Still lost at sea?

Ya, Happy Wife, Happy Life.
Ha.

But reading this, with all this experience to tap, I find myself asking, almost out loud, "What was your stand out pre, cart., amp, speaker, etc?" -Or is that another thread?

So, I'll start by saying the Quicksilver Full Function Preamp was a standout for the price! (imho) Haven't heard the new one.

Still enjoying the cruise.

For me, it was going back to my first line of high end speakers, namely Tannoy. After spending a pile of dough on nice speakers that I thought would be lifers for me, it turned out something was still missing, so I was yet lost at sea. I decided to return to Tannoy, bought 35 year old HPD drivers on Ebay UK, designed and had built custom enclosures, built custom crossovers w/premium parts, and have now found the whole system was much better than I thought it was. This turn around allowed me to venture into tubes for amplification, and the result is audio contentment. I even changed the name of my Virtual System to "The Summit". Being on solid land, on top of my personal mountain is a goal I didn't know how or if I would reach, but I'm sure glad to be here.

Enjoy the swim!
Dan

Mine started around 1996, when after 20 years of owning diff. audio gear, I bought my 1st "high end" speakers, & paid $2500 for a slightly used pair of B&W M802's. This was huge for me. However the rest of my gear was old NAD mid-fi components, & I knew I'd have to upgrade around the speakers.

I started by relying on Boston area dealers, who were mainly either rude, or clueless. (The one on Comm. Ave., wasn't bad, but didn't really help me much). The one in Natick, the salesman kept trying to convince me that large floor standing B&W's are "very efficient, & only need 30w of power (???). So I bought a 70w tube amp, guess how that worked out w/B&W M802's? The dealer in Waltham MA was the only really rude one; it's one of those really snooty audio "salons" that cater to the Rich, & you apparently are supposed to spread around $1000 bills every time you go in there. Oh, & a dealer in Nashua NH that tried to sell me $10,000 cables for my $2500 speakers (??!). The "pomposity" of some of these audio salesmen was unbelievable.

So I started buying everything used, on A'gon. I had 3 systems at the time, so anything that didn't work w/my 802's, I'd put in one of my smaller systems. Fast forward 14 years, I've been thru at least 5 of everything": pwr amps, preamps, spkrs, cables, etc. Had a lot of fun with the various permutations of systems. And finally ended up with 2 systems that I love, & mostly don't even want to change.

The learning curve at the beginning can be brutal tho....

Amen to that, especially for newbies & vinyl!

Dan

Great post Gary. I agree with your sentiments. Similar threads can be found on the Gon ("equipment that has gotten you off the merry-go-round"), and they are always tantalising with the promise (or mirage?) of liberation. While many say they enjoy the "journey," I do not. Life is too short. While Audiogon does represent an avenue of deliverance from equipment mistakes, it can also be an existential wasteland where many of us go round and round much like the insane asylum scene in "The Midnight Express."