Words From the Wise

- Spend at least 20 times as much time listening to and thinking about music as you do listening to and thinking about gear

- If you have a system you like, stop for awhile. Don't read reviews, don't visit websites, don't go to stores. Why waste time doing all that when you could be listening to the system that *you like*

- No matter how cool you think that new piece of equipment looks or how great it sounds, somewhere somebody is sick of it (kinda stole this one)

- When speaking to non-audiophiles, always say, "Hey, listen to this CD, it sounds great." Never say, "Hey, check out how much wider my soundstage is with my new amp." Actually, when speaking to audiophiles, the same advice is probably good.

- Remember that even a basic audiophile system is a huge leap over mass market. After that, you're playing a game of (rapid) diminishing marginal returns.

1) A good audio system forces you to music. A bad one forces you to something else.
2) Matching and room treatment are often forgotten.
3) If you are not happy now, jumping parallel is not going to get you anywhere. (If you don't like the speaker/amp combo, changing sources, cables,... will not change much. No component can change your speaker for you.)
4) Sit down and enjoy the music.

If like music, the catalog to equipment ratio should be at least 3 to 2. This is easy to do even with 'expensive' systems: just get what you want and keep it for years as you ignore the industry induced upgrade hype.Conversely, if you like equipment more, you really only need a couple cd's and then you can spend your time comparing components, cables, rooms,etc. A great chef will make magic happen on my 30 yr. GE electric stove. Boxed stuff from the freezer section of the supermarket still tastes like ^%$^#$ no matter the equipment used to cook it!

Have not followed this thread,but here are some things I have found to help.

1.Intergrate your system so that your HT does not interfer with your 2ch. playback.
I use a Passive with a Lexicon CP-3Pro which is better than a cheap reciever.

2.Buy stuff that can be modified if you cannot afford expensive gear.Get it modified as you go along.
Ex.Modified ART DAC and a good transport is better than a $3K Sony player.

3.Cables do count and I would check to see what the best affordable alternatives are for your equiptment.

4.Save your $$ by building your own tweeks.

5.When auditioning equiptment try to get it for a home audition.

6.Bring your own music and particular parts off tracks to see what they sound like.

7.Check to see if there is good used equiptment before buying new to save $$.

8.Spend alot on Music because that is what it's all about with the $$ you do save.

9.When getitng a sub get one that goes closest to 20Hz..Better yet try to get as close to full range speaker's.

10.Don't believe everything you read and checkout the source of the info.

Good luck!

You can buy anything you want out there, but you'll have more fun by doing as much building (kits, plans, speakers, cords,cables) as you can. Of course some things may be out of your ability to do right away, but with practice and experience many types of components and speakers can be built. Start small and as you gain experience you can try more challenging projects. Also, modifying components can bring a lot of enjoyment. As for me, I could never buy someone elses project as long as I knew I could do it myself. If you really need a system now you can look for used gear and learn how to do modifications. Good luck and have lots of fun. By the way, I'm kinda new to this stuff too, and not to brag, but I've made all my own interconnects, power cords, built 2 mono-block tube amps, built large floor standing speakers, built 2 JR power filters, ran dedicated lines all in around a years time. I do have a great brother-in-law who got me started in this by giving me the amps to build, giving me some awesome Focal speakers and giving me much advice and technical help. All the advice and info you need can be found on these types of forums.

So what are you waiting for...get going!