I have always loved music and worked on improving my car systems in high school and had my LXI Series all in one floor standing system that I lusted over for quite a while in the ol Sears catalog. I had my Bose period in my 20s when I had the AM-5 home theater system. Next I got a pair of Cerwin Vegas from Crutchfield and was like, what the hell!! Where was all this sound with my Bose speakers?? haha Later I got what I consider my first hi-fi pieces, a demo B&K preamp and some entry level Platinum Audio speakers. I tried a variety of amps and ended up with a Parasound HCA 2200ii. That kept my happy for several years and then I was curious of tubes and almost exactly 8 years ago I picked up some Audio Research Classic 120 monos here on Audiogon. I did basically no research but loved the idea of mono blocks and they looked super cool. From there I got an Audio Research preamp and phono...both from the same era. I spent the next 6.5 years upgrading through their lineup with several models to end up with what is basically their latest lineup, sans MkII and SE models. I picked up some Wilson Audio speakers also about 6 years ago so my system has come a long way that brings me so much enjoyment. I do not have a dealer near me so was never able to audition anything....everything purchased used...if I didn't like it or when it was time to upgrade, I sell it and buy the next piece. It is a lot of fun and sometimes a little stressful when things aren't selling. One of my faults is being a bit too autonomous to the point where it is very difficult to let someone help me on a project. I'm not sure if I had the money and lived near a dealer if I would have done it any differently. I am picking up my next speaker contender on Wednesday....love it!