Scaling down

Good point , Courant,. As much as I would like to make things smaller and simpler, I don't want an inferior sounding system.
A friends system interests me, it's a Meridian system, a one box hard drive and two speakers, thats it, and unreal sound, very clean and clear, it's impressed everyone thats heard it.
In comparison when you look at all my riggins it's almost a joke.

does scaling down mean reducing the number of components in a stereo system , or reducing the cost of individual components in a stereo system, e.g., replacing an expensive component with a less expensive one ?

" I think most people eventually realize they can truly enjoy listening to music on a wide range of equipment. Particularly if attention is paid to setup and speaker/room interactions."

Uh oh, the cat's out of the bag.....

I guess " scaling down " leaves a big gap for interpretation. My hopes were for a less imposing and less cluttered system. Cost is of little concern to me at this point in life. Don't take that the wrong way as I still insist on the best gear for the dollar.

TEchnically, my third "system" currently is my Squeezebox Radio. Can't scale down much smaller than that and the sound is very listenable. Works nicely with earphones as well.