I am as poor as they come.I have built my system a little at a time over the last 4 years.I have always loved music but had mass market junk,and I mean the worst of the worst!! A friend forgot a Stereophile here on day and I loved the pictures of tube amps,turntables,speakers etc.I went to a couple high-end shops for a real look at this stuff and was hooked on the sound quality right away.I bought some Paradigm Titans for around $200 to start my upgrade.The shop had a 1 year 100% trade up policy and over the course of 3 years moved up to the Reference 80's,I couldnt have afforded the 80's all at once so slowly I got the speakers I wanted.Around the time I got the Titans I saw a ad in a local paper for a tube amp for sale.I had never heard of the name of it but I got lucky as it turned out to be a Dynaco ST-70. At the time I bought it I only knew it was tubes and thats all I cared about.I paid $150 for a nice shape Dyna then slowly added some NOS tubes,better filter caps,heavier cord.A friend gave me a Hafler 945 preamp and I bought a used Denon CDP and some PBJ's and I was in business.Then I caught the vinyl bug after I bought a $2.00 TT at a yard sale and it killed my Denon.I started out with a Music Hall then a Ariston RD-80 and finally a Rega P-25.I traded in the Hafler for a Rogue 99 and I was doing some serious cooking then.I bought some HT pro-Silways and I thought I was done.Nope,next a got a great deal on a Pass Aleph-3 so I had to grab it before someone else did.My system retails for around $11,000.00 right now but with shopping around,buying some things demo or used and finding a great dealer I have only paid about $5000.00 for what I have.I have had to be patient to get what I wanted.I also drive a 8 year old car and and Im a bit in debt.from my stereo upgrades.I still need to get some better speaker cables,a conditioner,better cartridge and amp stand. Besides the uprades I bought a wet-vac,fluids,accoustic treatments on and on.But a little at a time and smart shopping is where its at for we poor folks.I think now my stereo has gone above the level of my speakers.Time to start over??
