I agree, based on a combination f age and experience. I began listening to classical Victor Red Seal 78s on a wind-up Victrola. Before WWII, I was a ham radio operator, building my own transmitter and power supply.After the war, I was no longer able to have a ham radio station, so I began building mono channel audio equipment - - amplifiers, preamps, power supplies and speakers, using the Audio Engineering (later Audio) publications for reference. A cannibalized Capehart provided the turntable and pickup. Then came the 45s, followed by the LPs and stereo. I continued to build my own stereo amps - - some from scratch and some from kits. I had access to a fully-equipped woodworking shop, so I continued to make my own speaker cabinets, and used JBL, Altec-Lansing and Tannoy drivers. Then came the Klipsch speakers, and I quit making my own. Then, as I was moving every couple of years, I quit making my own electronic gear and began to sample what was out there in the way of pre amps, amplifiers, turntables, arms and cartridges. I was a tube guy until the KT-88s and other final stage tubes had to come from Russia and elsewhere, meaning that keeping a supply of decently- matched tubes was prohibitive for my finances. I switched to solid state. Along with continually upgrading, I began ripping my classical LP collection to tape with 10 /12 reel-to-reel decks. That lasted until the supply of recording and playback heads became problematical. So, I switched to CDs, replacing a large chunk of my classical LPs with CDs. (I still have one of the original SOTA turntables with an SME arm plus Shure V-15 carts.) I came across Thiel speakers by accident, and when I acquired my CS 3.5s, Jim Thiel suggested Bryston 4B amps. Finally, after about 70 years of upgrading, I was hooked. Now, my final rig is: Bryston pre amp and 4BSST2 amp feeds a pair of Thiel 2.7s with a SmartSub 2.2. I spin CDs via a Bryston BCD-3 - - - and, when the neighbors complain late in the evening, I switch to a pair of STAX Lambda Pro electrostatic headphones. At Age 95 plus a few months, I believe my journey in Audio is complete. I slip in a Bach, Brahms, Donizetti, Mozart, Mahler, Dvorak, Puccini or Verdi little silver disk, sit back, smile, and listen to some of the world's greatest music.
