Am I right for this forum?

@snilf, we are kindred spirits; I identified strongly with your post and have wondered the same thing, though (like you, I imagine) I don’t lie awake nights agonizing over it. Based on my observations, there are many layers to this thing.@ghdprentice has defined very well the most extreme, to which he belongs, and I am thankful for those like him who have great knowledge gained from deep experience (and expenditure) and who are, at the same time humble, being both willing and able to share with others less fortunate or just less fanatic.

I, like you, have a system with which I am very happy and with which I do not fiddle.  My friends would certainly consider me an audiophile.  I put some serious time and money (but well less than $50k overall) into building my system and am very pleased with it every time I turn it on.  I love music of (almost) every variety, and I am preoccupied with the fidelity of its reproduction, but not to the point of obsession. As a music lover and engineer, audio reproduction both interests and touches me on multiple levels

I find myself daily reading selected posts here, but by no means all. But I do come here almost every day.

If I had considerably more resources, I could certainly see myself moving toward “more than the cost of two cars” systems housed in a purpose-built structure somewhere on a beautiful site with a picture window onto breathtaking scenery. That, however, is not my lot, and I consider myself very blessed to both have some understanding of what is possible and still be happy every time I listen to my rig. 

Thank you for provoking me to thought this morning. 

it could be very easy to feel alienated from this forum. i like it, but its definitely a challenge. this one is far from representative of the audiophile community, so if youre not right for it, and if youre looking for a home, there are far better forums/fora.

so some days im more able to ignore the compulsive thread crapping and flat eartherism by the same internet personas over and over, and i can still learn from the experience and expertise of members and the collective knowledge & experience shared in these discussions. some a these discussions contain some great information and experience and i dont even notice if theres any nonsense. 

but if it aint for you, you have options, so dont waste your time. why not go somewehre better?

I’ve refrained from posting pics since imho most would be bored and unimpressed.... ’SOTA’ only in the State Of That Affordable v. Stuff Of Transient Admiration. ;)

Well said...

I posted only my basic components images... not my acoustic corner which is not esthetical and i never really posted the complete photos of my lost acoustic room with my 100 tuned resonators, just the first images at the beginning which were atrocious and more than unesthetical, this stir the pot of many and i was attacked for a week by a well known seller of tweaks here which never like my homemade motto : dont buy tweaks if you can do them yourself ...

As you my system is SOTA+C  ... 😊 State Of That Affordable and creative ...

@cey I am curious, what are those forums?
I think I would have understood what you are saying in year 1 of being a member here. I now, in year 2, don’t treat this as a group of people interested in a dialog or being nice or helpful to each other. Everyone has their own story and experience and they keep repeating it over and over. It’s not their fault, it’s the nature of this train called audiogon forum. It’s 25% entertainment, 25% annoying noise, 25% education and 25% hifi news - for me. So the question of one belonging here doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like getting on a train to your destination, and you are asking do I belong to this train? You got on the train, (nobody forced you to get on and nobody is pushing you off) so yes you do.

@snilf

Simple question: how often, when listening to music, are you distracted by thoughts about the sound of your system -- especially thoughts tinged with dissatisfaction?

If you really are a "pure" music lover, who doesn’t fixate on sonics, congratulations! The "disease", as @ghdprentice calls it, once contracted, can be tricky to manage.

Perhaps it would be helpful to know most of us are located somewhere on a spectrum, being both music- lovers and sound-chasers in varying proportions and that, furthermore, this balance often changes. For example, when I’m happy with the sound of my system, I naturally tend to focus on music. On the other hand, if I’m experiencing problems with my system and listening is yielding little pleasure, I tend to become absorbed by the drive to address sonic dissatisfaction and seek advice. Of course, some of us are more easily taken over by obsession than others. ;o)