well, thats changes as the days on the calender do. this is somewhat perplexing, but let me state, i'm extremely happy with the pleasure provided by my system with the current (last 6 months) upgrades/changes i've made. i guess i'm- like most -overly critical and a seeker. while the journey has not met with sonic nirvana (nor do i really want it to seeing that i get so much enjoyment from the striving) yet, what is most rewarding is that the changes i've made have addressed the needs i sought. i guess everything is better- much better -than a year ago and so on. will it be much better a year from today, who knows, my system is killer and i could live with her as is. i've been an audiophile for the last 25 years, and like yourself recently (well, october 96) began my current and ongoing upgrade to my 10 year old system that had remained stable till then. my goal was to explore what current technolgy had to offer while (hopefully) deriving more enjoyment from my music. i didn't really intend to own a hi-end audio system, it just sort of evolved (slowly) in that direction (to no surprise to me). enjoyed the question. mike