Do you listen to equipment or music.

Both. When I’m tweaking or changing components, I’m listening to the equipment by comparing it with what it sounded like before. When everything is set and I’m not tweaking stuff (rare, but one of my personal goals) I’m listening to the music and enjoying it. 

One must spend years listening to the equipment, until they get it right; I spent time listening to "speaker wire" and then I went from there to "interconnects", next SS amps as opposed to tube.

I decided at the beginning that I wanted a speaker that reproduced whatever it was fed without any sound of it's own; that meant a custom speaker with a crossover designed by a "crossover engineer", which I have to this day.

Last but not least has been "room treatment"; now I have the "holographic sound" that I sought from the beginning, now I can listen to music.

One must spend years listening to the equipment, until they get it right; I spent time listening to "speaker wire" and then I went from there to "interconnects",...

Wow.

That sounds like drudgery.  But, to each his own.

I wish to thank everyone for their thoughtful and in most cases courteous responses.  I freely acknowledge that there is a time for listening to equipment. I have spent a lot of time trying to get the right pieces that ultimately complement each other.  I also know that there are other factors that can impact the sound that cannot be fixed by components.  I realize that I will not be able to just enjoy music for the rest of my life without periods of system adjustment.  I also freely acknowledge that in the past I have become obsessed with adjustment and had to make myself get back to the joy of the music.  It is a fact that there may be some that just want to tinker with the equipment.  For those of you that fall into that category, I hope you find the joy in tinkering that I find in the music.
Thanks again to everyone

Sometimes the problem is not the equipment but the pressing. When I was at college in the mid 60’s one of my favorite albums was the John Mayall Bluesbreakers album known as the Beano album. This was some of Clapton’s best playing. A few years back I bought a copy off Amazon and it sounded so bad I only played it once. I didn’t realize it was a bogus copy. The music didn’t rise above the sound quality. On the other hand some music I prefer to listen to on the car audio system. I like to listen to SRV in the car cranked. However it is a very expensive CD because before you know it your driving 40mph over the speed limit.