Are audiophile products designed to initially impress then fatigue to make you upgrade?

If people listened to acoustic music, especially vocal music (I don’t mean Diana Krall either) in demonstrations and it sounded good and natural, few things could go wrong afterwards. But no, they listens to the “impressive thunder” in Brothers in Arms.

It sounds like the OP has foreseen the inevitability of their own audio journey. Pity really….l

@larryi +1 Well said!

Mike

@ditusa

Great speakers and yes, the wave guide that trickled down from the JBL M-2 has the most stable center image imaginable. I own the JBL Studio 2 series which was the first consumer speaker that used that trickle down tech from the M-2. On the desktop the 230 monitors are incredible, the way they lock the center image in is amazing. I now have them setup in the man cave as a 5.1.4 atmos setup. With the matching center channel it just gives you more of that great imaging but yes, they sound fantastic in stereo, agreed.

That could well be right.

I've gotten several preamplifier's and power amplifiers over the years, both tubed and solid state, yet here I am again, using my non remote, non surround Sumo Athena preamplifier in passive mode, including its built in phono stage, more than 30 years after buying it second hand.

And after many turntables and cartridges, I didn't go back to the Sony Biotracer I had near the beginning, but to my pl 518's relative, the old S Tonearmed PL 560 and a Denon DL 103, although I still have a half dozen near vintage and modern cartridges.

Sometimes when it's right for my own tastes, I wish there was a light on the system indicating  I arrived. It would have saved a lot of trades, upgrades I abandoned, and tweaking.