How long do you keep a component?

Turntable: 12 years. Speakers: 10 years. Everything else...less than a year. Shortest time I owned something and got rid of it: 3 weeks. I'm a packrat and more often than not keep stuff to use in yet another system. Bizarre behavior, I agree.

i keep most of my components no longer than that moment just before it takes my bride to recognize that "there's something new" (after 35 years, there's not too much guessing required). problem is, speakers are the most noticeable, and usually most expensive, while $12k in wire is NEVER given a second glance. -cfb

Had my C.A.L.Genisis for the lonest of all my gear.About 4 years,thats long has great sound.My interconnects by AUDIOQUEST DIAMONDS have beearound quite some time like 4 years for the first pair.My Amp and Preamp are both fairly new like 2 months,AUDIO RESEARCH,D-130 and LS-9.Went through 2 MAGNUM DYNALABS but the one I have now about a year and has the GOLds faceplate,tough to find.Turntable I had for 2 years and tape decks 2 of them for about a year and change.The longest piece I had for about 10 years is a pair of AUDIOQUEST speaker cables and these sound great and got them for a song,no wonder why those schumcks at STEREO eXCHANGE are pissed off at me every time I drop by.So is being an AUDIOFILE insane I dont think so.

Let's see-- stuff in "present" system:
1. McCormack DNA2DX-- 3 yrs., but Rev. A upgrade 1 year.
2. SF Line 2 Pre-amp-- 4 years, but now in for SE upgrade.
3. ML transport and DAC-- each almost 2 yrs.
4. Vand. 5 speakers-- near new.
5. Syn Res spkr cables-- near 6 years and still excellent.
6. Syn Res ICs-- Active type-- less than a year.
7. Syn Res PCs-- about 2 years-- on everything.

But the above doesn't mean I haven't tried a bunch of other "stuff", especially ICs and power cords. It's the above components and wires that have survived in my system. Cheers. Craig

I occassionally buy something (or a few somethings) used as a "home audition", getting rid of whatever doesn't do the trick for me very soon for little or no $$$ loss. Obviously, many of the participants on this forum do the same. I don't really consider this as a component that I "kept" for only a couple weeks, since it's a bargain-hunters ethical way of auditioning components without leveraging the local dealer.

Of the components I "settled" on, I usually keep them for 1-3 years. If I wasn't married, or if speakers were less easy to notice, I'd try a bunch of different speakers, "keeping" many of them for less than a year, at least until I'd tried a bunch of different "flavors". -Kirk