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

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!

How does one get off the merry-go-round? Adopt a philosophy! Realize that all you can do is listen to live music and come as close as possible - then be satisfied! This takes discipline!

If you're a music lover-there's no getting away from it-it's like eating.

I hit a peak of purchasing equipment in 1995. About that time, I had my hearing checked by a Doctor and found my hearing was dropping off. Upon hearing that (barely...), I stopped buying equipment. I still enjoyed my system, but did not want to waste any $ on something I could not hear or fully appreciate. Then in 2005 I moved. In the new house, I put the old two channel prized equipment in storage. I had two theatre systems put in professionally. These two systems are very good but not my definition of an audiophile system. After two years of listening to this system, I found myself (1) not listening to music as much, (2) not enjoying the music as I had on my audiophile system, (3) experiencing fatigue when listening to music for duration, (4) not hearing a full dynamic range, despite less than perfect hearing, and (5) not as interested in exploring, discovering new sounds, musically.

I had heard of people "feeling" music in the inaudible regions, but at this age in my life, I dismissed such comments.

One day in 2006, I broke out the stored audiophile stuff and was amazed at what I heard. I started buying equipment again, updating my equipment, bought new stuff and started enjoying music as I did previously. I now have 5 systems.

Recently, I had my hearing checked by a reputable specialist. The Doctor determined that I had average hearing for my age. The Doctor also opined that I have a trained ear. During the test I was able to hear EMIs in the test equipment that the Doctor had been trying to get rid of.

My next project will be exploring with a limited system in which I have a SACD player with variable out connected to bi-amped and bi wired speakers (in a effort to get a pure sound in this location where I only listen to CDs/SACDs.

Regarding my earlier dismissal of "feeling" music in the inaudible region, I have changed my opinion such that I do believe I can feel substantial music which I cannot hear.

I am off the merry go round for goods, my friends. I was out of the hi-end hobby for years. Coming back last years, I had some good purchase but making a lot of unwised mistakes. I put all my faith and trust to a "guy" and here I am out of 12K and a lot of frustration. Sometime, due to limitation of gears to audition, I have to base my purchasing on recommendation of this "guy" I known for over a year...Luckily enough, I convinced the "guy" and I could trade most of my stuffs for new stuffs at extra expenses in a hope that maybe I can re-sell all my gears and get the hell out of the hobby. Everybody has to make a living but this is wrong of me and wrong of him.