Have you reached your end point with this addictive hobby?

@hiendmmoe Yes I think you are right. 

Years ago, I had.  
I had a wonderful JRDG preamp paired with a Cary CAD-280 tube power amp.  Wonderful remote controllability married to 2/3 triode and 1/3 ultralinear EL-34 sound. 

 
The sound from my ML CLS speakers was so musical, so seductive, and so beguiling. I wished for nothing.

 

Then when a tube (or tubes) would start to go bad, the expectant anxiety would begin.  Ruining my bliss. 

Then we moved. I put it all in storage, saved up my nickels.
When we finally settled, I had enough saved up to buy an endgame set of SS Pass monoblocks.  Warmish but no tube noise.  No anxiety. 
 

So now, I’m not really on the endless treadmill of upgrades.  Just doing some long-needed tweaking of power cords, etcetera. 

 

 

I’m done.

 

I am 61 and spent a very zealous 30 years in the hobby, obsessed as any other audiophile.

Life circumstances mean that I can no longer devote funds or more effort to this hobby.

But ultimately, the timing is good because I’d essentially finished anyway.  I had a bunch of fun money several years ago and I used it to go on a very wide and extensive search for new loudspeakers.  I’ve got a long thread on the many loudspeakers I auditioned.  In the end, I settled on my Joseph Audio Perspective 2 speakers, which size-wise make the most sense in my room room, and which are also incredibly high-quality in finish and materials - something I can spend the rest of my life being happy looking at.

Sonically it’s probably the most refined sound I have had in the room.  As well as fun.  It plays every type of music I love wonderfully.

Around the time I bought these speakers, I pruned away a bunch of other loudspeakers that I had collected over the years.  I was finally able to let go.  But I kept my Thiel 2.7s because I also love those loud speakers, and having around a second pair with different qualities also keeps the upgrade itch away.  

Around the same time, I also got into tube rolling with my CJ Premier 12 monoblocks, which have powered my system for about 24 years now and aren’t going anywhere.  I discovered new capabilities of those amplifiers in tube rolling, and I gathered quite a stash of tubes that I can happily play with for years.

I have the turntable, arm and cartridge of my dreams.

I have a friend who reviews “ ultra audio gear” for soundstage, and so I still get to hear all sorts of fun really expensive stuff at his place.

And yet I can come home from hearing eye bleeding expensive gear and still feel my system keeps up, while I love the sound far more than anything else I’ve heard.

So I don’t think I could ask for more.

Since I got back into records several years ago, I’ve accumulated almost 1000, and so my attention has been and will continue to be occupied with listening to those records and adding to my collection.

The only two issues are:

Affording a new cartridge once my current cartridge needs replacing.

(I’ve become used to very high-quality sound).

Also… I had an incident that horribly exacerbated my tinnitus, to the point, I’ve been unable to listen to music for over a year now :-(

Feels awfully cruel to have gone all this way landed on my final dream system, and then I can’t appreciate it.   Hopefully that situation will change at some point.

 

 

 

@prof 

Sorry to hear that. Hope it improves.

I just completed my last upgrade to my system with a new SACD player and consolidating my electronics into an integrated amplifer / pre amp as well as some cable changes and simplification.  I don't plan on any other changes unless something breaks where it's not fixable.  That being said it was also an improvement in the overall sound.