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I need help with my Equipment addiction

I can't leave well enough alone. My most disappointing days are days like today where I sit down to listen to my system, drink some wine, and unwind and... the system sounds great. I hate that. Nothing to tweak, everything is intergrating well: Clear highs, check. Fast, deep bass, check. Digital sound good with weight and impact, Check. Vinyl sound deep and well rounded with extended highs and excellent speed, check.

That's when the trouble starts. I start thinking, "What if changed cartridges?" "Well then I need a step up transformer, or a seperate MC phono stage", "Maybe I should just look at new preamps, even thbough I love mine now", "Then I need a separate phono preamp, I've always wanted an ARC preamp", then "Hey then I could buy an ARC tube amp for the high end of the Maggies and get bi-amp them"

Does it ever stop? How can I stop the cycle? I think I'm going to drink some more wine.
macdadtexas
tholt
551 posts
 
i suspect a huge number of people here are in your boat, which is why we're here in the first place. The urge to not leave well enough alone, to find 'better', an endless curiosity and desire to try more things, the itch to tweak incessantly...it's not really about the music...it's about how 'good' the music sounds...which of course could always be better. If i honestly asked myself which i prefer more, to listen to music or tweak my system, i would have to sadly answer the latter.

i feel your pain bro. Satisfaction is kind of a buzz kill.. Then again I do really enjoy listening to my system and can honestly say it's never sounded better then it does today. Which is exactly why I play it while poring over agon ads.
macdadtexas OP
1,794 posts
 
Tholt is my twin brother of a different mother. I don't know where you live, but I owe you dinner!!
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
If i honestly asked myself which i prefer more, to listen to music or tweak my system, i would have to sadly answer the latter.

It's surely a guy thing. If you tweak your system too much you'll go blind.
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
It's all futile. No point in it; you may as well give up. You can't win.

It's like the Twilight Zone episode I saw the the other day. Aliens come to Earth in order to "help" mankind. They are guided by a book entitled, "To Serve Man". They win humanity's favor and approval by showing how to be healthier, better fed, etc., then begin transporting people to their own planet for "extended tours". In horror a reporter learns that it's fixed - "To Serve Man"... is a Cook Book!

Eerily like your situation. Face it, your goose is cooked!
You know, there's a lot of really deep stuff pertaining to audio on Twilight Zone. ;)
valinar
473 posts
 
As much as I enjoy reading forums and occasionally posting a response, I recommend you taking a sabbatical from Audiogon for a period of time. How long? Depends on how long till you get that inner smile of contentment back while listening to your system. Maybe just a week, maybe longer.
Reading various threads and gazing the classifieds can easily stir the imagination along the lines - I wonder what that piece of equipment in my system would sound like.
I listened to "Dear Landlord" by Bob Dylan earlier today. A lyric from the song comes to mind-
"anyone can fill his life up
with things he can see but he just cannot touch"
If by chance you should decide to give my suggestion a try, enjoy the music, and we look forward to your return.
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