How does one get off the merry-go-round?

Drastic suggestion. Surely you are not serious.

And besides being foolish, such a move guarantees no cure. It merely assigns your blame to another temporarily.

Remember, you cannot escape yourself.

It does no good to stop blaming your speakers and start blaming your wife. The problem will stay with you.

I am serious. And stop calling me Shirley.

Sorry I couldn't resist.

1. I think it's useful to ask yourself, honestly, whether the $1000 you're considering spending on new cables would be better spent elsewhere (and doing this with someone who will call bulls*** on your reasoning is helpful). Will that $1000 be enjoyed more on the cables than on the myriad of other things you could spend it on? (E.g. with me, $1000 would let me spend more time in Europe, and that is a pure joy for me.)

2. I also think, as many have noted, that it's useful to ask if you're listening to music as opposed to your system. Is your system allowing you to enjoy all the music you really like? Or do you spend too much time listening to the system and how it is reproducing the music? When I do the latter, I stop buying stuff.

3. Nuclear option: Read Peter Singer (e.g. _Famine, Affluence, and Morality_ here: http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1972----.htm). That'll do it, for sure.

Get yourself a pair of Ridge Street Sasons
The majority of owners are at home listening to their systems content and off the proverbial merry go round

yeah, right