How do you "downgrade"?

I believe that one box vs DAC-transport very often have the same price depending on the brands compared with only difference of extra spending on digital cable that can be bought at minimal price without hurting overall digital performance(~$20 at pro-music store such as Sam-Ash) Since in digital playback you cannot go "lower than floor" you won't need to even think spending over $50 for 1m of a digital cable in any case.

The main downgrade to consider is CABLES. Yes they do matter especially on analogue domain and they can change imaging and bass extension, but only for a few percent of overall performance. There are plenty of high quality and extra low-priced cables that you can acquire instead of current expencive.

I prefere to buy unterminated cables(speaker- and interconnect- as well) and terminate them myself. So some little DIY will help a lot and not only with cables. You can also brew yourself a nice passive preamp if you have large enough output from your source component(s)

You might also consider changing NOS tubes to a regular ones that are designed by manufacturer.

IMO I would downgrade my source last since I've built system basically from the source(believe it or not from the turntable cartridge) and first "victim" will be power amp.

One more tip: You can choose downgrading your car as well!

I concur that the first reply was very well put! I would rather see the word "downsize" rather than "downgrade", as was mentioned, downsizing may not mean sacrificing sound.

There are more and more exceptional integrated amps everday and many wonderful one box CD players.

I would be classified as "downsized" and absolutely love my system. (This doesn't mean I wouldn't ever change. LOL - Gotta put my disclaimer in, you know how we are.)

My biggest downgrade if you can call it that is cables. All my (new price) $1000 to 1500++ cables are gone, replaced by some costing in the $250 to $300 range new, plus some +/-$300 used cables that are 95% of the megabuck cables as far as detail, but have more synergy to the music to my ears. Some of this money went to power cords which I had never taken much time with before.

I guess since the power cords got upgraded, I did not downgrade the system, I shifted its emphasis.

I also sold off my megabuck CD player a little over a year ago. Digital seems to change so often, I really decided they depreciate too fast. I am happy with spending $450 for the Stan Warren DVD variety in one system, and Stan's modded Aiwa/MSB combo in the other. The DVD player is 95% of the megabuck player (at 15% of the cost), and the Aiwa/MSB as good or slightly better. When they become old technology, I'll still have a decent spare DVD player for the HT system, or for use with a spare bedroom TV. The Aiwa is a throw away/give away, or yard sale item, it costs so little.

First, go for gear that LOOKS GREAT. No kidding, the subjective loss will be easier to take, the musical loss also. Second don't start comparing or expecting the same sound as the previous megabuck system. In a way , let's be less analytical about the whole thing. Let's just settle for an overall pleasant sound. Lastly, get the best speakers you can afford within your system. You will probably not extract the last ounce of quality from an integrated amplifier, as there are great ones out there, however, we get to the "limits" of a speaker much faster and it has a larger role in the overall sound quality in a more modest system. I went down from Verity Audio Parsifal speakers, Sonic Frontiers Power 2, the list go on, and it's not that bad after all !!!!