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

Something else to consider are 2 things -

1) Room acoustics - treatments
2) Dedicated power line

Without taking care of these 2 things, you may be wasting a lot of effort and money. You are not hearing the best your gears can offer.

Another thing is to experiment with silver cables - more liquid sound. You can buy silver here on the audiogon and other places, and DIY - RCA and speaker cables.

You might want also to experiment with effects unit - I had a system that sounded too dry, and when I added Yamaha Cavit 50, and added effects, the sound became liquid and transparent. I saved the system from being sold. The unit is only midfi-ish, so I wouldn't call it hifi, but it could be what your 2nd system is lacking.

The qualities necessary for me to enjoy a system is:

1) Liquid
2) Transparency
3) Accurate color

If a system has these 3, they are listenable for me.
Of-course it would be nica to have these as well.

1) Luxurius decay
2) Dynamic (300 watts would be nice)
3) Class A or A/B amp
4) Harmonically rich
5) Deep and wide soundstage

If you know specifically what you are looking for in terms of audio-lingo, then you can get there, without constantly searching and upgrading.

I hear of many stories of an audiophile, who spends as much as a luxury car, only to do more listening on a $3000 second system, on a computer for example (low jitter). The experts tell us that if we do the homework, we can assemble a satisfying systme for a lot less, and get off the merry go around.

I got off the merry-go-round.
I'm fifty one and have had a better than average stereo since I was eighteen.
Speakers and amps, while they are not all created equal a person can learn to enjoy what they've got.
I've been lucky enough to have never lived in an area where the quality of the electrical signal effected the sound in any major negative manner. So I have no appreciation for high dollar power cords and have also come to realize that high dollar cabling to my ears is basically a waste of money.
Too many of us have forgotten why we bought a stereo in the first place. To enjoy the music. Which is where I'm back to after a quest that included many detours, pitfalls and poor decisions.
To answer this thread's orginator question: Put together a simple system that let's you go back to just enjoying the music.

Don't spend any money.

Art,

I have the Shure e3, and an MP3 player (not apple). It isn't powerful enough to drive the e3s.

Does the ipod have more power without using an amp because I do like the sound of the Shures

Good post hbarrel