How does one get off the merry-go-round?

Dpac, thank you for the 4 steps re-hab. If none of your above steps helps, then the last next step is stop replacing the dead battery of your hearing aid.

Someone wrote an article a few weeks ago discussing what compulsive consumers we in the West are. Basically he said that in the West the philosophy is, "the best is not good enough". In contrast, in China apparently the feeling is more like, "the best is good enough".

I don't know if the Western attitude is the force driving progress or the force driving us to destroy the Earth, or maybe both. But it sure does cost a lot if you are an audiophile.

How about spending all your money and max'ing out your credit cards buying music? That would have two effects, one, you would no longer have any money for upgrades, and two, you would spend so much time listening to all your new music that you wouldn't have time to haunt these forums and re-excite the itch to upgrade.

The internet is dangerous. I was pretty content with my system till I bought an MP3 player on impulse a few years ago. Believe it or not, that led to a series of events that has cost me many thousands of dollars, and I am not done yet. But, I have to admit that my system sounds great, is a joy to use (it's PC based), my music collection has grown immensely and I listen to lot more music, both at home and on the road.

The same thing happened when I discovered the light weight backpacking forums. Are we really sure these forums aren't the creation of some gigantic capitalist conspiracy?

Sell your separates and current speakers, put most of your money into even better speakers but go with a really nice integrated amp with tone controls. Choose carefully and you really may be off the merry go round while still retaining awesome sound.

Why would anyone want to get off the merry-go-round? Merry-go-rounds are fun.

It feels good to be back, I feel more rested. Bruce30, Merry-go-rounds can be fun but not when someone is standing by collecting large amounts of cash at every turn!