Audiophile Priorities and Recent Topics

One could more precisely estimate bottom line value of fine tuning devices by removing every single one and compare. I'm not gonna do it. I've often done this when adding individual fine tuning device. Sometimes the addition of device is such that I couldn't go back to prior state. In that case, the device is invaluable. Add all the fine tuning devices together, becomes even more invaluable. I know I won't be removing my fine tuning devices.

MC:

”I really don’t mean to sound disrespectful but your mind is easily boggled”

🙄

That emoji is my final engagement with you.

Curtains! 

unreceivedogma

Cleeds: I have been “actively been working at this” for 53 years. There are moments during that time where I have been happy with the sound.

Oh, good to know. I was only responding to what you previously wrote:

... for the first time in the 40 odd years I’ve been working with stereo I’m happy with the sound ...

@cleeds 

It really has been 4 decades.  YIKES!  When I started I was chasing, learning and attempting to find the correct attributes with no real success.  That was due to many factors space, knowledge and finances.  I got to a point that music was no longer an enjoyable experience and all I heard was equipment.  I boxed up the components that I thought were correct and put them in storage for two decades.
From that point on I stopped chasing hi end and eventually just  sufficed with an AV receiver and some JBL bookshelves on concrete blocks until about a half a decade ago. 
For the last 6 years now I have been learning and listening again.   It kept sounding better but I never thought it was not much more than really good mid-fi.

Thanks to forums like this, stereo stores, craigslist and digital streaming I was  able finally to get a system that to my ears checked all the boxes.  I have enough new music to keep me interested in music and a sound system that plays it back with enough enjoyment that I rarely cringe anymore.

Everything is different now than it was 40 years ago.  My music tastes,  my hearing and my ability to research and afford the stuff I'm interested in.

It really isn't that mind boggling.  I have still have friends from 40 years ago who have gone through a similar experiences of chasing the unobtainable and coming back to it with a different approach to get to their final destination. 

I'm still going tweak stuff that's the hobby but I feel finally after over four decades feel the foundation is there.

I’m neither a newbie nor an expert, but someone who has appreciation and some good equipment. I agree with the comments about contentiousness vs. polite conversation — even if it involves disagreement. Things that polarize tend to get posted as people want to prove their points and Twitter and forums have given too much room for angry expression of opinion.
My listening tweaks and getting to a priority usually has involved having the chance to a/b some things. That isn’t always easy because of costs and space sharing. A really odd-sounding room got me to look at room treatment so that became a priority. I randomly re-tried an amp and had forgotten how good it sounded, but not with the speakers I had, so speakers became a priority. My next listening space sounded amazing out of the box, so my priority became speaker placement. And vibration, and interconnects have been in the mix along the way.
I find the wealth of experience and knowledge on the forum to be wonderful, useful, and inspiring, whenever the indignation is in check. And the search function lets me choose what to read.