I am so happy.....

Thanks it is an interesting experience...

I've had some first hand experience with how powerful room acoustics can be, verifying your approach to good sound. I got to listen to Revel Ultima Salon II, JBL 4367, some Golden Ear towers (don't know which model), and a few other speakers going down to $2000 a pair in a room that isn't sounding good yet. They were fed with Big McIntosh and Mark Levinson amps and high end digital sources - don't know which. In that room the choice of speaker/electronics couldn't overcome the situation. I could hear some differences but the overall effect of the space swamped whatever the speakers and electronics could do. It just plain sounds bad in there right now and it makes all those speakers sound bad in pretty much the same way. There's no doing anything about it other than fixing that room. Well, there was one thing - turn them down and sit really close. That helped a bit.

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I am happy not because i enjoy music and declare to myself that the sound is so  good...It is yes, but...

We all think , most of us that our sound is good...

Especially people with costly piece of gear....

I am happy because i know, i dont believe, i know, HOW i  has prepared acoustically and psyco-acoustically my speakers/room to reach  my actual sound quality...

I dont boast about my gear and his " marvellous" sound like some , i only know what my sound experience was BEFORE acoustic treatment and acoustic mechanical control, and AFTER it...

I have no way to compare my sound experience to your sound experience...

But i know what most people will never know: the DIFFERENCE between acoustic tuning optimization before and after...

Then i am happy with my soundefield, but what make me more happy is that i know HOW  we can  replace upgrade obsession  by acoustic and WHY i will never upgrade and throwing any more money...

Basic experiments in acoustic science will make you free of pseudo science: measurements of gear pieces to justify upgrade...

Measurements are useful for designers not so much for customers....Most customers have no idea how to control the acoustic cues and experience in their room anyway...

Then be happy with what you have yes, if not, try acoustic... Dont upgrade save if some basic piece of gear is not on the same quality level than the others...

This is my advice....

Audiophiledom is a journey, not a destination.

The journey has a destination and a final end point for those who know acoustic...

The others frantically change gear in an obsessive never ending unsatisfaction..Or deal stoically with unsatisfaction or are happy  with music and a not very good sound...

 Now I listen music without dreaming about  an upgrade...My speakers/room tuning is optimal....I dont need anything else...

My actual system has 8 years in my room... But i learned enough acoustic only during  the last 2 years...It is not simple matter...But it is now done...

All in all peanuts costs... The journey make well more sense with low cost and a ratio S.Q. /price over the roof... This is the GOAL...

But i never wanted to listen my favorite music WITHOUT an acoustical relative perfection learning  stoically to deal  with a low level quality sound ... i wanted audiophile relative top level experience...That was my goal...At the lower cost...I succeeded...

Thinking that only money can buy Hi-Fi is idolatry, fetichism of the gear by corporate market conditioning coupled to acoustic and psycho-acoustic ignorance...

I am not satisfied, i am in heaven with a 3D soundscape in two listening positions...

My 500 bucks system trash all my 8 headphones...And his ratio S.Q./price is over the roof...

Many system are better than mine yes, but trust me i am not so far behind.... It is easy to verify....

For sure i will not convince deluded people who compare DIRECTLY high end audio system to a Ferrari and other low cost one to a volkswagen... Simplistic car metaphor dont work sorry, because they forgot the tire/ road and environment condition AKA the speakers/ room acoustic...

Thanks Helmholtz ... Father of acoustic and psycho-acoustic science...

Your experience is interesting indeed and will be helpful to some...

It is better to hear a message coming from more than one voice...

thanks for your generosity and understanding...

For sure you are also right !

But being right dont means that the point about which i spoke is out of the way or annihilated...

Reality could be black and white and is also more complex...It is a journey....

My point is motivated by the marketing consumerism among some audiophiles about the gear upgrade obsession and the forgotten acoustic science...

I listen music now after a few years of searches for the right components ( it is hard when your budget is near zero) and after 2 years of acoustic experiments....

Now i am like you, music is my only expanse in money or in time....

But in the past I loved music so much i dream all my life to BUY a high-end system... But i cannot... Then i solve the problem in experimenting with acoustic and then i realize it is not necessary to buy costly gear if you find your way to acoustic... I created my homemade devices and my room now is no more my laboratory only but my listening room...

I am here only to help those who have not realized the importance of acoustic OVER costly upgrade and make them conscious that acoustic is the frustration remedy ...

Then you see two people can be right at the same time even if they see things from different perspective like you and me...

Or in one sentence, acoustic successful method transform my audiophile neurosis in a healthy interest for music listening only WITHOUT almost any audio/sound quality upgrade interest remaing now...

My best to you....

And i apologize for my "lecturing" tone...

My English is in reality Frenglish : a mediocre english style of writing.... 😁😊

i hope you will understand and forgive my "square" syntax...

But you are right here also i can be a bit "presumptuuous" yes....😁😊

But admit also that acoustic research in audiophile circles is not so well known or perceived so essential... People neurosis come from their gear focus...Then i "lecture" them for sure about acoustic ... i apologize to you...

@mahgister While I appreciate the lecture on reality, and the presumptuousness of my ignorance as to the importance of room acoustics, I would counter that it is pretty black and white.

You have people that enjoy listening to music, and then you have people with a deep concern for the fidelity of their playback. Sure, they enjoy listening to music too, but only after executing processes A, B, C, D, etc. When this series of processes is finally completed, they say, “…phew!! Okay, NOW, I can enjoy listening to music.” There is a stark difference in thinking and behavior there.

To quote Karen’s mom from Goodfellas: “normal people don’t act like this!”

In few sentences:

The electronic design must be subordinated to the acoustic science and must serve the acoustic experience of the listener in his controlled room... ANY relatively good design will do the job...

In audio magazine review it is the reverse presentation: the acoustic of a room is secondary addition to the gear choice and even the music is there to make the system shine...And the costlier the design the better it is supposed to be nevermind the acoustic...

After all this brainwashing it is not suprizing that people confuse head and tail...

Some plunge into a neurosis :

« Is my gear system good enough? Probably not, then i must upgrade.... Is my upgrade piece compatible with this other one? because my sound is good for some music style but not for this other music style... Then i must change another piece of gear...Etc The infamous wheel of neurosis goes on this way » 😁😊

All that because they dont know because of the gear marketing programmation sellers faulty practice how to make ANY piece of gear at ANY price shine at his peak potential working level in a treated and controlled room....

The symptoms of this neurosis in all audio threads are debates about, cables, fuses, digital versus analog etc all debates divided in 2 warring camps : the gear brand name tasting "subjective" fetichists versus the "objective" measuring tool fetichists... Their common blind spot is a complete ignorance and forgetfulness of acoustic and psycho-acoustic HUGE role in the making of the final experience...

It is comical but dramatic because it guide people on erroneus paths...For sure there is difference between cables,fuses, or anything else but these differences are small one generally, compared to acoustic treatment impact and mechanical acoustic controls, and anyway sometimes these diffrences are not audible for acoustic reason...How do you hear subtle difference of timbre in a bad room ?

For sure there is a difference between a piece of design of low cost and a 100,000 bucks speakers...It goes without saying... 😁😊

But the main tool will ever be and will ever stay the acoustical tool not an upgrade.....Save if you upgrade to a completely NEW high level of price...If not, the difference will be a minute one compared to an improved acoustic...This is my point...

Acoustic is the sleeping princess, the pieces of gear are only the 7 working dwarves, and the kissing prince is the psycho-acoustic method which will awake the princess to be bride......

You reduce reality to black and white... Those who are obsessed by sound and those who listen to music...Reality is not black and white only....

Your frustrating experience in the past come from a lack of acoustic knowledge and from the conditioning marketing ploy who convinced us consumers that only the gear price level and the money can give us satisfaction...I know because i was thinking like that 10 years ago....

The truth is we can create audiophile experience at peanuts cost but NOT without acoustic and psycho-acoustic basic knowledge...

It is my experience with a 500 bucks system, in an acoustically controlled room for sure, this system would be sell normally 2000 bucks today...it is not big money...

Upgraditis come from lack of money to buy a good or satisfying  component and /or from basic acoustic ignorance in most of the cases... This could be transformed in a neurosis in some case yes...

Acoustic science can treat this neurosis....

Listening music dont need good sound to be an ecstasy anyway, i remember listening Bach in ecstay in horrible sound condition, but it is very simple to double the ecstasy modulo acoustic experiments...

I fell so far into the rabbit hole of audio, I had to dig myself to the other side. Thousands of dollars and countless tedium-addled hours later, I MIGHT finally be at where I used to be. I can’t say my quality of life improved choosing to indulge in such minutiae. It’s been interesting and at times extremely rewarding, but I can’t say with full conviction it was worth it.
I’m happy when I hear about people enjoying the wonders of music neurosis-free

Great news! And absolutely true...

We can be happy with any well chosen system anyway...

And i listen smooth jazz too, among classical of any period , and indian and persian music or choral music or percussions...

All this styles ask for a great sound system anyway...

Why?

Because most natural instruments ask for a good timbre reproduction and without good bass cello will sound horrible and some piano notes unclean... Then i dont understand why someone listening smooth jazz will not need a great sound system ?

In fact relating specific musical styles to acoustic experience or specific gear made sense ONLY to a certain extent... All styles and all instruments need a good acoustical translation in your room/system or in your headphones...

For sure an electrostatic speakers will not do the same in big band than a good big box speakers, or a magneplanar, but passed these specific basic characteristics related to each speakers type, we need good bass and high and good mid range in the coupling of the systems/ speakers with the room, nevermind the gear or the musical type we listen to...

The more important factor in audio is our happiness through the greatest S.Q. /price ratio possible... The key for me was acoustic but nevermind if someone is happy with his system/room , he is happy.... Who will deny other happiness or mock it?

The rest is ignorance or/and snobbery...

Congratulations to the OP !

 But if i did not want to upgrade anything now me too ,  i am a bit envious NOW of your «1000 VA medical grade toroidal, 160 amp rectifier (very little fwvd hence virtually no heat generated) and 200,000uF filter capacitors producing approx 220 watts rms/channel.»😁😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

I am so happy with the system I have, I want to share with everyone the fact that that even a very modest and cheap system can produce great sound for me and makes me happy to the point where I no longer have to search for improvements.

Call me ignorant if you want. Does not bother me even an iota. I will go the grave happier than everyone who is condescending.