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

Dgplo, yes you can find your power cord on the merry-go-round. Congradulations on your accomplishments

my answer was a bit of sarcasm...i love to lock myself in the room -- it is the only place i can get some privacy:)

Hi Dgplo, yes i knew you were being sarcastic but so was I with my post.

How much is enough? How revealing, how transparent, how deep into the sound stage can one go and feel satisfied? How deep should the bass go, and how extended should the ultra-sonic, high frequencies go?

I know a guy with a stunning system (Avid, Aesthetix, Cary, Ruark), but he has kept on improving it. The Aesthetix Io got upgraded to the Signature Mk ‘something’ version and he went to bi-amping the Ruark Excaliburs instead of a single pair of $40k monoblocks and changed out all the cabling to upper end Nordost, etc. OK, it was the best system I'd heard--including at CES and industry demos at stores--before he did all of that.

Are audio geeks (myself included) like the wealthy: A few million dollars is not enough; once you have acquired or accomplished a certain level, you always want more?

I am still considering my downsize approach (see my earlier comment), but I have ended up upgrading my pre-amp (same manufacturer) and trading up to the latest version of my speakers since I wrote on this thread last. I did not follow through with my own goal.

Wait til it stops.