Are some of us losing our minds over upgrades??

It is not necessarily about the sound or equipment. It is a mindset, a personality trait with a propensity to want to make things better than stock, because it is fun and it appeals to that part of the brain that makes us feel good in knowing we have something "special", or one of kind or whatever. We just want something that the rest of the herd does not have because we might think that is part of the happiness formula.

Stereos, cars, bicycles, telescopes, computers, every hobby imaginable has an aftermarket bin of parts and stuff.

Remember Tim the Tool man who turbo charged his ride on lawn mower :)

People upgrade because they believe they can get $10K sound from a $1K player with $2K worth of upgrades. I wish it were true.

The only piece I ever had modified was a Fender Blackface Super Reverb guitar amp. In the early 80's, I was playing with a few guitarists who had to be the loudest one, you know the type. We were sort of purists using no effects or pedals. You know, "my only effect is the cord between my guitar and amp" type. Anyway, I purchased the amp in very beat up condition, not collector quality. My amp tech first made it "healthy". I then asked if he could do more. He asked for a couple of cassette tapes of a type of sound I was looking for. One I supplied was early Soundgarden album. After his work, I would play through the clean channel. (the reverb and tremolo would work with that) I then could throw a toggle switch hidden in the back and overdrive into the other channel. All controls available now!! Variety of sound variations. Normally, I would turn up to match the other guitarist, and of course, theirs would then go up further. They would finally reach an end where mine had plenty more! The REAL FUN was that I never let them in on my amp's secret. They all wondered how my amp could get so POWERFUL and DIRTY!! HA
And I never did blow the original speakers.

Thanks to all who have chimed in on this thread. It was very informative, and hopefully made us all aware of the pro/cons of modifying existing equipment Does anyone have the link for Modwright or John Modwright. I want to see what he can do for a Rega Apollo. Thanks, Jim

while mid-fi gear has its limits, i've not encountered mid-fi gear that couldn't be improved on immensely with mods (esp digital and preamps). speakers are tough to mod due to the overwhelming influence of the cabinet (how do you mod that?!?), and amps are influenced greatly by iron (hard to fit bigger trannys in a given chassis). but digital and preamps can get much better, and much better than high end gear at times (i've heard a modded esoteric DV50 kill an XO1-D2, and i wouldn't trade my modwright 5400 for the older P03/D03 setup straight up---however the K series is a different matter). preamps can get much better, but if its a volume pot, you'll never achieve the heights of uber gear which eschews them for ladder/single resistor-type volume controls.
its tough to get your money back out of mods though, no argument there. reminds me of everything else i've spent money on though. best bet: use a modder who's got a reputation and viable business (modwright, exemplar come to mind).