What is your upgrade philosophy?

As an example, I waited ten years to buy my dream turntable. I made do with something that worked while I squirreled away the cash, then finally bought the analog front end I always wanted. I'm a firm believer in not buying "good enough" and upgrade through small steps but biding my time until I get the item of my choice. I'm to a point now where tweaks and such are about all I feel I need to introduce/change in my system. It's fun, inexpensive, and surprising.

I do prefere to upgrade a few components at the same time. For the past year I've had a bunch upgrades with analogue end, speakers and an amplification. Usually I do not pay too much of my attention on wires and buy them for the minimal match first.

I tend to agree with Perfectimage in that you should have a sense of what the final outcome is going to be and pick and choose as "deals" become available and your budget allows. That said, however, there is much to be said as to upgrading your souce components first and then working your way to the last link, i.e. the speakers. The old axiom "garbage-in, garbage-out" certainly applies in audio and what you hear coming from your speakers will reflect this.

Be ready to buy, but don't buy on impulse. I've followed this philosophy and those Wow! "deals" seem to come around the corner sooner than you would think. I've been researching amps for a year. I've bought two, and returned them both. I find that sometimes after getting the product home I sometimes get new ideas about the direction I want my system to go. Part of the fun is in looking for the equipment.

The logic of writing a list of gear you'd like and then saving the money to buy it wouldn't work for me. Chances are if your trying to put together a "dream system" time will run out on you before you save the cash. A dream system for most people would be rather expensive and by the time you got the money saved, the pieces you were looking at may be discontinued, or upgraded. I have been doing this stuff for 30 years and if I were to try to put together a dream system, say even 15 years ago, I find out what I wanted then isn't what I want now. My feeling is to get a general idea of the type of gear you want, perhaps to match the type of music you listen to. Find a dealer that will let you audition this stuff in your home, this is real essential. Chances are real good that what you hear at the dealers showroom and what you hear at home are going to be completely different. This is a great hobby for me and for many others. For me a great part of the enjoyment I have gotten from this is to audition gear in my home. Good luck and enjoy the music! ----->Ray