The downward spiral.....


I've loved listening to (and playing) music for the last 35 years. I was trained as a pianist and suspect that my ears are at least decent (even if they do stick out
a little more than I'd like...)

Like so many of us, I suspect, I have assembled more high-end systems that I can remember - heaven only knows how much money I've spent, how many
reviews I've pored over, how many times I've labored over cable-matching, AB comparisons, toeing in massive speakers just that final 1/16 inch to get the soundstage
just right, rearranging living rooms to minimize that nasty hump at 56 Hz etc etc. I'm sure many of you can relate...

Being a bit of a contrarian at heart I recently have been conducting the Ultimate Experiment - the Final Downgrade. A few months ago I came into possession of an
old pair of Quad 57s (now being rebuilt) with matching 303 power amp. As those who know these things, the sounds emanating from these devices was sublime.
It made me think. Here I was listening to simply beautiful music through some of the cheapest components I've ever bought. What if I continued my downward financial
progress?
Out went some very expensive tube amplification, German turntable, carbon fiber arm, expensive MC cartridge, Nordost cable, tube output SACD player etc. In came a Thorens TD125,
complete with SME 3009, V15III, and the cheapest decent CD player I could find (the original Rega Planet). For the phone/preamp I chose a pair of Pro-Ject components,
As soon as I can find a Quad 33 I'll grab it and do a little renovation, esp on the phono section. As the speakers were being now rebuilt I acquired an old pair of
Maggies (12QR) to tide me over. The interconnects are strictly mid-fi, and the speaker cable less than that. The new (non-ported) subwoofer was relatively expensive - about
$450, but not well-known.
I anticipate the cost of the whole system will be around $2300. The average age of the components will be 35 years old.

What am I losing? Certainly not money, that's for sure! Perhaps a few Hertz at the bottom end. Perhaps. What surprises me daily (I listen usually for about 4 hours a day to everything
between 12th century plainsong to rap and everything between) is that this relatively cheap and certainly very old-fashioned system does so much that is absolutely right. I feel no
pressing needs to upgrade anything; no tweaking necessary. The music comes through as I want.
In my spare time I still haunt the local high-end stores and listen to some ultra expensive gear: not once have I gone home with an axe to do The Right Thing to my '70s
system.

So, my question is a simple one. How much progress has there been since 1970? For the last thirty years I have firmly believed that each year has brought some progress.
Now I question this. As I write this I am listening to a record pressed in 1975 (Neville Marriner) and my happiness is complete. Am I losing my grip?
--
57s4me
In the same way that you don't consider the $1k system as adequate, someone would look down on your $7.5k system as insufficient for truly enjoying music. There's no substitute for a serious $150k system? It's funny how that works.
"There's no substitute for a serious $150k system?"

How about a more serious 250k system, but seriously how serious do you want to get? Seriously, I just don't get it. I often wonder what this is really all about. It isn't necessarily the cost it is the constant search for whatever it is that is unsatisfactory or unfullfilling in a given system that compels folks to continue with the upward spiral, the downward spiral, I get it, take a deep breath, relax and just enjoy.
Would it not be a good idea to post your age when responding to this thread? It would give us some perspective on where you're coming from in terms of your position, especially the high dollar ones. Just what era does your point of view emanate from? What initial gear are you not satisfied with? What is your experience? This thread could be a culmination of a bunch of previous ones.
'Would it not be a good idea to post your age when responding to this thread?'

This an excellent Idea. I would say ALL responses on this site should include age. A lot of these folks sound like teenagers.
It also depends, of course, how lucky you are when you buy used or even new.I bought some used items for half the price and some for less than that. Sometimes I myself look down at my system especially the Audiolab integrated. But I prefer to wait and replace it with most likely Rowland in couple of years rather than be somewhere in the middle. $1k can go a long way on yardsales, that's for sure, but it's not what I was talking about when I mentioned the $5k figure.