members and their systems

sokogear,

The first thing I do when getting into a car, for unknown cars even before entering, is to lower the seat as much as it goes. The last Porsche 911, I even had a salesman with me. It may be that some people are more in love with what they get from the car than being bothered by the feeling that car is patting the top of their head all the time. If that is the case, I envy them. I am visibly more than 6 feet, but not even close to 7. Even more of an issue is that two appropriately-sized feet and three pedals get quite crammed down there.

Spare tire is my pet-peeve. Inflator is fine, unless it gets slashed on the side. Which is what every significant tire problem has been for me. Nails do nothing, it can go for thousand miles. I am really puzzled where the space for spare went. It used to be there when the car was smaller. "The Mystery Of The Missing Space".

Wow - if you are much taller than 6', then I don't blame you for not liking your head touching the roofliner.

I guess for you to be comfortable, you have to get one of those big trucks/SUVs that the players in the NBA get.

Beleive me, Porsche used the space for the spare very efficiently. They don't waste on cc in the 911. The older ones had smaller engines and were air cooled, so no water pump. The new engines are more complicated as well. Ever look inside the rear hood in a water cooled one? The engine is jammed in there.

To answer the original question. I have 3 systems, I think I have spent about 40k over the course of 20 years.

1. I still use my original system. All parts were bought used. Paradigm signature s8, parasound monoblocks + jc2
   
2. My new system is kef ls50 + parasound hint 6 + M&K subwoofer
   
3. My third system that I am working on building is Rotel Michi S5 + P5 which will be paired with Gershman Studio 2.
   

I have been fortunate enough to be able to save 30% of my yearly salary. I have no medical expenses, and our family is just me and my wife. I do own a house, but don’t buy super fancy cars. I do own 2 motorcycles. I am able to save money because we don’t have kids but I do support my parents financially and in any other way I can because they helped me save quite a bit when I was in college and because they are straight up best human beings I know of.
The beauty of audiogear is that even if it’s old it can sound great for many years, so if I have something that sounds great why replace it? I plan to keep my three systems for at least next 10 years unless something fails. I don’t like to replace components just because new one is available. Before my kef ls50 meta I was using the original ones for 6 years until my nephew decided to poke the shiny golden driver 😭

To answer the original question. I have 3 systems,

Good story....

My best to you and respects...

I don't mean to be unfriendly but your question strikes me as kind of.. odd. Would you approach a stranger and ask how they manage to afford their boat/car/vacation house/Rolex/kid's private schooling, etc ? That's not generally considered polite behavior in this culture. 

If you are feeling frustrated about the "high cost of audio", I can sympathize, up to a point. Steve Guttenberg, for one, has posted multiple videos about low-cost systems on his Daily Audiophiliac Show on YouTube. Needless to say, you can always buy used/demo gear.

Over twenty years, I've slowly upgraded to the point where I've got about 25K invested, including cabling and tweaks. I have friends with much, much more expensive systems and yes, their systems sound good but only "different"-- not "better" than mine-- to my ears. Spending a lot of cash is no guarantee of ending up with a system that pleases you. You need to learn to listen and discover which factors of msuic reproduction are most important to you.