Who else here is frugal?

Erik- love the post.

As an engineer, we talk about having a design that is “efficient” - getting the most performance out of something without wasting anything.  Squeezing the most out of something.  So part of designing an efficient widget includes making the item low in cost without compromising its ability to do the task at hand. Notice I say low in cost, not lowest in cost.  To do this sort of engineering, requires creativity, and most other engineers (not necessarily end users or consumers) can look at an efficient design and appreciate it.  These days, engineers often call such a design “elegant”, as a compliment to how well it does what it is supposed to do.

i suspect your definition of frugal in the audio context is quite similar to an elegant or efficient engineering design. 
Having said that, I have to include that I continue to shop the used CD stores for the $4 CDs, and even frequent a Goodwill that has $1 CDs.  Granted these are always hit or miss, but there are many hidden gems .  And if there is a CD that I must have, I go to eBay.  I suspect three quarters of my CD collection was purchased used.   (No vinyl or streaming insults please)

@glupson...*Oops..* Sorry, that was 'aimed' @erik_squires , but I may have 'miscued'....

Keepin 'virtual identities' straight in the midst of all this hilarity, late at night, burning the last shreds of my vague consciousness into ash.....

Pardon. *S*

...anyway.....

https://ultimist.com/video/2018/07/21/michael-fremers-listening-room/

...if you want to see Mike's dZ amps....and a 'listening space' that makes me feel better about mine....

...and enough Lp's to pave a street....a small street, but....*L*

“whenever I attend a Symphony Concert I realize that no home system could ever reproduce the sensation of being in a large hall.”

we have friends whose seats at the Myerson Symphony Hall in Dallas sport a brass socket embedded in the floor, a socket where the main microphone is placed when recordings are made in that hall. Needless to say that the sound there is wonderful. But, swear to God, I’ve experienced better sound from my home system. Being a dyed-in-the-wool skeptic, I was blown away when that happened - couldn’t believe that it could be possible. After reflecting on it, it dawned on me that the engineers who produced the SACD could shake out the compromises and/or imperfections of the hall. At any rate, it was really an eye opening phenomenon.

mahgister
Like I said you are absolutely right on all counts... I have known already that electrical pollution and noise in the room and house were stupendous unbeknownst to most or underestimated by all...But even for me it is amazing how the lost by this plague has destroyed the potential of my Hi-Fi system...I dont even speak about the other 2 plagues: resonance-vibrations, and acoustical treatment of room...

>>>>I wrote almost twenty years ago the primary malady that crystals offer a remedy for is vibration - not (rpt not), as often assumed, RFI. When you assume something you make a fool of me and Uma Thurman.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “But I’ve used the crystals wherever RF can interfere with the signal - Schumann resonators, near small vacuum tubes, on power supplies, on top of CD players. So the crystals MUST be absorbing RF.”

Geoffkait, i assume nothing , I know nothing, I only know the results of my experiments... By this last post i just wanted to give to you credit about your minimalistic option for Hi-Fi audio, that’s all...

But if you want to speak about crystals, I dont know if crystals works only by vibrations absorption, or by cleaning the EMI noise also... I assume it act on the 2... But I am no scientist, i konw only the results of my experiments and that is not possible for me to justify or extrapolate any scientific explanation for and by this results … Even if i had my own opinion and impressions about that... And what I says implicate only me not you by the way...

Then relax when I gives to you credit for your minimalistic option...It is that I am able to recognize when someone is on a right track... But you know what wise men says: " there is many ways that go to heaven"... :)