Nearly all of my equipment was inherited from an audio dealer friend who passed away in 1998. I consider myself an audiophile since 1973. My inherited used equipment that I'm using now continues to blow away myfriends. Purchased new, this all component system would come in about $12K. I'm ever grateful that my friend left this system to me, especially the Spacial Coherence preamp, of which there are only 400 hand built units. It was $1200 new in 1979, and I just saw a used one for sale on a high end audio site for $1600. It blows away preamps costing many thousands more. It's too bad that the cost of entering the audiophile market looks to be cost prohibitive, except for those with disposable income. I don't have a typical 'surround' system. My system is an 'ambient loop' system, with the rear set up to extract the ambience that is in all stereo recordings, but can't be extracted with a 2 speaker system. 5-1 systems might be able to extract the ambience, but it's still not the same as extracting the ambience that's already there in every stereo recording you own, waiting to be sent to your rear speakers set up in an ambient loop, using an old Dynaco Quadapter QD1. To be able to hear a singer take a breath as he or she steps up to the microphone, adds so much depth to the sound stage, it's incredible. It be able to hear fretting is priceless, as it adds depth that normally cannot be heard.
