@romney80 --
It’s tempting to think one could’ve learned from the initial get-go with a list a rules hereby avoiding "costly trial and errors," but it would seem the process of these things and actually working through them is vital to attain some measure of experience that can then lead to important realizations - insofar one is open to acknowledge them. For this to come to fruition my advice would be to go with a hunch along the way (crazy or "mercurial" it may be), think out of the box, and be skeptical about the "audiophile" industry and its mechanisms. Because, let’s face it, this milieu is what we’re lead into and wade through for what’s likely to be many years, while navigating in a sea of marketing B.S., conjecture, restricting paradigms and dogma even. From my chair we must be careful not to be too infected and play along with the tune of this melody, and instead develop a critical mindset that doesn’t cater to the often hive-minded nature of this environment.
I won’t comment on your list specifically, but if anything my lesson learned is slowly unwinding myself from audiophilia in a sense and go more in the direction of a "brass tacks" approach where physics can have their say, certainly in regards to speakers so to accommodate the fact that sound can’t be (successfully) miniaturized. High-end speakers that are big are insanely expensive, but do they need to be that costly from the perspective of sound quality alone? To my ears: no, not even by a long shot. My current speakers, bought used, are build for pro cinema use, and if the drivers housed were put into fancy cabinets with elaborate, passive cross-overs and sold through the typical dealer network they’d cost a crazy load of money, not to mention these speakers would be a niche product due to their size alone, further elevating their price. But do pro cinema speakers sound properly in a domestic environment? Depending on the size of one’s listening space it is important not to "overshoot" with the specific speakers used, but once fitted to the space allotted they can sound fantastic, and at a fraction of the cost compared to big, high-end speakers that couldn’t even approach the dynamic capabilities and ease of sound to begin with. Pro cinema speakers are big, they’re fitted in "working clothes" and they may have some years on their back if bought used (which doesn’t matter because they’re built to last in a much harsher, pro environment). However, it’s a ticket to great, uninhibited sound for a relatively small amount of money. And that’s just one example of product category..
... I am sure many of you here have much more experience in this arena and have gone through your journey. Some mistakes made, lesson learnt, but still it is ongoing journey.
I have set up my stereo as well as home theater, spent great deal of money and have learnt some valuable lessons and thought of setting up some guidelines/rules, so that if I could go back in time, I wish I had these steps in mind and followed these "rules" instead of doing costly trial and errors.
It’s tempting to think one could’ve learned from the initial get-go with a list a rules hereby avoiding "costly trial and errors," but it would seem the process of these things and actually working through them is vital to attain some measure of experience that can then lead to important realizations - insofar one is open to acknowledge them. For this to come to fruition my advice would be to go with a hunch along the way (crazy or "mercurial" it may be), think out of the box, and be skeptical about the "audiophile" industry and its mechanisms. Because, let’s face it, this milieu is what we’re lead into and wade through for what’s likely to be many years, while navigating in a sea of marketing B.S., conjecture, restricting paradigms and dogma even. From my chair we must be careful not to be too infected and play along with the tune of this melody, and instead develop a critical mindset that doesn’t cater to the often hive-minded nature of this environment.
Share your "mistakes" and "lesson learnt" moments if you agree: if you don’t agree, ignore this and don’t trash please. Constructive criticisms are always fun though.
I won’t comment on your list specifically, but if anything my lesson learned is slowly unwinding myself from audiophilia in a sense and go more in the direction of a "brass tacks" approach where physics can have their say, certainly in regards to speakers so to accommodate the fact that sound can’t be (successfully) miniaturized. High-end speakers that are big are insanely expensive, but do they need to be that costly from the perspective of sound quality alone? To my ears: no, not even by a long shot. My current speakers, bought used, are build for pro cinema use, and if the drivers housed were put into fancy cabinets with elaborate, passive cross-overs and sold through the typical dealer network they’d cost a crazy load of money, not to mention these speakers would be a niche product due to their size alone, further elevating their price. But do pro cinema speakers sound properly in a domestic environment? Depending on the size of one’s listening space it is important not to "overshoot" with the specific speakers used, but once fitted to the space allotted they can sound fantastic, and at a fraction of the cost compared to big, high-end speakers that couldn’t even approach the dynamic capabilities and ease of sound to begin with. Pro cinema speakers are big, they’re fitted in "working clothes" and they may have some years on their back if bought used (which doesn’t matter because they’re built to last in a much harsher, pro environment). However, it’s a ticket to great, uninhibited sound for a relatively small amount of money. And that’s just one example of product category..