HOW DID YOU END UP WITH YOUR DREAM SYSTEM?

Taking time to listen to different speakers over the years is what helped me the most to get as close as I could afford within reason - and truly getting started.

From there, once I had a small batch of different speakers I liked, then re-started down the amplifier path. This helped gain a sense of direction towards what I preferred and could lean into more. Visiting with locals and their preferences saves time to learn more about what you might like more or less.

Going to audio shows helped some, and yet it actually alienated me from ultra expensive speakers I would not splurge on. Started building my own speakers more seriously again with help from various parts source providers. Got help from a few folks a lot better at crossovers than I could do as I bought higher $ parts.

What I learned fairly early on is my preference to the type of sound I like the most was not always the same as friends and colleagues (and local audiophiles) and how this can vary by individual, greatly. Learned fast what I don’t like, lol.

Another helpful tip was driving up to 5 hours away, getting up early, and going to check out audio shops with a completely different spin as to what they offered for speakers and amps compared to more local dealers. Eventually got hooked in with people who do a lot of gear mods and serious upgrades, this was the game changer for me and my own gear. 

While visiting and comparing to other systems, do bring your music with you to help compare more efficiently and effectively.   Dream system no, closer than I started with, absolutely. Be sure to listen and enjoy the music along the way.  Have fun.

@calvinj "i got lucky with my gato fm6 speaker..."

Absolutely, and can imagine it so. By happenstance I’ve implemented some of those exact Scanspeak drivers in a few custom speaker builds I played with just to see how it might turn out. "Very musical and engaging" is how the new owner of the speakers described it to me when he auditioned them and bought them.

I resold the pair to the new owner for the cost of the parts - it was a fun project. Was still nice to listen to even using lower grade front-end and amplification fwiw.  

@calvinj "They just kept performing"

If you like them and they do what you need, that’s far ahead of many others who keep trying and trying different speakers looking for something more that may or may not exist. Finding something you really like is a great achievement in itself.

For me, I sort of prefer to narrow down to 1-2 speakers I like [build or buy], and then rotate different sources, preamps, amps, tubes, cables and fine tune from here. Seems easier and more effective to evaluate components if you are not constantly rotating to different speakers in/out of the mix. Or, that’s how I like to approach it, fwiw.