I think I would still be looking more at the question of how and why does something blend (or not) and work well (or not) with something else. That means a nice fat budget to buy used equipment and flip it back out if I don't like what I'm hearing.
That and probably some formal education from a technical college to round out my electronics knowledge. There's more fun in this hobby when you have a soldering iron in one hand and a schematic in the other.