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I need help with my Equipment addiction

I can't leave well enough alone. My most disappointing days are days like today where I sit down to listen to my system, drink some wine, and unwind and... the system sounds great. I hate that. Nothing to tweak, everything is intergrating well: Clear highs, check. Fast, deep bass, check. Digital sound good with weight and impact, Check. Vinyl sound deep and well rounded with extended highs and excellent speed, check.

That's when the trouble starts. I start thinking, "What if changed cartridges?" "Well then I need a step up transformer, or a seperate MC phono stage", "Maybe I should just look at new preamps, even thbough I love mine now", "Then I need a separate phono preamp, I've always wanted an ARC preamp", then "Hey then I could buy an ARC tube amp for the high end of the Maggies and get bi-amp them"

Does it ever stop? How can I stop the cycle? I think I'm going to drink some more wine.
macdadtexas
artmaltman
769 posts
 
I find that the best solution is to remind my self by asking - what percentage of the music that I love is actually recorded so well that a great audiophile system complements it?

Answer: not much.

So my "current playlist" tends to twindle and become stagnant as my system gets better and better.

The only exception has been the introduction of the Squeezebox Touch, which provides such convenient access to my entire collection, that I'm experimenting with long forgotten music. While I am rediscovering some great and well recorded music, alas, much of it is unlistenable on a fine audio system ...

Art
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 
The first step to solving a problem, is to realize that you have one. One of the things you must realize; is that even if you have a limitless budget, you do not have a limitless amount of time. One of these days the clock is going to stop.
Although I don't have your budget, I had your problem. When I looked at my clock and realized that there was a last minute on it somewhere, I decided it was time to enjoy my abundant music collection.
artmaltman
769 posts
 
ALSO, make sure that your system is not overly lean or overly revealing or hot in the treble. These are things that will cause you to miss the joy of a lot of the music - or at least that's how I react - and then I end up thinking about the gear.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
I'm pretty sure that you're not obsessing enough over the wine. If you get way deep into Burgundy, you'll have another endless cash drain. If you're already way deep into Burgundy, there's always small batch, late harvest riesling from Germany or 50+ year old Barolo from that small group of traditional producers.

It seems to me that you're not really trying....

Marty

PS Good luck, but this game really is "no win" by its nature.
macdadtexas OP
1,794 posts
 
Marty, you are a very sick individual.

I love wine, but stay away due to lack of funds, although I used to work for Koch Industries, and Charles Koch and his brother, who are both HUGE onephiles(sp)where named the 5th richest men in America, and that's the kind of money it takes to love wine.

BTW, I think they are worth more then twice what Gates is, but since the company is privately held.... Forbes only guesses. No debt, and $100 billion a year in sales.....

You do the math.
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