How serious are you?

I'm an 8 in that I won't spend multi thousands on gear. I want excellent sound and  build speaker kits. You will now see ads for the 521 Linkwitz speakers. They are remarkable. You can build them inexpensively. To save time and $, just build the top section and use someone elses subwoofer kits. I did build the recommended woofer sections ($1200 just for the drivers). But they overpowered the room. I built the Linkwitz XLminis and the older Pluto models as well. Highly recommenced. Use a miniDSP two into four stereo crossovers (Madisound) and eight channels of amps - one per driver. Starke 4 cHannel power amps make it easy and economical. I have seven of them in multiple systems. Now, the have an eight channel amp, I'll get one in the fall) ideal for the XL521 (the name comes from the date Dr. Linkwitz found the perfect shape for the baffle holding the mid - tweet - super bidirectional tweeters - May 21). Happy Listening!

Easily an 8 +

room. Check

dedicated line (4) check

meticulous set up.  Check

sweet spot in the dark…all equipment dark or masked…check

No distractions..HVAC off…check

Serious.

https://i.imgur.com/Wcn89T8.png
 

I dunno. 6/5? 7? Meh, it's not worth arguing about. I don't care. Enjoy!

Last few years I was a 9-10 as I digested much info as I can find, demo what I could, to purchase my first high-end analog + digital chains.
8+ today but interest is tapering off - only have Ethernet components, digital cabling, Roon core, then I’m done…for now. I usually peruse reviews and forums regularly.

"Serious" seems to equate for some with how often you change gear.  I've been doing this for the last 40 years and once you reach a certain point and your main system is making you happy, you seldom want to continue the obsessive upgrade thing.  That doesn't mean that I don't listen critically - I do, and other hobbyists sometimes bring gear to my place and vice versa so we can compare. Only occasionally will this reveal a significant change that warrants a revision of a system.

We recently did such a comparison (on my main system) of two excellent phono preamps, a Vendetta 2 SCP-2D and the last iteration of the Herron phono stage.  No upgrades resulted!