What I wish I knew before starting my audiophile journey

I would agree clean power is crucial.if you can run a dedicated line direct fron breaker panel that is a great start.

Also I would spend a lot of prep time with speaker placement and room treatment  .

@chriszponder Good to hear your son recovering!

I hear you on how expenditures on audio system can overwhelm our finances. I always tried to stick to rules of not buying anything on credit, having to sell something, didn't need to be audio related, to help in purchasing new additions. This has worked out pretty well for me, can't say the same about motorcycles and cars!

I also believe the Equi-tech is all you'll need. I have BPT, another balanced transformer based conditioner. Previously owned earlier iterations of PS Audio power plants, they went away, BPT far superior. I transferred one of my PS Audio to home theater system, provides good service there.

I agree highly unlikely someone's going to optimize AC and room prior to any hardware purchases. One's necessarily going to start with amp, speakers and source, assuming one hasn't paid attention to room and AC, they're  likely to begin the churn, always blaming the equipment, ignorant of how large a contribution AC and room bring.

@johnah5 

Thanks for asking.

First I purchased Tannoys Churchill by PBN and then Viking Acoustics' Grande Voix in full grain heirloom wood, and now I definitively do not consider either one to be a mistaken identity.

Maybe then I considered it as such, perhaps to justify a run after my retirement fund. But as I said earlier it is still unknown what I shall discover once the Room is finished. I am the one who purchased the speakers at blank (blind) point relying on one of the most intriguing stories on this forum. So far I don't have a problem with this while consuming most of my energy and focus on building the room in my basement (26 X 15+ X 8 1/2 ceiling).

Eventually I will share the system, the room and my discoveries, and I will most likely have a tons of questions in the future as I go with the journey.

Always appreciate everyone's knowledge on this forum, Chris.

@limbonner  Rex and Bob Hungerford of Kingrex Electric show off their audiophile-grade electrical service panel. 

As long as our ears are still analog, they’ll be a need to connect with the air and move it around in our listening spaces. Precision raw speaker drivers, robust amplification, meaty cables, and the power from the wall to make it all happen will be essential elements of a audiophile system for some time to come. Until we have the tech to communicate those digital sources telepathically, or have a port installed and a digital bitstream connected directly to our brains, those "old school’ things will matter. It’s also irrelevant whether those items are internal, external, active or passive, the sames rules apply. Even short cables runs (inches) and termination methods make a differece. Yes, we can split hairs here and debate the gradients of various solutions, but that same stuff matters, whether it’s sonic impactt is 1% or 90% on sound quality.

What we invest in our system depends on a number of factors. Some of us have the ability to select "this" AND "this". Most of us have to choose between "this" OR "this". Just like a portfolio of "adenelin stocks" -- the one’s you choose because you want the excitement of playing in the stock market, your audio gear investment needs to be money you can afford to loose, or at least a good chunk of it.

As far as dealers are concerned (I’m a retired one), not all customers are rugged individuals who relish in the aspect of taking on the magnitude of information out there to select the "right" system. They are busy people in many cases. Or, they’re emotionally and financially involved in their classic car, motorcycle, guitar, watch or wine collections. Audio is something they enjoy, but they’d rather take a deep dive into turbos vs superchargers discussion than vinyl vs streaming. Many came to us with a "save the labor pains, just give me the baby" attitude. They want to push a button and emerge themselves (and, their guests) in music and movies, and could care very little about dampening factors, black backgrounds, or FLAC vs MQA. Service and support is a high priority for them. There are dealers who have dedicated their careers to providing a high level of integrity as good stewards of their customer’s money.