un-becoming an audiophile

@petaluman yeah... good point.  Live music can also help one appreciate what one has at home... like when I was at a symphony and suddenly realized: Hey, this sounds just like my Heresy IV ...!  Gave me even more respect for the Heresy experience.

Also, I was watching I think it might have been a Audiophiliac video where he visited a gathering of "audiophiles" in some NYC apartment and asked the question "What is snake oil?" and one of the most telling responses was "It's all snake oil.  I don't spend money on gear any more.  None of it is real.  What's real is hearing live music, so that's what I spend my money on." 

@speedthrills interesting suggestion!  my Heresy do help me quit obsessing because the music presented is just so damned engaging.  It's like a user review of the Forte IV, also, that I read on Crutchfield: "At this stage in my life I wanted "shut up and play your guitar" sound and the Klipsch deliver."

Or something like the Polk R700 also come to mind... a "done" speaker at $2000, easy to place, sounds great with anything, and as Andrew Robinson points out, a speaker that sounds so good that it poses a "philosophical question" (like you, the OP, is asking) about any desire to go any "higher."  Time to just enjoy.. 

And, I'll also plug Andrew Robinson for his thoughtful youtube and print posts about "overcoming the audiophile addiction"... he even bills himself as a "recovering audiophile," and although you can still see his enthusiasm for gear in his reviews, he does actively promote the idea that once you have something good then relax and enjoy the music it delivers rather than obsessing on the neverending and always-diminishing-returns chase for an elusive perfection that doesn't even exist.

@russ69 +1 ... my living room system entertains not only myself but the dozens of social event guests I have over in the course of a month, and it was pieced together for a couple grand tops... everybody enjoys the sound, and indeed is probably the best sounding system almost all of them hear on a regular basis; they bop and I see heads turn during some passages, cocking their ears to hear familiar music at a quality level practically unknown to them.  Point being, if there's a will there's a way to find a good satisfying musical system for not much money.

@bob540 +1 ... but if you’re living healthy, eating protein and veggies, doing a little weight-bearing exercise along w some walking, you could have another 20+ years, BUT, that said, I agree it’s good to prepare.

At age 60, I have been going through the same thing, preparing my trust documents... should have done it years ago. What really threw a wrench in and slowed me down was trying to figure out how to best distribute my physical possessions; the money assets aspect was much easier to figure. What to do exactly w my nice stereo gear? Who would most "deserve" and appreciate inheriting it?

I really had a hard time with that, and it caused me a lot of anxiety... but then it gradually dawned on me: nobody I know cares about it, really. My spouse would like some of it, but would rarely use it w/o me there. Sure, they know it’s "nice," but they wouldn’t necessarily care to have it, wouldn’t want to bother w it, most likely ... they stream bluetooth to their soundbars, if that, or listen on their stupid phones.

So, that realization made it easier: directed my trust to have my durable power of finances decide what she wants, if anything, and then three others in order get to choose... and after that, it will all just be lumped together with all my other physical possessions to be sold off, the money then going to the trust through which the money will be distributed exactly like I directed for the other financial assets. (charitable remainder trust annuities for my sisters for income, no lump sums; once my sisters are gone, then the Nature Conservancy keeps the cash to buy critical habitat and preserve it -- sorry nieces and nephews, you’re on your own, so reap what you yourselves actually sow, lol)

It was actually kind of eye-opening, and a relief: nobody besides myself actually cares about my gear, really. They like it when they hear it, but they wouldn’t necessarily want it. Too much hassle for ’em, not worth the trouble. Yes, I’ve mentored a couple people along the way towards simple, quality smaller systems; I’ll settle for that torch-passing. So, "what to do w my gear once I’m gone" became easy on my mind, instead of troubling.

Over and out; time to do some reading w classical radio station playing softly through my Heresy IVs ... 

@grislybutter +1.  I would certainly NOT recommend Audiogon as a forum for anybody young or any age just wanting to learn about fine audio for music listening purposes... much too often I see a "how much money can I spend on something to achieve an (at best) incremental improvement (if that)" rather than the other way around, namely "how can I spend money wisely to achieve rich and beautiful sound quality to listen to music?"  A money-is-no-object attitude really is a disservice.

Grisly's point is well-taken, by me anyway.  

I suspect much money is being spent more on "bling" and "shiny objects"... and, as my reading buddy Suze Orman says: if you need things to validate your self-esteem, then you ought to be working on your self esteem first, and not your acquisitions of objects.