If Money Were No Object... A Fantasy Question

Yup, I am with Mejames.

Tubes and Stats-High end CJ and Logans or Sound Labs-acoustic and signer-songwriter type stuff

Classic - Marantz receiver or McIntosh seps with big ole JBL's to relive part of my youth. Loud Zep and Stones rock

Refined/Show off- with higer priced spread to impress audio elite types. I might even play it once in awhile.

SET setup with efficient stuff like coincident speakers to compare with push pull and triode tube amps.

I'd put a bunch of money into a very good room - possibly custom built as part of a custom built house. Then I'd put a max of $150K or so into the gear and another hundred thousand into music.

I think pursuing SOTA is a mugs game, because preferences and synergy are at least as important as the gear itself. I'd want to have enough cash in reserve to try out stuff I thought might work, without worrying that I'd spent all my money and didn't get where I wanted to go.

That said, I know at least some of the gear that would end up in such a system: an Audio Note DAC5 Signature, a pair of Josh Stippich's amazing amps, and a Blowtorch.

fun question onhwy61
I'd hire the worlds best acoustic engineer and pay him to personally design and oversee the construction of the best room he can imagine. Unless I hear something better, I'll stick with my current speakers but add three more for center and surrounds. Then maybe Halcro amps for each speaker together with the best front end money could buy. Maybe purchase the top 5 in each category of component and then experiment with various permutations and combinations till the best combination is found. I won't have a job so I'll have lots of time on my hands. If the system has any shortcomings after that, I'd consider personally funding the best designers for research in product development. Then I'll pray to God he can forgive me for such excess.

I'd have pretty close to the same damn simple SET/horns system I already have, build a better room for listening that is isolated from the rest of the house, put some towards music, music, music, and put the very significant balance towards far more important things in life.

Marco

Ditto on the acoustical room as the first priority. Add separate transformers and dedicated lines with the works -- e.g., star grounding, high quality outlets, ceramic fuses. One large room that allows me to listen to the music while in the kitchen, at the PC, etc (luckily, I can do that today so I know it's possible).

Here's the kicker. I would get an elevator system that allows me that would lift the speaker of my choice (say top-of-line Soundlabs and Montana WAS). High end analog and digital with ability to switch tube or ss preamp. Hoo boy!