Your greatest high end audio purchase!!!

ghdprentice: The Nakamichi dragon was about as good as they got.  The only thing it was missing was Dolby HX pro, they only went up to Dolby C.

Now days one in descent condition is worth some $.  No wonder you liked the Nakamichi sound!  I had one but got rid of it after TDK stopped making the MA (metal bias) line of cassettes, those were the best.  I should have kept it and sold it now for a nice profit!    

I had a Pioneer SX-1250, Denon DP-59L, and Denon DL-103 when I was in grad school over 40 years ago.  Since then I've owned numerous receivers, integrated, preamps, power amps, turntables, cartridges, and speakers.  Guess what's in my listening room now?  Fully restored SX-1250, DP-59L, and a 103R in an Audio Musikraft lithium body.  My only modern components are a pair of Maggie 1.7i speakers and a pair of REL subs.  I'm happy.

Been at this since the eighties. Best high end audio purchase is kind of spurious.

The room. 

Bought our current property a few years back, and it's the first time I've ever had a fully dedicated space to listen. Inspired me so much that I upgraded the Focal Aria 948s To Sopra 3's, which sound wonderful in the space. I don't mind driving a 260k+ mile 21 year old Lexus Gx470 when I've got the room waiting for me at home to plant my ass in and listen. 

Priorities. 

My Mother wanted me to start enjoy music. It was the mid-80s and my parents purchased me a pioneer system for my dorm. It was separates and it included a 5-disc CD player and Infinity speakers. A good starter set that put me on my journey in search of the lost chord. So, I would say that the Pioneer System was my greatest future investment. 

I was in the right place at the right time being only 2 hours away from a very special pair of VMPS RM40 BCSE speakers w/ bookmatched rosewood veneers and was THE pair of speakers Marty DeWulf of Bound For Sound had for a few years as his reference speakers to judge all others by.  This was just after Brian Cheney passed and John Casler was helping the Cheney family sell off all the VMPS speakers and parts so help their family.  They are among the finest speakers Brian ever made and I've now had them for about 9 years.  With a couple additions from Krissy, the 2 things I think they needed small improvement on--the loss of some highs as you stand up when listening and occasional bottoming out on loud and deep bass transients are now a moot point.  This version is 260 lbs of joy per channel but I'm a big guy and lifting my end with another on the other end and we have moved those up stairs and down several times.  I've had many different very good speakers to challenge them with, but I'm always amazed when I return to the 40's at how great they sound.  

A very close second would be the TRL DUDE preamp that I became the 3rd owner of several years ago.  I did 2 major tweaks to it which made it even more authoritative and the chassis more substantial.  When I got the first set of NOS hand picked tubes from Andy's Vintage in Michigan, they were the final addition making the DUDE really come to life.

The other piece was the Modwright Sony 5400 Signature Truth CD/SACD.  Dan Wright blessed me with this after I owned a MW Sony 9000 as the first great CD player I'd owned, and then a MW Sony 9100.  I've done several worthwhile tweaks to the 5400 which has transformed it into an even more super deck.

Bob