A manager of a high-end audio store made a statement to me long ago that i'll never forget, and actually helped me to slow down and think alot more about what i really wanted and how much money i was willing to spend to get there. he told me as i was expressing some anxiety about the cost of the hobby in general, that "as long as your having fun" you are going to end up okay. especially considering the VERY expensive equipment this store had on display, stuff way, way out of my reach, i thought his advice was very considerate, especially towards those of us that have to wait and build a system over a long time, or perhaps stare at pictures in magazines and read the reviews, as a substitute for being Donald Trump. and certainly it's true that you can build an inexpensive but very satisfying system at one end of the spectrum, while moving the other way you can end up dissatified over a pretty expensive set-up because it does alot of things really well, but has an "achilles heel" that you haven't quite found a solution for yet, but are spending alot of cash trying to "fix". so it's just very important to enjoy the music and try to find a balance at whatever stage you're at.
How far out there are you?
I suspect I might have an addictive personality, if you subscribe to the belief of such, and of late, audio has been my most costly vice. I check A'gon each AM while I get my first ‘hit’ of caffeine, then later in the day, just in case something I want comes up cheap.
My system has progressed from the meager beginnings of a Pioneer Elite receiver in 90’s to a Meridian 861 pre/pro and G98 player, both the Samsung and Sony Blu-ray players, the Toshiba HD-XA1, a Teac Esoteric DV-50s and numerous other sources, speakers and amps that fortunately for me the wife tolerates in all kinds of places. Amazingly, I still pine for more. I want the EMM Labs CDSD and DAC6e combo and the AA player as well as the new Revel Ultima2 speakers, and when they come in, new Levinson amps as well. All this spending seems to make those childhood ‘fixes’ seem cheap and I haven’t even touched on the cabling that costs more than many cars made today.
FWIW I truly LOVE my system, and when we where looking at houses, some got immediately knocked off the list as the HT wouldn’t fit into them.
I know I am not the only one hooked on this audio ‘crack’, so what is your story??
My system has progressed from the meager beginnings of a Pioneer Elite receiver in 90’s to a Meridian 861 pre/pro and G98 player, both the Samsung and Sony Blu-ray players, the Toshiba HD-XA1, a Teac Esoteric DV-50s and numerous other sources, speakers and amps that fortunately for me the wife tolerates in all kinds of places. Amazingly, I still pine for more. I want the EMM Labs CDSD and DAC6e combo and the AA player as well as the new Revel Ultima2 speakers, and when they come in, new Levinson amps as well. All this spending seems to make those childhood ‘fixes’ seem cheap and I haven’t even touched on the cabling that costs more than many cars made today.
FWIW I truly LOVE my system, and when we where looking at houses, some got immediately knocked off the list as the HT wouldn’t fit into them.
I know I am not the only one hooked on this audio ‘crack’, so what is your story??