in retrospect, I have now managed to convince myself that the huge jump in quality that I heard with the cables was more due to that fact that the old ones were simply that bad, not so much that the new one were that great. To clarify, I've convinced myself that both the power conditioner and the new tubes also lent huge improvements to the system, only that I was unable to appreciate it until I got the weak link (the old cables) out of the system and put something in that was more equal to the task. Thus, (or so the rationalization goes) all three additions contributed equally to the improvement, though it was only with the last one that it all came together. No, I never re-swapped or reversed the order to see if there is any truth in that, but, truth be told, I think I prefer my little post hoc fiction. So, in conclusion, no -- never made a bad purchase...(and you just watched me lie to myself).
However, in retrospect, I have now managed to convince myself that the huge jump in quality that I heard with the cables was more due to that fact that the old ones were simply that bad, not so much that the new one were that great. To clarify, I've convinced myself that both the power conditioner and the new tubes also lent huge improvements to the system, only that I was unable to appreciate it until I got the weak link (the old cables) out of the system and put something in that was more equal to the task. Thus, (or so the rationalization goes) all three additions contributed equally to the improvement, though it was only with the last one that it all came together. No, I never re-swapped or reversed the order to see if there is any truth in that, but, truth be told, I think I prefer my little post hoc fiction. So, in conclusion, no -- never made a bad purchase...(and you just watched me lie to myself).