I hope the best "component" I ever owned is the one upcoming, a new dedicated listening room I plan on building within the year. I am no equipment horse and have had fewer pieces of components over the years than many here so my experience with different gear in my system is quite limited although I've heard much over the years and well know what is important to me in well reproduced audio. I am a careful buyer and have been lucky that I haven't fallen prey to any piece of gear that didn't have its merits. To date unequivocally the piece that has pushed (forced) me to re-evaluate every component in my system and make forthcoming changes are the Merlin VSM-SE currently being upgraded to M's. Every time I upgrade a component, these speakers just raise the bar. I guess I'll have them for a while because they involve me with the music in a way that has never happened before. Gotta find their limit if they have a limit. My long time warhorse is my SOTA Sapphire turntable which I have owned for 15 years along with the JVC 1050 CD player (10 years) which I use as a transport. Bottom line, I like long marriages more than short honeymoons.
