new member, some questions, need help please

Well, thank you all for the sage advice!  I feel I can exhale regarding performance degradation over the years. I will heed your advice regarding audio shows, also, very good insight on our own emotional intelligence in choosing a speaker based on overall emotion and being moved by how the music makes us feel (like how a piece of art on the wall makes us buy it) as apposed to dissecting the music for technical merits.  I get it!  I would have definitely be lost in this respect.

I can see that this is going to be a moving target with all permutations available with each component in the audio chain. Synergy and personal anatomic differences in each one of us physically adds to the choices (audio acuity to our ears, depth and diameter of ear canal causing different resonant frequency for each of us, so much synaptic variability in our brains....... sorry, got a bit nerdy here).

Moving forward, I'm thinking of jumping up to the Sasha1, which looks like it would be about 4-6K more than pre owned WP8, another 4-6K for the Sasha 2.  I'm staring down the slippery slope here.  So many questions.... I've been reading some audiophiles saying Sasha 1 to sasha 2 not worth it for the money, some say a big improvement, I'm thinking once again this is a very personal choice based on the above physiologic difference and "fit" we all have.  Seems the only way to more closely evaluate the choices in speakers would be to have a decent system and the only variable changing would be the speakers so that A-B comparisons would be meaningful. 

Today I heard Focal Scala Utopia being fed by Luxman amp, Rose DAC.  Wow, they sounded great, articulate, wide stage, wish i knew more superlatives here...I'm learning tho..

Next to the Focal were a pair of Sonus Faber, I think they were the Olympica, also very nice with tremendous base for their size, but in my opinion lacking in the mid frequencies compared to the Focal, but also not 55K in price either.

Need to read more and visit audio stores more :-)

Jaime

Definitely audition Rockport speakers. Superb sound. Good luck!

"Got into med school, married, children, mortgage, fast cars, fine wines"

My hearing has been in a steady decline for quite some time. The stereo doesn’t quite provide the intimacy and emotional connection to the music of years past. But, my cars have gotten faster. If my left knee holds on a little longer, banging gears accompanied by the exhaust note of the "correct" number of cylinders (8, or more) still brings out my inner 9-year-old.

Good luck in the quest for the perfect speakers for you.

back in circa 1988. Got into med school, married, children, mortgage, fast cars, fine wines and, well, you know how it goes thereafter. fast forward onto the current epoch, a few lbs heavier, tinnitus in one ear and still have the bug and still covet some equipment that I could not afford back then. Well, don’t hear too much of Mark Levinson, Wilson Audio is still around, cassette player are out (remember Nakamichi :-) ), now there’s so much digital this and digital that, servers, streamers.... I’ve got much to learn.

You could spend a lot of cash these days and make mistakes, not get the right combo of gear..or just get tired of things. Mark Levinson is still very much around and his current company is called Daniel Hertz. He sells integrated systems now, speakers + his front end electronics in 1 package and prices range from 20k to 200k (capable of blowing the socks off other things).

Such systems make it easy for you, takes the guesswork out and prevents you from popping in and out of rabbit holes, i.e. this methodology gets you straight to enjoying the music. So, if you are the doc who’s busy saving young lads from dying in the trenches all day, wanna get home, chug wine and relax to music, go the Levinson route maybe.

Daniel Hertz System

But, if you are a tweaker/tinkerer nerd (like many audiophiles), like the thrill of constant tinkering, exploring different permutations, flavors, etc...Levinson’s stuff is not the right avenue for you. For the latter type of tweaking/nerding, you just audit stuff, buy stuff, hoard stuff, mod stuff, sell stuff, etc.... keep it more cyclical, keep at it.

Where in the country are you located?