Gary,
That's what I think about my system too, and why I try to stay away from the Tone Studio in Indianapolis. Mark always brings me back down to reality.
Mark Maryanovshy, the owner, is a cellist in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. When you walk into his audio store and sit down, it is like you're right there in the bar, or whereever, and in front of you is the band sounding as close to alive as I've even seen.
Mark is an expert at matching components and setting up rooms. Now I understand that I'm in a 10' x 12.5' room and that does restrict my possibilities in some areas. But it's so hard to listen to any system at Mark's without being taken in by it.
When you have someone like Mark, who will come to your home and set the system up, as long as you buy it from him, then you really know what is possible in the audio world.
I've gone down a different route where I didn't buy my components from Mark. My route is being guided by Roger (Irish65) and Peter Israelson. I'm in the process of Peter upgrading my Wadia for the final piece. Then Peter and Roger are coming in to set up my room.
There are people among us who have a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience, and are willing to help someone. Those are the people who will help someone get off of the upgrade treadmill, if they want to get off.
As long as someone is flying alone, trying this and that, going off of these forums and reviews, they're flying blind. I don't mean that in a bad way, but Audiogoners and reviewers who don't know someone personally and their musical tastes, can only offer advice based on their own experience and personal tastes. They can guess what you'd like, but it's just a guess and nothing more.
Chuck
