Regardless of how much you've spent...

Used to love it; now I merely like it. The hobby can wear you out and lead you down some false alleys if you're not careful, and it did that to me. I still value great audio, but I'm not nearly as obsessive about it as I used to be. I've got MUCH bigger fish to fry.

Well the "... regardless of how much you spent..." seems a bit naive to me, but I still find that equipment gets in the way of the music for the vast majority of 'philes.

Been involved with hi-fi one way or another for 25 years but it comes in waves - hadn't changed any components for about 5 years and then a relocation to Hong Kong forced a rethink - what components do I take, what do I store back in Oz - Can't bring myself to sell stuff as I'd rather keep it for a 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) system.

Now I'm in Hong Kong which is a dream for the hi-fi lover. Great equipment, great prices. Back up to 3 systems in just a year. I love it, but when I go back to Oz, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and sell some gear!

Sometimes love it, sometimes hate it, most times like it!

Like many of the above, I drift in and out of involvement with audio.

Interestingly, as my financial ability increases, my desire to spend the money on audio decreases! Over the last few years I've been decreasing the amount of money I have tied up in my equipment. AudiogoN is a great facilitator of buy/try/resell. Because I'm patient and deligent, I typically "buy right" and resell for little or no loss. Also, apparently I choose wisely as most of the equipment I bought maintained its resell value and I've never taken a significant hit.

Currently I have the lease expensive system I've ever owned and it is very satsfying. (note: not the system listed in my virtual system. I have not yet posted my current system).

One thing for sure, today there is more information, mis-information and choices available than every before. It's an information society and a world market. It's amazing how good of a system can be purchased for a very small price. Of course, it's also easy enough to purchase a horrible system and pay a lot of money for it!

I think it's the "new golden age" of audio equipment, unfortunately, it's the "new dark ages" for recorded music (IMHO of course)!

Enjoy,

TIC

kennyt/mr.tennis

I have now gone back on my meds and slept well last night.

the amp thing, I of course would never unplug cables w/o powering down, what happened is I just bought an Adcom 555 modified by Musical Concepts on Saturday to power a Sub system, had no idea that the "off" switch, means "standby" on this amp.

the tubed Dac is ..well, since I need to send it back to the designer again, you better PM me and I will let you know