Hours sitting around just listening to music?

As if I didn't spend enough cash for my gear I have to fork up $$$ to send the better half out shopping so I can sit in the sweet spot and enjoy a nag free listening session. Worth every penny.

For most of my adult life, listening to music was a main priority. Indeed, I never owned a TV until I was 32 and never got around to cable or satalite until I was 44 even though I lived way out in the woods.

Most visitors to my home were welcomed with careful listening sessions to my newest favorite recordings. Some close friends spent "music" vacations at my home where we just spent time listening and discussing music. Often, I would spend 2 to 4 hours daily alone with my music.

Now I listen to 2 or 3 disks a week and I'm trying to figure out how to get back to the music.

What happened was so distructive to my enjoyment of music...

We had a direct lightning strike that "cooked" my system. Wires were melted, connections blown out of the back of compontents...

I had great insurance. They settled with my main dealer who made every effort to replace my system. The problems started when lots of things just were no longer made or easliy found in good condition used. I ended up with a system that cost me more than my "replacement" settlemnt and took 3 months to assemble. After several more months breaking in the new super high end speakers, I was getting back into the swing of things and then...

A power supply on an amplifier failed. It cooked the crossovers in my speakers. The amplifier manufacturer took 3 months to fix it (some companies don't stock parts for their stuff). Then the speakers had to be shipped back to Switzerland and then replaced at an expense of 4k...

Now it is 15 months since I've actually enjoyed music on a regular basis. The repaired/new system is finally broken in. I'm just having trouble finding the magic.

"Audiophile" simply defines as "lover of sound". What the hell is so pretentious about that? Realize that a good percentage of us became gearheads BECAUSE of lifelong love of MUSIC, the most sophisticated stimulus the brain receives from any senses, IMO.

I get in around 2 hours a day on average. Some days I get 3-4 hours in. Being retired with a wife that isn't, gives me the freedom to listen often and long. Still, I am afflicted with computeritis to some degree. If I could stay away from the internet, I could probably add another hour or so to my listening. Perhaps soon I will.

I'm surprised by the responses here and thought more folks would have intense listening sessions. I just listen to music when I listen-- there's usually no other activity going on. As a matter of fact, I avoid putting music on when I'm watching tv or surfing the net. I work plenty hard as a lawyer, so I can't have super long sessions, but when I fire the system up, I just turn down the lights and stare into space.

I'm a musician, so I can be a little more entertained by listening alone than most, and I'm single so I don't have anyone in the house distracting me. I only have my shrew of a downstairs neighbor to worry about :P

Funny thing is, my system is pretty mid-fi by most audiogoners' standards.

Just sharing my experience-- interesting question from Quicke