I'm in a simlar position as EVO8. Between riding trackdays on my sportbike(where it should be in the first place) and other outside activities I then can come back and listen to my system for the music and not how it sounds that day! I once sold all my gear except the speakers which I kept,but eventually replaced them with a newer/better model. I'll never make that mistake again. I believe you can achieve the same affect by disconnecting your system,box it up, and don't listen to it for several months,after that re-connect it and discover what you were missing?
Hi Fi burnout.
Are you a victim of Hi-Fi burnout? A friend of mine who is "Into hi fi" recently called me to tell me he was selling all of his high end audio equipment! He was simply tired of keeping up with all the latest and greatest equipment trends. In his quest for the "Ultimate sound" he had upgraded several times at great expense. Sales people were only to happy to sell him what he "Needed" to "Really" improve his system. I think all told he accumulated some 150k in equipment!! What he forgot and lost sight of in his quest for the ultimate stereo, was to listen to the music!! Instead he would take pride in how great his speakers tweeter's sounded, and the the pages clipped out of various audio magazines that showed charts on his equipment and it's performance. He now owns a little Sony do it all portable stereo, and says he's happier for it because he's not so stressed about keeping up with all the new equipment. It's easy to see how this could happen. I look at my stereo equipment as a tool made for the extraction of music from vinyl or cd or tape. The music IS what matters and shall remain with us forever. In this day of hi tech accomplishments and super materials, you have to be very careful not to get sucked into the equipment junkie bottomless pit. Otherwise you could be spending some time at the Betty Ford Centre for recovering Audiophiles. What say you?