Are You Content With Your System?

lev: i think this is a zen question, equivalent to asking "are you content with your life?" the answer, of course, depends upon your perceived (or actual) state of enlightenment. as for me: i'm still tryin' to figure out which mantra is truly my very own. . -cfb

As a sort of generic response, I think a lot of A-gon folks have indicated their satisfaction with their systems by listing them in the "Virtual Systems" section. There is a lot of food for thought in those posts, and I commend them to anyone who is looking for ideas on building a synergistic system.

Yes, I am content with my "big" system down in my listening room. I love it, in fact. I have never heard anything like it. Thank the Lord I do not have access to the sights and sounds of the systems of the others on this site, or I'm sure I would become discontented. To satisfy my never-ending curiousity about other products, I have two other systems in other rooms, not ideal rooms or ideal systems, but different, and enough to give me a flavor for all the rest that is out there. However, I have still never owned or heard electrostats in my home. I'm sure I'm missing nirvana. Do yourself a favor and stop cruising the classified ads every day (as I do), and you will keep relishing those lights-out moments w/a glass of wine while an incredible new disk is playing on the system you already have.
PS why don't you add a vinyl rig to your system? Even a modest one would give you much more food for thought (and tweaking).

Very difficult to grapple with, but a good question. I guess we've all got the same disease to one extent or another or we wouldn't be cruising and perusing here on the 'Gon. Like Sarah above, I love my "big rig".

But, as an example of this goofiness, I've had a Sonic Frontiers Line 2 pre-amp as part of my system for nearly 4 years now, and keep telling myself that it's likely my "weak link" musically, so I keep trying to replace or upgrade it. I tried the SF Line 3-- didn't like it-- three different sets of tubes-- didn't like them either and keep going back to the stock Sovteks.

In the context of the "high end", the SF Line 2 is modestly priced at $3300., but when I'm totally honest about it, I'd have to say that this pre-amp is excellent in my system, and I can't actually describe why I want to replace it, or what music quality music quality I hope to improve.

And you clowns aren't helping;>) Cheers. Craig

After attending a live jazz / "world music" performance last night, i have to say that i'm VERY pleased ( and kinda shocked ) at how well one of my systems does. For the last few days, I had been listening to a reference level live recording of the same performer that i went to see. Low and behold, there wasn't any percievable difference between what i heard at home and what i heard at the concert hall ( in terms of transients, timbre of instruments, etc..). If anything, i would say that vocals are cleaner and clearer at home than they were via the PA system. Someone REALLY needs to go into business designing and building "hi-fi" ( or at least something that sounds "natural ) sound reinforcement cabinets.

Keep in mind that most of what i was hearing was direct off of the stage with a small amount of "reinforcement" fed through the PA. This is a very small venue and can hold appr 200 seated people comfortably and 300 people somewhat packed with a lot of them standing. Last night, it was completely packed with 400 people in attendance. Somehow, people still made room enough for a large part of the crowd to start dancing.

It was a good show and really helped confirm that i've been on the right track. I've still got work to do on this and my other systems, but it doesn't seem like as much of a chore now : ) Sean
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