Moderately priced audio

Recently restarted my love affair with the blues and jazz. Today I’m getting a second Adcom 555mk2 power amp and will try them out in monoblock mode, so gobs of power. Need to upgrade my preamp-while the Emotiva pt-100 has the basics covered well, it’s just that; basic. Looking at the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell preamp/DAC. All feeding a pair of ADS L810’s. My favorite sounding speakers and ones I’ll likely never sell.

EDIT: Forgot to mention using an SVS PB-2000. Competent and serves my needs well. This system is sound for a gaming pc, in near-field on this desktop, so I doubt I'll keep the monoblock in there. Instead, I'll keep the better sounding of the two and trade-in the other Adcom for the PS Audio gear.

Conrad Johnson Sonographe 250A Amp - bought used for $600
Apt Holman Pre-Amp 2 - bought used in a record shop for $150
Sony DVP-NS 999ES SACD player - bought used for $125
Magnepan 1.7i speakers bought new on sale at Take5 Audio $1500
Fantastic audio system for under $2500.  

One facet not touched on is what is 'adequate' for the listener.  I literally did not listen to much music for about 15 years, despite having a 'decent' stereo.  One day the wife asked why, and after some thought I replied because it really did not sound much like music to me. 

Fast forward about 3 years - I listen to music every day and look forward to it.  I spent the time changing my system to components that sounded like music to me.  All equipment was used, often obscure, only a few pricey bits, and the amp and speakers built by me. 

It was a real experience to listen to the system in progress, try to determine what the problems were that were nagging at the back of my mind, and figure out what was at fault and how to resolve it.  Everything got touched, and there were a number of real revelations. 

Money may help you get a good system, but it certainly won't guarantee one.  I went to a local high end hi-fi shop during one of their events, and could not believe how bad their show systems sounded.  Often it is flash rather than quality sound.  It is the job of the listener to assess that one, and money won't help.

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This!

Very well said.

(Reprinted from one of my previous posts) "I once observed a blind evaluation where a pair of Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers were preferred over a pair of Linn counterparts by several "experienced" listeners from within AV industry. Removing the expectancy of performance based upon price can often be very enlightening."