My High End Audio Gear As A Long Term Investment!!!
I’ve had enough years of fiddling around with all this expensive High End Audio gear. No more speaker musical-chairs for me or switching out my amp every few years, or chasing the latest new shine penny, etc. It’s far too costly (and a headache to boot). So a couple years ago I decided to take time and care in diligently putting together a fine audio system, within my budget, of course, that would preform at such a high level of proficiency that I could be sonically satisfied for many, many years to come. Mission accomplished!!! My audio system is soo musically satisfying to me that I could honestly live with it for the duration (but it didn’t come cheap). I know it’s hard to believe. At this juncture, and yes I’m old, I’m just flat-out tired and weary (so is my wallet) of all the hassle of buying and selling gear and (losing $$$ every time), never being satisfied with what I have even though what I have is already quite outstanding. Lets face it, it’s a fun hobby, but it can be an extremely expensive hobby, especially for an average guy like myself. So, I’m done trying to keep up with the Joneses. And now I just want to be content and happy with the wise long-term investment I made in my wonderful sounding audio system and just enjoy it without the constant burden (cloud of uncertainty) of thinking about switching out anything anymore. What a relief it is for me to finally after all these years be able to settle down in front of my audio system with the music being my only concern with a glass of fine red wine and just forget about all my troubles. It good feeling!!! Anyone else have the same attitude toward the hobby as me? Are you content with the decisions you made on your audio system? Are you done with it like I am?
Informed audiophiles see the tunnel ends and listen music ...
the other case as mijostyn are simply uinformed and obsessed or very rich or the two cases wrapped in one ...
Musicians and acousticians dont obsess about the price tag and work for the best with what they owned ...Music is the goal not the gear chart comparison ...
Acoustic rules over marketing and the user manual of an upgrade ...
I am like you ...Happy with what i create : sonic musical heaven at relatively low price ...
My “investment’ has finally paid off. I’m at the state where I am really, really happy with the sound of my system. Just made some adjustments that hopefully finished my quest. Mijoystn says you’re not a true audiophile if you say your finished.
I agree, and devoutly hope my audiophile days are over.
No more agonizing over the imperfections, real or imagined, in my rig.
My “investment’ has finally paid off. I’m at the state where I am really, really happy with the sound of my system. Just made some adjustments that hopefully finished my quest. Mijoystn says you’re not a true audiophile if you say your finished.
I agree, and devoutly hope my audiophile days are over.
No more agonizing over the imperfections, real or imagined, in my rig.
I just seen the system of a "true" audiophile in the virtual page system potentially better and way more costly than mine but not necessarily actually better than mine on all acoustic BALANCED count at the end ... I will not give name ...
For sure he investigate electronics design of the speakers but his speakers are on the floor directly with no care about vibrations/resonance , and there is no acoustic treatment and control in the room at all, probably not adressing the electrical noise/signal level of the house room nor EMI shielding and certainly no tweaks as Schuman resonator etc ... ...
I dont doubt that he is a "true" audiophile who is never "satisfied" ... I am myself always satisfied with a low cost system always well embedded but i was never an "audiophile" i guess ... Only someone learning how to embed any system to listen music with no apparent acoustic defects because i understand , using what i have, how to pass optimally the minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold identified by human ears ...I listen music now ...
Absolutely not. A true audiophile is never satisfied as perfection only exists in the mind. Besides, somebody has to support these poor bastards.
Identifying the health source in the body only is the same error than identifying the sound source qualities coming only from the gear or only from the medium ...It will be too long here to correct this deep epistemological and metaphysical error ...
The process of being alive is anything but healthy, it is a fatal disease. So, get stoned and enjoy the music. You’ll feel better being alive.
You can't put a price on psychiatric treatment.after holding peoples lives in my hand if I fail is very intense for me.music calms the savage beast even if it's 3 am driving home from the operating room listening to the stero in the car priceless investment sanity wise worth the price of admission every time.enjoy the music stay healthy.
In 1990 I bought the best audio equipment I could afford. It is much better than I had ever had before. I have had it ever since. I enjoy it.
Now, 33 years later, some of the equipment has started to fail. I am almost done sending stuff out to have it refurbished and in some cases even upgraded. It sounds better than ever. I see no need to replace anything with things that won’t last nearly as long.
Now seeing that I'm a human being, I still look for little ways to get a little better sound. Thanks to the advice from some of the good folks on this site, I have replaced my cheap stock interconnects with Audioquest Tower cords. I noticed improvement right away and it seems to get better every time I turn the system on. Burn in? Perhaps. Maybe I’m just enjoying it more, who knows? My next step was to order the SP6 speaker cables from Morrow Audio. They are currently undergoing the 20 day burn in process at Morrow. Once I have those and am used to them, I’ll look into room treatments. That will about do it for me,
An investment? Well, only in the manner that I will have had decades worth of musical enjoyment for myself at a reasonable cost that I can afford. That’s a "sound" investment if I do say so myself.
EDIT: I should mention I purchased the Morrow Audio speaker cables when I received their Black Friday Sale notification from Audiogon.
There are two kinds of investments, IMHO. One, you plan to sell it later. Like a stamp, and two, you buy it because not buying it means you'll spend more money in the long term.
Good cookware that lasts you a lifetime and keeps you from replacing it yearly, and yields consistently better results for less effort is definitely a type of investment.
Homes are arguably more like cookware than stamps, since while your home is accruing value you can't actually move to a nicer home after 10 years. You can move into another home exactly like the one you are in.
I was just thinking that there is no "final" system, and it is exceedingly rare to purchase the next newest and bestest with the liquidation of the old.... We are entertaining ourselves by finding creative ways to dispose of disposable income. I admit that I am purely pleasing myself. Perhaps my picture is in the dictionary next to "Selfish" ;)
I dont know if i can call my wife a " pleasurable" investment ... No more than i doubt if i can call "music" experience a pleasurable investment ...
They are for sure by some aspects ... But as any half truth it is not even wrong , it is worse than wrong ...
Something i choose which choose me too changed my life , be it Bach or my wife , i will not call that a " pleasure" , it is way more than that at the least it is a joy and joy is eternal , pleasures are not ... You buy pleasures not love nor understanding 😁😊
Someone can say that we speak about the "gear" not about music here ...But the gear dont exist as in investment when music is there , buying bread is not an investment nor a mere pleasure , it is living ...
We can sell bread and Bach, it is a money investment in this sense ... I will answer that "economy " is a sacred participatory act at the origin based on an exhange with the "other" ...It is a way to inhibit war and annihilation but it is more than that ...
We must rewrite economy for an age where there will be no needs unanswered , only a sacred participation in the universe ... I go to far and i will stop here ...
In a more mundane way, for me the gear is an acoustic problem to solve and understand not an investment ...Only obsessed people think about their gear as an investment to justify an obsession which is always misplaced focus of attention ...The gear is always an interesting unsolved problem ...
"Both of my Kenwood KD turntables, KD 500 and a KD550"
@puptent I had a KD550, bought it new back in the late 1970s or early 1980s, from the Electronic Workshop in Greenwich Village. Always liked it, I think at some point I sold it for a Basis.
As I read through this I’ve kind of gone in the direction that @hilde45 makes above. I look at the “investment” in audio equipment as being nothing more than investing in my own enjoyment (or myself).
Knowing that there is always something better out there is a struggle that some deal with better than others but I think once you get to a certain level of experience you’re more able to appreciate what you have and make better decisions about what’s important rather than placing that importance on having the next best thing.
I don’t know if I would say that I’m finished when it comes to acquiring gear but when I sit down to listen the last thing I’m thinking about is “would be better had I spent more money?”. Be happy and enjoy your system for the experience it offers you and if you feel that experience should be heightened go for it- there’s nothing wrong with that either!
Audio gear is not a good investment financially. It depreciates. Rapidly in many cases. No matter how much I love a piece (I'm an ARC fanboy) the used ones go down in value each year- and why shouldn't they? Caps wear out. tubes fail, pots get worn, scratches and bruises show up- it's that dang 2nd law of thermodynamics. Moreover new and better gear hit the market all the time. Add to that the digital revolution- a body slam to residual values!
Now if we classify investment as something that causes appreciation in ourselves that's a different story. My rig replays recordings that make me happy. What a joy to have a nice bottle of wine, turn down the lights and enjoy the music! It's often the best part of my day.
I have learned to be happy with "really good but could be better" and I do love chasing the gear- bit that's a luxury and not a necessity. Nor is it a good use of the time value of money. But I like it!
I have been stable for the last 15 years, I am now 75. As to investment, audio gear is similar to cars in many ways, they are typically a depreciating asset that provides much joy.
I have added a streamer 2 years ago, but other than that my system has not changed. I know 3.6 Maggie’s have lost value, but I could sell my McIntosh MC501s and C220 for what I paid used. They still perform very well.
I will add that I rarely use my CD player anymore and never watch movies from that media. Times change, but great stereo lives on in my home.
I have been happy and stable with my system for some time now. I too have had to face old guy hearing issues. Not too bad yet but enough to make me realize that doing the swap out of gear just because is a silly proposition. Until now. I have become intrigued with the DAC's appearing recently. Each seem to offer their own sound depending on manufacturer. Which is best/right? There it is. This is what has got me going again. Hopefully I will find a piece/peace that will put me back to my happy place again.
The journey is about learning acoustic in my case not purchasing and buying upgrades , and the destination was always there all along : it is music listening ...😊
Investments don’t necessarily have to deliver a return financially. In this case, the OP is stating that all of the time and money he has invested through his journey is now delivering value back to him such that he is satisfied for the long term. Simply a distinction between some sort of wealth, which includes happiness and security, and money, which is not guaranteed to.
That said, if I lost a nickel for every audiophile that said “I finally made it… I’m done!”, I’d be out of business. :)
There’s no shame in the chase. Even if we are satisfied with what we have now, we as people change. Our hearing changes, our perceptions change, our tastes change. Gear and technology changes. As a good friend always tells me, it’s about the journey, not the destination.
I myself was in the same boat, which is why I decided to start Bliss Hifi in April 2022. I wanted to invest my time in helping others along their journey. I was already doing so for friends and family, but I wanted to do it more in a professional sense. In a year and a half, I’ve helped hundreds of people find similar value in the way the OP describes. But along the way, I learned even more in the last 1.5 years about my own system and setup than I did in the last 20 years as an audiophile. Even though much of my componentry has remained the same, speakers, positioning, cabling, accessories have all evolved to elevate my system to new heights.
Embrace your progress every step of the way, but stay open minded on where you may continue to grow from where you are.
I tinker. Adding a second hand Cambridge MC pre-amp to replace a Pro-Ject S, as an experiment towards warmer, "British" sound in my 3rd system. Is that an 'investment? More like an experiment. Both of my Kenwood KD turntables, KD 500 and a KD550, and the tone arms I've bought, are an investment (I can recover my initial expenditure, even minus re-capping, and other minor tune-up/repair costs). My SAE 2100L has been an investment, but maybe not if you include the recap. I have the appropriate Para Metric and normal EQ's from SAE, maybe it's time to give them a whirl around the dance floor, and do something for my worn out ears. The Shure V 15 collection has been a good investment. But my biggest return for expenditure is in my vinyl collection. I've been cleaning and grading, and adding to my Discogs spread sheet, and I've been astounded a few times, surprised more, and overall very pleased with the values, (and I am very conservative in my grading). I go through my old Goldmine Books and can see an accidental investment growing over the past 40-50 years. Not to mention the forgotten gems brought back to the light. Looks like I do have an estate, after all. But as to components, I look at those purchases as tools. If they turn out to be investments, great. I just want them to fulfill their reputation or the promise offered when I shelled out my dough. Sometimes I turn over a replaced item, or pass them along, but usually they stay in reserve. My final System? I can't even wrapped my little brain around that idea (there's no room, what with me mulling over the new Eminent Technology speakers (or should I go Transmission Line again?), and up grading the MC side of things... and new improved amps...and ultra sonic...and...and...
I am not at the old age level yet but I have also finished my gear, with 2 systems and 2 headphones. Looking back at my buying and selling history over the last 5 years on A'gon, USAM, and Head-fi, shows a crazy amount of gear.
I no longer can sell any of my gear because I threw out all my boxes to remove the temptation. Great thing is I am not spending time online looking for gear anymore.
Like many here I'm an old fart too. My speakers are fixed, my set-up is fixed (pretty much), but I'm still thinking about how I can deal with my loss of HF without changing mid-range. I can deal with loss of a bit of volume, but loss of HF info is hard to fix without getting an upper mid-range glare. I've thought about getting a parametric equalizer, but........maybe I can do as much with a 30band, or even a 12 band equalizer. I don't know. :-)
I am done with upgrading because when you enjoy "immersiveness" you listen music not sound defects anymore and new gear reviews appear more as useless expanse ...
Audio system are investment in and for acoustic experiences and the occasion to learn how to listen using acoustic as a tool...
The post of erik_squires say it all more eloquently than me because he design speakers anyway then he know what he talk about more than the average consumers who often purchase because it is the only solution for him....Most audio consumers pay a heavy price for ignoring acoustics and not only room acoustic ...Money dont buy knowledge...
Yes, and I find that one of the major factors that allowed me to get there was to have excellent room treatment. That got me off all the merry-go-rounds.
Having a reasonably good sounding room has made the room much more accepting of speakers and far less concerned about up/down grading the amp or speakers to fix whatever I was having problems with.
"And now I just want to be content and happy with the wise long-term investment."
Investment it is not IMO, just a thoroughly enjoyable system for you and yours.
You will be gone, so you won’t be aware of the diminished value, difficulty of selling, parting out, international competition from hifishark, fear of shipping, thus lower prices because reduced buyers via local pick-up ....
You cannot even count on passing it along to your children. I bought 3 R2R machines, me and 1 for both sons. To play the many R2R tapes they will inherit. They gather dust, anf the JSE Model II Speakers they both loved while growing up: the wife says ’their too big".
I was closest to NYC, helped my Grandmother deal with my uncle’s NYC apt after he died, so she ’randomly’ gave me his Fisher Console and R2R tapes. It weighed over 300 lbs. Anyone else in the family might have said ’no thanks’.
Happy listening, enjoy it while you can, I’m ’done’ as you are. Done is a slippery slope.
Well, you're going to have to stay off this site, or you will be drawn into replacing your stuff. I'm getting close to your position, but I like to scan the forums.
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