How does one get off the merry-go-round?

Tubegroover, isn't happyness the main thing? And the drive for perfection is a noble endevour, is it not? And if we do not make our loved ones unhappy or harm them with what we are doing, why shouldn't we? Mind you, and I've been at it for over 35 years, there comes a point, when you will reconcile yourself with the fact, that you will NEVER be able to simulate real, live music in all its wonderful entirety and that you can leave your system more or less as it is and just enjoy the music. What helps here, is the realisation, that really old gear, like the Threshold Stasis amps of the seventies, or the AR 79 tube amp, not to speak of the 120, that wonderful Quad 57 or the ML 25 watter, class A monos still hold their own, when compared to modern gear. There have been huge advances in loudspeakers, but comparing the old stuff to modern designs, I doubt a bit, if really essential breakthroughs in electronic designs have happened. Possibly my ears are just sentimental and I'm indeed using modern electronics, but I find the differences are not that huge to really be "blown away". What has changed though, is our perception of recorded music and our way to describe it. We have developed a vocabulary, that was not around fourty years ago and if we apply it to vintage gear, I at least have found, that it is not doing badly at all. Cheers! Detlof

Detlof Yes indeed and happy I am but I want to be happier :). The problem is the compulsive search for the best which is fortunately/unfortunately, depending on the view, the course I'm on. I have designs on one of those ultraexpensive products which will make my "arrival" a reality (does that ever really happen?). The final purchase, for now. I been saying this all along but with each improvement the envelope is pushed further. Ironically the improvements are the driving force to see how much better it can get. You're a shrink, you tell me. A drive for excellence/perfection or obsessive/compulsive behavior (the merry-go-round syndrome).

Truly it is about the music and I never knew reproduced audio could be realized to this extent. Just wonder how much better it can get, thats all. Only regret is the cost
:(

So far as those products you mention, they mirrow my own lust wish but a decade forward. The Threshold SA-1 monos and ARC D-250 Servo and M-100 monos were my introduction into hi-end back in the mid 80's. Even ended up purchasing a lowly Class AB Threshold amp but unfortunately it wasn't in the same league as the SA-1's. I went tubes and never looked back. Now it's OTL amps which to me are the best yet. Will it stop there? I sure hope at that point the reconciliation you speak of is realized!!

Tubegroover, if your only regret is the cost, then actually you belong to the more lucky ones. If you can afford it, why not spend it. Life is too short, to castigate yourself, unless you are of fundamentalist disposition, where your rewards will be in heaven. Wether we're a bunch of compulsive neurotics or on a noble quest depends on your point of view. I personally think that Papa Freud was right, when he said, that the essentials of a healthy life were the ability to work and to ENJOY oneself. I'm probably a bit longer in this quest of ours than you are and my experience is - also after listening to many megabuck systems, costing several hundred thousand bucks - that there comes a time, when "improvements" happen only in very tiny steps, the cost of which is entirely out of proportion. Happy Listening! Detlof

Detlof: I don't mean to be pessimistic. My assesment comes from being associated with an audiophile company. I was at the Stereophile show in NY in 1996. Audio is more like a small club with rich members.Very select group.Manufactures have to impress reviewers to build demand.Reviewers are more impressd with themselves. Some reviewers have more fans than many artist. Add to the mix too many companies making software, decline in software quality,magazine distribution etc. The fact that music has been replaced by video games when it comes to young people with discretionary spending (video games are 50-70% higher than the average cd)and it all adds up to certain extinction. But, I enjoy buying music, (records mostly) and do so daily.I haven't had a significant change in my reference system in almost 12 years. Once I found the Quads and an adequate sub woofer system, significant changes are hard to make!! I did get a better listening chair.

Trebleclef, your points are hard to refute and in terms of sociological assessment probably more than correct. Looking at it that way, it is indeed a pessimistic picture. Here in Europe, people still flock to classical concerts and to opera, how much of that is social snobbery and how much true love of music is hard to say. Youngsters act much the way here too as you describe, but if you go to the local recordstores, they are ususally full of young people, but also here after the quick electronic fix, the demand for classical music has severely declined. However, I'm still hoping, that we are not a breed, that is dying out. Cheers , Detlof