How Long Did It Take You To Build Your Dream Setup?

"From all the perspective, I may need to slow down a bit! Young 32 year old here with one year experience and the journey has been too fun and exciting. I don't have any self control"
My belief is- "less is more" and the "journey is the real destination". I know way too many  dudes that have rooms full of equipment on shelves and in boxes. If that makes them happy-cool. My guess is it becomes a boat anchor. As they age they recognize the burden of all the stuff. My advice is simple; maximize what you have: replace slowly and deliberately- I didn' mean add but replace- remember it isn't a good deal unless you need it or WILL sell it. And finally, listen to the music- because ultimately that is what you were chasing. I needed to write that for my own benefit 😏

veerossi,

"Right on CD318! One of my favorite albums."

I’ve always loved Get Happy!!, right from the 20 track 1980 UK vinyl to my favourite CD copy on Demon records.

The rest of Costello’s catalogue is interesting but this is the one I’ll take with me when I next go and audition for a speaker upgrade.

You know, those ones which leave the music intact and do a disappearing act.*

Damn it, I think it’s going to take a lot of money. The pressure will be enormous. The research will take years.

And then in all the confusion and strees I’ll end up with the wrong ones!

The difficult life of an audiophile.


alfa100,

"my final frontier was coupling my speakers to the walls ... and then happiness. I’ve decided I’m done. The end. Now just enjoying the music for what it is."


Yes, this is something that could be tried more often. My previous Rega bookshelves were fixed to the wall via a special wall mount that Rega offered.

They sounded first rate for a pair of small speakers.

Anyway, well done and congrats!

We’re all trying to get to the same place.

* "The best loudspeakers for stereo sound reproduction are those that disappear chameleon-like from the listening room and simultaneously withdraw attention from the room. What remains is an acoustic scene of phantom sources and spaces in front of the listener; an illusion that the brain creates from the naturalness of the sonic cues imbedded in the recording, which the two loudspeakers reproduce. Output volume and dynamic range of the loudspeakers has to mimic the live event for the illusion to be believable.

Few loudspeakers are capable of this magician trick."

Siegfried Linkwitz

I don't know if this is odd or not but I never had a "dream system" in mind. I just wanted a good system, knowing nothing,  and started down the road first at a dealer then on Audiogon buying and selling and trying out gear, then back to a different dealer. All that being said I am very happy where I ended up, getting the best sound of my life. No plans to change anything and been pretty stable for a while now. So perhaps the non-dream has come true. :)

@ovinewar  +1 
Keep it simple and improve what you have. Don't chop and change for the sake of "upgrading." Save for longer and make substantial upgrades less frequently. Buy used if possible. Consider classic vintage equipment.