How good is good enough?


Most of us here cannot afford six figure prices for each component (assuming that will bring the best sound.) So how far do we want to go to improve our systems? There are always bigger fish. When does it stop? It stops when we say it stops, when our gear brings us satisfaction. To constantly strive for better sound is an endless quest, not necessarily based on the quality of our set but on our personality.

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I am married to an economist, we both believe in the concept of marginal cost versis marginal gain.  Now that I am 75 and my hearing is slowly declining I believe there is no future in upgrading my system.

It is not uber expensive, but would cost about a new Honda Civic to replace.  I am in my happy okace and spend my energies listening and no longer worry about gear changes.  Revel in the present!!

Utility functions for luxury goods are difficult to define…..Don’t let the “ dismal science “ squeeze the  joy out of that Civic sized investment….

Just an Econ dude $.02 adjusted for deflation 

My system is in the lower 5 figures (under 20K) and most of it was bought used. I got JBL XPL 140 speakers, Lexicon MC12 preamp, LX7 amp, Modwright/Oppo BDP 95, JBL 2241 Sub, Crown XLS 1500 sub amp.. I heard a 6 figure system with Wilson Sashas and It didn't grab me at all. My System murdered this high dollar big name set up. This is my end game system and I ain't worried about it. I am still doing tweaks on it, but I'm done shopping.

Appreciate the sentiment and can relate to your statement/question.

My 2-channel journey took me all the way around to the most enjoyable system I've ever experienced. And when you say "Big Fish", let me shock you with minimal system components - both of them (if you count active speakers):

1) Old Samsung Note 9 (with a broken screen) sitting on a continuousely charging DeX cradle that also has HDMI and USB outputs and a dongle that strips (S/PDIF coax) audio off the HDMI output. <-- Yes, that is the extent of the "gear".

2) Speaker system: Pair of DIY Linkwitz LXmini and pair of DIY Linkwitz Phoenix(alt) open-baffle subs with a Hypex FA123 mounted in each. These receive the digital signal with their coax inputs, provide crossover and DSP tuning duties - driving all 6 channels actively.

The HDMI is connected to a TV for displaying/selecting streaming sources, Note9 is controlled with wireless keyboard/trackpad. Turn the system on by switching on the TV, phone automatically awakens in DeX-mode by default. Soon as I begin playing something (usually AmazonMusic or YouTubeMusic), the Hypex amps signal-sense and auto powerup - all from the couch. Another beauty of the system is... there is only ONE digital-to-analog conversion, and it's at the very last stage - just before amplification (avoiding analog-to-digital conversions altogether and avoiding multiple digital-to-analog conversions) and literally in the speakers.

I've been through so much gear, so many speakers, cal mic measurements with REW, Dirac, etc. (all a great hobby experience and learned a lot) - years of that to end-up here... thoroughly enjoying the "non-system" that I built from the plans of a genius (Linkwitz).

BTW, I still have most of the gear (stacked in the basement) and some of the speakers (GoldenEar Triton One's were repurposed to HT as an example), and if I thought it would improve the 2-ch sound, would readily reinsert - but experience and measurements have shown it won't/doesn't. Also, the 2-ch room has no treatments... unecessary with OB-subs and omni/dipole cardioid speakers.

The system is essentially non-existant except for speakers, powers-up without touching a unit or warm-up time, videos or not (as wished), and excellent spacial sound without a bad seat in the room - I even moved the sweat-spot Eames chair & ottoman to the granddaughter's room (for when she visits).