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Some spend their money on homes, some on audio systems, some on cars, boats, travel, jewelry, etc.
I do have wealthier friends who have larger homes and little interest in audio. I also have some friends in smaller homes who spend a lot more money on cars, (brand new Jaguar XJ), jewelry, and/or travel than I would.

Point is, who cares how folks spend their money?
If you enjoy audio gear, great! If you don't, great!

Exactly jmc !!! 

TAS and stereophile were great for the photos, to know what was out there and descriptions of the equipment. Reviews, taken with grain of salt(never really understood that expression). I mean you did not view playboy mag to see the unattractive women you had a chance of meeting, did you? No that is why you read national geographic. Besides with out them we would not have extremely high price ic and spk cables. Then where would we be?
I'm just say'in ✌️🖖

French_Fries...incremental buying is a sure way of paying way more than you should, and...never be satisfied.

See my discussion on my Mark Levinson 335 troubles:
Of course I studied all the reviews in all the magazines before buying this amp. Although it's not up there with the most exclusive, it was - and still is - pretty exotic for me, price-wise. Turns out so many of this brand  miserably fail and become huge losses to their owners! It is utterly incomprehensible to me that all those 'high end' reviews don't seem to give any consideration to reliability, durability and long term value...