How long have you had the SAME GEAR?


Just curious....
Not counting Cart.'s and A/D's, how long have you had your same gear?
How often do you change it?
Is there anyone out there with the same system for five years that is happy with it?

How many of you go into high end shops and audition systems that cost 4 or 5 times the retail of your own and think it stinks?
gumbydammit
I have the same Denon receiver I bought in 1990. I kept the same system Denon 1025/Sonographe cd/vandersteen 2c for ten years until going on a major upgrade binge.

Right now, The ARC vt100m2, quattro-fil ic's and Audio Physic Avanti's are probably the most stable components in my system. I've had the ARC for about 1.5 years and the avanti's for about a year. I'm thinking of selling the sony scd-1 sacd player (I listen to mostly vinyl), and upgrading the phono stage and/or turntable (I have a rega 25).

I too have found that once my system reached a certain place 'where I wanted it to be', I have not really been searching around for anything better. I like the combination of warmth and detail I get from my ph3/vk-5i/vt100 combination. I've had my system with more bass (vandersteen 5's), higher detail level (pass labs pre/amp), and even more warmth (sonic frontiers sfm-160's). In the last two years, I've owned 9 different amplifiers, 5 preamps, 7 sets of speakers, and three cd players. I cannot accurately count the number of cables.

I am now more into finding great vinyl. In a lot of ways I prefer vinyl to SACD. There is something very relaxing about it when played on an all-tube system. I completely agree about the minimalist advances in audio systems. I KNOW that I've gotten more enjoyment from my turntable than my SACD player. It's fun 'discovering' old artists on vinyl. I consider a turntable to be the most essential of playback systems.
About three nights, I find variety the spice of life.

Oh, I thought you said "Same Girl" ...

...Sorry.
gear

I upgrade slowly and almost always buy used
then my old pieces make it to the bedroom and office systems
I can't bear to give away anything
and what's funny is a sytem that was my main sytem 5 years ago is now my bedroom hand me downs

speakers 2 years VOn Schweikert VOrtex Screens
may upgrade to a friend's 4 MK II's soon
bedroom set 4 years old B&W Matrix 2's
gave old DCM time windows to brother, B&W 302's in office

preamp - 3 months ARC LS5, before that 2 years Arc LS2
(I plan on keeping this baby a long long time)
10 year old integrated NAD 3400 runs bedroom system
3 year old nad 7100 receiver in the office setup

amp - ARC d300 solid state - no plans to upgrade
had 1 year

tape deck Nakamichi Lx 5 bought in 1984
still works like a charm, only do tapes in car
don't want to scratch cds
Nak bx2 in bedroom setup, sometimes used to dub tapes

cd transport - teac (wadia base) is a new purchase here
evs millenium ii dac - will not part with it!
Cal audio labs - Icon - 3 years old and moving to bedroom
old Nakamichi oms5 (13 years)in office
old Cal aria 5 years (tube analog) may sell or shift to bedroom

bang and olufsen turntable 1984 - hardly ever use
in bedroom system

cables - upgrade the main system
the older stuff goes to the bedroom setup

I won't spare you vcr and dvd player swapping
my girlfriend gets the old stuff