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

As a semi-pro bassplayer (my gig money buys my toys) I kept
upgrading and buying bass equipment until last year, when I
decided 8 basses was more than I needed, and figured I might buy me a Gibson Les Paul and branch out a little into guitar. I'd been an avid member of the Fender Forum, which is Audiogon's instrument counterpart, sort of. Then it hit me: I had a good electric guitar already, which
I never play, so why spend more money on instruments. That's when I thought of upgrading my ho-hum but ok stereo.
Luckily I discovered Audiogon and thanks to a lot of experienced and helpful members, I got me a very nice NAD,
Rega, B&W system for about $5000. This includes good wires and stands, but I wasn't willing to get into the electric re-wiring arena. The six months it took me to find new/used
gear at good prices was exciting, but now I don't have an
urge to buy any more. I just enjoy the music.

I have read only the most recent few posts to this thread, but the whole idea of down sizing seems like a good idea: fewer chassis, fewer power cords and IC's, smaller rack, etc. It's nice to see that many others are thinking along the same lines.

So that I won't feel like I am giving up much in the process, I will probably seek out a system that tends to focus the listener on musical content rather than technical realism. If that "musical meaning" thing is covered, I will probably be less likely to worry about transparency, imaging, frequency extension, etc. Hopefully, I will net some left-over cash, too.

Larger, more expensive systems don't always sounder better--or give their owners the added enjoyment commensurate with their elevated prices, other than maybe gragging rights. I'd like to try the "less is more" theory and see what happens.

Great thread.

Nice post!

With highly efficient 8 ohm speakers, I think a great sounding system is possible with integrated gear. I have 4 ohm inefficient Maggies though, and that choice strongly influences all the rest. I tried driving them with my Denon 3803, which is only rated down to 6 ohms (170 watts/ch @ 0.7 % THD). It sounded clean enough, but compressed and flat. Piano never pleased me on this system. I don't know of an integrated A/V receiver capable of providing a suberb sound with these speakers. So, I ended up getting separate amps for the mains (Adcom 5802) and center (Outlaw M200). Now the system sings to my complete satisfaction and I planned no further updates. Since my DVD plays DVD-A, however, I decided to try out the new surround music format. Surprise, next I had to buy an ICBM to manage the bass and a bunch of interconnects. Don't know where it's going to end. I'm happy now, but my system is embarrassingly complex and rational non-audio people look at me funny when they see it. I don't see how to make it simpler and sound as good.

For those of you who say you get more excited about music, I would recommend internet sights like www.listen.com or www.napster.com

It's a payed sight ($25 for 3 months), but you can sample all you like - that should get you excited!
You can discover new music - even cross genres.