How long do you or should you keep your gear.

Hmm, can’t imagine trading off a nice vintage amplifier, speakers, or turntable. Updates? Sure! But new gear is guarantee of nothing except loss of fortune. Often, someone had it right a very long time ago and many have been floundering to be different ever since. I buy used, I rarely feel compelled to swap out major components, like the fore mentioned. New records, new phono cartridges, obviously. Though I realize the slippery slope of perfectionist anything. Like that guy said, I’ve somehow sent ten times what I had originally expected to spend but it has me at a place with an amazing curated sound I would not trade…

I’ve always looked at it like a lifetime quest, trying to assemble both the system of my dreams balanced with what I can afford. I think that’s part of the “sport” about being an audiophile. I don’t think I’d know what do do if I have everything I wanted all at once. My 3 cents. 

I'm a vintage audio equipment nut...so I never get rid of equipment, which is very disturbing to my daughter. WHAT am I going to do with all this junk ,when you die.....yeah...errrr sell it... lol

I have always sold off the old gear to upgrade my system. That way I never had to look for a storage place for discarded gear.

I build most of my own gear because not only can I not afford gear costing 4, 5, or especially 6 figures, but for all the money you can't always pick and choose what you want. I see a $10,000 tube amp advertised on this site which has electrolytic capacitors, which go bad after a few years. For that kind of money I want polypropylene capacitors which have an indefinite life expectancy and ESR of at most a few hundredths of an Ohm. Where can you get an SET that has this but to build it yourself? There is a $350,000 SET that can be built for under $2000 in parts. I want the freedom to design the chassis in a style that looks like it is from a Jules Verne novel. 

Several years ago I built my 833A SET which I drive with 245's which I like better than the 300B in the $350,000 stereo. I can choose cathode biasing resistors for the 245's that allow me to couple 6SN7's in choke loaded mu follower which is the best way to do it. I can get off the shelf output transformers that can carry 400 ma before core saturation with the 833A's only having to draw 120 ma at zero grid bias, something you can do with the 833A at 1000 plate Volts. Over the last 5 years I tried different ways of coupling the 245's to the 833A grids: parallel feed, capacitor, and upgraded to Lundahl 2765 which sounds best.

I upgraded parts in my components and rarely components themselves and once I have what I like I keep it indefinitely.