Anyone Totally Content With Their System?

I know my system is a compromise but a very good one for my circumstances, music tastes etc. I don't feel the urge to buy something immediately, but I am interested enough to track the developments. This way I hope I will be ready when the right opportunity for the next change comes, which could happen without warning. Nice thread topic. :)

I have one reference system which always sounds good and I leave alone. It was assembled in 1996 and sounded fantastic from the first note. It has been left untouched except for a new cabinet this year due to old the TV being replaced by a new Plasma screen. The system is Cary SLI 50 (30W class A vacuum tube integrated amp) with Triad System 3 speakers which include a powered woofer(sealed box time aligned 2 ways 89db @ 1 watt), Chicago speaker stands, wired with RadioShack non terminated speaker wires, Sony 608ESD cd player, stock Sony interconnect, and plugged into a cheap power strip. It cost one tenth of my main system but sounds better in some ways and is musically satisfying and exciting. I use it as a reference for my other system which I constantly futz with to see if what I did made it better or worse. I definitely agree with Sogood51's audiophile definition and that fits me.

Itball.....I share your obsession....with speakers. I've been building them for several years. My answer to your question is 80% yes and 20% no. It depends on the recording. I can do things with my speakers to adapt them to the music I enjoy, but not all the music I enjoy. And so I am constantly critial and ready to change something in the enclosure or in the crossover to make things better for a particular recording. It is rare for me to just sit back and enjoy music without second guessing my setup, but I am closer than ever before. For me speakers will always be a compromise based on the music I play, but I get the chills more often than I used to, and I can finally just sit and listen to my system.....80% of the time. So why am I shopping for power cords?

I'm there, I got there by:
Amps: Krell>Pass Labs>Manley>AES(Cary)>Odyssey>AES(Cary)
Speakers: B&W>Paradigm>Forest>GMA
CDP: Sony>Jolida>Resolution Audio>Jolida
Cables: AudioQuest>VH Audio>VirtualDynamics
Budget~$8-10k
All my selections were done in my room with my system, it is the only way I have found to have a clear conscience on my selection. In a couple of instances, I chose a new piece over an existing piece only to learn that the new piece just didn't sustain my interest like I remembered the old piece to and I returned to the old piece, my amps were one such example. The speakers are what I built it around, I believe in finding those first, then building around them, they just had that sound, that decay, that air that I like. The other great breakthrough for me was the addition of a preamp in my system vs. running my old CDP direct to my amps (with analog volume control). I'm going on two years with my amps and speakers and about a year on all other components.

it is hard to be content with a stereo system when live music is so much more satisfying. after attending a recital of acoustic performances, i have no interest in listening to any stereo system for a while.

stereo systems are a distant second best to the real thing.
consider the chain:

live performance---recording---stereo system---listener.