CWE, congrats, again an excellent thread! I think it was about 15 years ago. I was on a long trip by car, driving down the autostrada del sole in Italy, when fiddling with my car radio, I just hit upon the beginning of the second movement of Schubert's Quintet in C minor and soon, with the beautiful countryside flahing by, I was deeply drawn into the music. Afterwards I realised that my enjoyment had been completely unhampered by any system related thoughts, that at that very moment I had regained an innocence of enjoyment, I had long lost. In a way, that was a turning point in my career as an audiophile and my further development seems to mymic closely that which RCprince has described so well: I wanted to get back to the enjoyment of music and once having attained that, the budget for my hobby was hardly strained anymore. The changes which I have made to my system in the last 5 to 10 years or so became only minor. Recently, because of an amp-mishap, I rescued an old Threshold Stasis from the mid seventies from its resting place in the cellar and was amazed how good it really sounded on my Maggie bass panels, lively and punchy and when I put it on the Quads, well it was not exactly Jadis, but it was enjoyable enough not to be too distracted. Need I say more?
State of the Art? I don t care anymore.
I appreciate the endless obsessive quest to reach the next level of audio nirvana. But I am starting to wonder if it is really making me happy. It seems that the relationship between cost and pleasure is by no means linear. Some systems I have assembled seem to have had just enough performance and resolution to reveal how terrible a recording sounded, or how badly I needed to upgrade an associated component -- but didn't sound good enough to get me to the next level of reality. While I guess that is all part of the "fun", I just want to enjoy music again. I still love audio and I love reading all of your posts, but has anyone else sometimes felt this way? Could someone suggest a romantically, musically colored component or system where, despite their audiophile credentials and enthusiasm, they have forgotten about the equipment and just listened to music? I don't care about earth shattering volume, the deepest bass, the finest resolution, extended highs, accuracy, rock solid imaging etc. Just want to enjoy music again. I know this is not necessarily a new idea, but I find it very very difficult to achieve.