To get off the merry go round you have to become immune to the hype. Some ways to do this:
1) Avoidance: Don’t read audio mag’s or go online.
2) Go about your search in an objective manner as much as possible. Do you like solid or stranded wire? Do you like the smooth sound of poly cone speakers or the punchy, clear sound of metal? It’s a good way to narrow down your options and eliminate most of the stuff out there.
3) Use money, or convenience, ergonomics, set-up, as a deterrent. You will often see people get to the point where they say "My stereo sounds so good I would have to pay 3X the price to improve on the sound" (the improvements are not worth the price).
Looking at it from the perspective "I have $10,000 to spend, what should I get?" is kind of missing the point IMHO. Are you trying to spend a lot of money or trying to get good sound?
4) Realize that deciding your preferences can take a long time. It is relatively easy to hear, or read about, differences between components. But not easy to decide if that is the sound they describe is what you are looking for.
Most people don’t care and just buy something and don’t think about it again.
As Bruce Lee the audiophile, not to be confused with the martial artist, said "At first a stereo was just a stereo. After I became an audiophile a stereo was no longer a stereo. Now that I understand the art, a stereo is just a stereo".
You want to get from point "A" to point "C". Right now, you are stuck at "B".
