Emotional rollercoaster

It is about the music, not the equipment. In my case, though, I have found that I enjoy the music more if it is played through a decent system. 
I started this journey out 45 years ago when my dad bought a receiver and a turntable from the Shell gas company. In absolute terms it probably sounded awful but I was mesmerized. I started buying a few records. 
When I got to college I started buying better stuff, still not very fancy but the music sounded better with each step up the ladder. 
About 15 years ago I bought what might be called my first “high end” system. I kept that system for over 10 years, loving every minute. 
Then, 3 years ago I retired and wondered what was out there. I ended buying a whole new system. The music never sounded better! I could hear each instrument, where the vocalists were, etc.  Amazing!

i have continued to tweek my system with new cables and other toys, each one making incremental improvements in what I heard. 
Will I step off the ladder now?  I doubt it, I find it to be too much fun!

As to the OP, if you’re happy with $60 worth of equipment, awesome!  But I would not feel bad about trying to improve your experience of the music by upgrading your equipment. 
Enjoy the music!

It is good you enjoy the Akai and Magnats.

I remember enjoying my college system. Since then, the improvements have been in small steps that depended on me learning what to listen for, as well as more capable equipment.

Back in college, I didn’t pay any attention to imaging, musical details (like the sound of individual instruments vs, e.g., wall-of-sound), or second order harmonic distortion, etc. I just enjoyed the music.

The magazine reviews helped point me to what to listen for. I learned to hear the differences, small as they sometimes were. Sometimes I had to spend a lot more money to achieve a small improvement, an improvement I would not have even noticed early on. Was it worth the money? Only if you care about such differences.

I remember visiting a store during college and thinking about upgrading to a pair of KLH 5s. The sales guy said they were very good speakers. I asked him if they could convince me that the musicians were in the room. He just looked at me and rolled his eyes. Of course not.

Now, after years of upgrading, I can sometimes get that feeling of live presence. I can’t even name all the types of improvement that have come together to achieve this. But I am happy. And yes it was worth it.

Is spending big bucks a sham. Where have I gone wrong. It's an emotional rollercoaster. Help.

Its not a sham. But it does show just how challenging a task it is to build a truly satisfying system, regardless of price.  

Having done this quite a while now I feel there's actually a technical reason why this is so, and if so and you can understand it then you can use it to great advantage. 

I've said before the way to build a system is everything matters, so do everything equally. But I get flack for recommending spending equal parts on each component. Like 25% each on source, speakers, amp, and wire. Or what gets even more grief is 20% each on source, speakers, amp, wire and tweaks. Good God the grief I get for that! 

But look at your story. Please. Look at it. What you just did proves my point. Because by going dirt cheap then what you did is bring everything down to the level of the crap wire and non-existent tweaks! Because everything is level there is nothing shining out, nothing revealing anything else's flaws in excruciating detail. Just a nice overall balanced presentation.  

Money is just the very crude indicator we use as a substitute for performance. Its a crutch. Its not really the cost that matters, its the performance. As long as everything performs at about the same level then your odds of finding magic go way up.  

I've proved this more than once. Two of the best most fun systems I ever heard were ones I built for $1200 and $2500. The one for $1200 was set up in my listening room to burn in before delivery. For 2 weeks this little one was so darn captivating I never turned my main system on!  

What made these so especially impressive to me was they were both built without auditioning a single component. I simply budgeted out equal amounts for each part, selected from reviews and a few known good components, and put it all together. Boom. Done. The little $1200 was so knock-out good I had a string of people over to hear it.  

Now obviously that was one and done. Most audiophiles keep wanting more, adding and upgrading. Naturally in this process there will be times when one thing or another is leading or lagging. But that's the key to the emotional roller coaster. Once you understand what is going on you can either one and done your way off it, or relax and enjoy the ride.

mid-fi-crisis,

[Is spending big bucks a sham.]

Yes, after 35+ years I think it is largely a sham.

One largely perpetuated by reviewers, snake oil tweak merchants, unscrupulous dealers (the good dealers only need an introduction - they never push), and all too many other vested 3rd party interests who may want to offload their mistakes.

It’s a vicious circle rotating around the desire for your currency.


[Where have I gone wrong.]

Probably the same place as me in believing and trusting dishonest/ deliberately misleading reviewers.
I have come to believe they know exactly what they’re doing, and where their bread is buttered. (It’s now a part of a greater malaise affecting the whole mainstream media - but that’s another story).

They will not criticise a product, they will not compare a product with an established reference from the past, they will not compare top products side by side.

For example where, in the miles and miles of column inches can you find a group test review of high end speakers?

You can’t. Why not? Anything to do with the editorial directive that potential loss of as revenue must never be risked!?

Here in the UK you will get more informed opinion from the consumer magazine Which?, than a skipful of audio magazines aimed at the domestic consumer. Freedom from ad revenue is no small issue.

Instead, far too many domestic audio reviwers continue to listen to the same old well recorded (garbage) discs year after year.

Thankfully there are a growing of pro-audio publications emerging worldwide. These are likely to be of far more use in the future. Hopefully ad pressures are less of a concern to them.



[It’s left me disillusioned and fragile. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. Help]

I’m sorry to hear that, but you are not alone - far from it. Tales of disgruntled, disillusioned, exhausted audiophiles who eventually jump off the upgrade train and downsize with great relief and no loss of sonic satisfaction are legion.

I too have many bitter memories / experiences as a consumer. My whole LP12 saga leaves me fragile if I allow myself the luxury of contemplating. I thought I was finally nearing the top of the ladder but somehow they kept adding extensions upwards. Somehow I was getting less satisfied with the climb.

At least we both take consolation in that we eventually recognised the salient fact that it’s the music, that comes first and the music that matters most.



[I was listening to about $60 of hi-fi equipment that sounded extraordinarily nice and made me wonder why I’d spent a hundred and fifty times that much "improving" my main system over the years.]

You were probably trying to do the same as all too many of us : namely climb the upgrade ladder in search of satisfaction. Unfortunately, this dream all too often turns out to be little more possible than the attempt to climb Jacob’s Ladder.

It’s laughable but I can tell you that files played back from my Motorola G7 via my Tribit X Sound Go Bluetooth speaker can provoke a similar emotional reaction to that from my main system. That tiny speaker is not lacking in any way in the presentation of timbre or rhythm.

Furthermore the truth about cables, amplifiers, CD players, MP3 rates, DACs etc has been well understood for decades.

Unfortunately, there are many, many selfish vested interests in suppressing these truths.

See below.

Anyway, signing off from one fellow audiophile survivor to another, here’s wishing you the best of luck for the future.

Cue the Who
https://youtu.be/SHhrZgojY1Q

What dill said^^^ I also believe a particular sound can trigger good emotions,the same as a particular scent will.I have an old Pioneer receiver that I thoroughly enjoy too.

It's a good start, but you've only taken the first step on "the journey".  If I were you I'd have the Akai not just re-capped, but refurbished.  This would include not just electrical work, but having the cabinet refinished.  Also be sure to install an IEC inlet so you can swap out power cords.  The Akai's really responds well to upgraded power cords!  Also replace the footers, but don't go crazy.  Check the drivers on the Magnats.  They probably don't need any work, but just to be sure replace the ferrofluid.  Definitely get the upgraded crossovers.  They should still be available out of Canada.  And since you have the loudspeakers all stripped down, refinish the cabinets.  I'd go with a high gloss, automotive lacquer, but that's just me.   See, step two really isn't that difficult, but brace yourself for step three.  That's where we really get serious.

Actually it just reinforces your love of music versus your love of the gear. I have 3 systems in my house and enjoy all of them, including the factory GM car system. If you find you tap your feet listening to your friend's Bose radio, be happy knowing your preference is the music not the value of the source.