One year down, two to go. What's the longest you have saved for one component?

Yikes. Why would you do that to yourself? I'll also bet that (apart from power) my $2000 updated and modified 1960s tube monobloc amps sound better. 

Tomic601, now that is some excellent financial advice and made me laugh at the same time. Good thinking.

Mike 

What did you do about the cat?  I’m sorry this happened to you; I had a cat once that threw up every day, in a different place every time.   I included this in my considerations on upgrades and equipment replacements.  She passed on several years ago, and I do miss her, but she’s not been replaced.

Millercarbon- you have never financed a car?  Do you live somewhere where a car is not needed?  If not, you must be truly wealthy, and have been so from the time you started living on your own income, or you drove older used cars. The truth is, the vast majority of people do not pay cash for a car, I was in the high volume car business for a period of time (6 years) and I can count on one hand the number of times people paid cash for a new or newer model car.  You make it sound as if paying cash for a car is something everyone who has any financial sense should do, and it’s simply not reality for the vast majority of people, nor should financing a car be looked down upon, especially as cheap as money is now.  Credit is something people use to get something before they would be able to save up enough to pay cash for it, and when used responsibly is not a bad thing. Very few people deprive themselves of nicer things in life in order to have no debt, the responsible use of credit is simply the norm for most people to live a good life. After all, there’s no guarantee as to how long someone may live.  I’ve known of people who have scrimped and done without in order to put money away for later in life, only to not have that “later in life,” time.  I certainly don’t advocate going into the amount of debt to income the OP seems to have gone to in order to have a very nice amp, but neither do I think the responsible use of credit is a bad thing.
Institutions that supply credit do have serious investments and costs in their businesses, it’s not free to run a lending institution, people do DO something to be able to provide that service.  My wife spent 34 years working for a bank and is now a top executive in commercial real estate there, and I can assure you she does not, nor has she not ever, done “nothing” to earn her keep.

Seriously, it took you over two years to decide on buying what amounts to a pretty affordable nice set of speakers?

It’s not that hard to pay cash for cars. One must be disciplined, and then typically buy at least 2-3 year old model. Some will even buy a more expensive import that way out of an effort to get superior longevity, i.e. Mercedes that could do 200 to 300K miles. millercarbon exhibits some characteristics of net worth millionaires. Denying extravagance and extreme fiscal personal policy is typical of them. Most do not have the knowledge or self discipline to prioritize that way. :)

Of course, such matters should be looked at holistically. It seems to be the smart thing to do paying cash for a car. Not necessarily the best option, however. One may get ahead by buying a new car at 0% loan APR, then investing the amount of the car over the period of the loan. Now the power of compound interest is working for you, not the automobile manufacturer. So, anotherbob is correct that some loans are actually advantageous; some marginally so, and others - when good fiscal discipline is employed - more so.

Of course, avoidance of buying any car is ideal, and one has to weigh the necessity of it. The person who buys used and drives it for 15+ years will do better than someone who flips cars and keeps making a payment, and very likely better than someone who buys new at 0% and invests. It would be pretty easy to run the simulations, and that is what a net worth millionaire would do. That’s how they get to become wealthy. They do not just guess or care less. :)