When Did Your System Disappear?

Every system I've owned over the last 50 years from my KLH Model 20 to everything since has utterly disappeared when playing great music combined with my doing some "active listening." No room treatment other than whatever's in the room, no voodoo based special junk science tweaks...just good cables and the best sounding audio items I can find and afford set up properly...if a component calls attention to itself and doesn't sound like I think it should, out it goes.

@asctim   The elephant in the room has always been crosstalk interference between left and right speakers which, despite our best efforts to upgrade everything else in the audio chain, results in stereo sounding “canned”. Since 2016 I have also eliminated the crosstalk interference by means of a computer program created by people way smarter than me. It electronically substitutes for the physical barrier that you currently use. I too had to compensate for the EQ anomalies.
   My listening position is very near field. The speakers are placed close to each other directly in front of me and well away from adjacent walls to reduce room effects.  The room itself is about 65% dead.
   Additionally, I have recreated music-venue ambience with modified vintage gear and additional speakers.
   The learning curve of this audio listening paradigm has been gradual but really satisfying. Because of the commitment and study involved, it’s not for most people. But for me it’s truly magical when I turn out the lights at night and experience musicians expressing their art in full glory (amazingly from recordings!).    So for me, the speakers disappeared over a period of a couple of years starting in 2016.  It was the result of a lot of intellectual expenditure and experimentation rather than buying pieces of gear, a labor of love for sure.
  

Mine disappeared when I told George, Leo, Bob and Garrett that I was going on vacation. 

After my divorce....only kidding. I am still  a work in progress but moving forward with my mid hifi rig.My next step is upgrading my integrated amplifier to get the most out of my Yamaha CD-S2100 player, which I am  pretty darn happy with. The DAC is quite  good too.

@wolf_garcia 
   Is “active listening” what I think it is?