Has this happened to you? How can it be stopped?

@mapman 

I have a 1917 Victrola which works great, it is a rather pedestrian model as in the horn is internal and has two front doors that the volume control.  It is in beautiful condition and plays amazingly loud.  I bought about 300 78s.

Whenever I'm thinkin' the main system is not working correctly (not sounding its best) I play some 78s and well that clears up those thoughts real quick.

Regards,

barts

I have one great rig [I think] in one dedicated room and do not need anything else beside a tabletop Echo at all. It makes it special to me.  Just sayin.

There is a flaw in your question. It has never been about "need"! 

I would think audio gear has gotten better over the years.  It all depends upon your ears.  Many of us experience high frequency loss as we get older.  I would think amplifiers have their own sound and for that matter so do speakers.  I know I have hearing loss in the higher frequencies and I would like to buy new speakers that have brighter more detailed tweeters.  The big question is do you upgrade the amplifier first or the speakers.  I would think to hear optimal sound you would have to upgrade both.  I would think as we get older we need to reevaluate our systems and fine tune things to our ears.  I for one would like to upgrade my speakers and amplifier.  However, there is also the wife factor.

Of course there are some exceptions,but most of the time women and high -end audio don't mix. I made one thing clear before the vows.  Never, and I mean never, should the words TURN IT DOWN! ever come out of your mouth.