Does your system always sound good?


I've seen incredible rigs in the Virtual Systems section. I am curious to know if your system always impresses you. Sometimes I am blown away by the sound and the next day it just seems ok. Is this normal? I am trying to enjoy the music, but catch myself analyzing the sound. It could be that my speakers are still breaking in and it sounds different from day to day. At some point I think there must be some sort of acceptance factor that comes into play. Am I wrong? Can you actually put together a system that totally satisfies you all of the time?
nuguy
Well, no. I've noticed that most days it sounds great. But every once in a while after listening a while I'll realize that, in fact, it just doesn't sound as good as it usually does. It is usually about that time of realization that my wife turns to me and asks: "Does it sound as good as usual to you today?" And, we've both realized simultaneously that something is off, although nothing material in the setup has changed.
With two seperate observations of the differences it probably rules out subjective mood influences on perception. But something is different. And I don't really know what it is. Perhaps ambient temperature? Humidity? Somewhat lower voltage on the local grid? Static electric influences? Whatever it is, it makes a noticeable difference.
Yes -- as long as I don;t touch the speakers. It sounds "good" or slightly better than its "good" within the limitations of mains power and my perception (i.e. ambient noise 25-40db; moods: volatile; 3yr old: 112db, etc).
I suppose the system's own psychology comes in s/where..:)

As a rule the system sounds mediocre when you have friends over to listen to the system and often sounds suboptimum when you have friends over to listen to music. So we listen to music.:)
I KNOW that my system can sound wonderful, but the variables are 1) the mood I'm in, for whatever reason, and 2) the quality of the CDs I purchase. That being said, a glass of merlot or sauvignon blanc will always help matters!
My system now, always sounds great. With any music that I like, I am always amazed at the sound quality and the enjoyment I get from it.
For 2-3 years, our system sounded great sometimes, less so at others. I continued to change amps, cables, tubes--you name it--to try and find the configuration that would sound good all of the time. We stumbled upon the realization that in order to cover the gamut of our music collection, as well as fit our schedule/listening requirements, we had to have two things:

1) an amplifier we could leave on all of the time, so as not to wait for it to warm up, or run the risk of a fire if we left home with the amp on; and

2) an amplifier with enough power to make the most dynamic music come across with a sense of ease, as opposed to straining to pressurize the room with the sonic heft of the bass & drums.

We figured we would try out a McIntosh amp because we'd heard they mated well with our speakers (modified Klipschorns). Lo and behold, the amp took the tweaker out of me. For the past six months, outside of adding the ability to use a hard drive as the source, I haven't changed a thing in the system. And it sounds good on every piece of music, every day, and every TIME of day. I can leave it on all the time, making it easy to flip the mute switch and immediately have music at the ready. I don't know what the recipe is for someone else, but this combination works for us, as these past six months we've spent all of our 'audio money' on CDs.

Our system does not have the sense of realism that tube amps provide (although the Lamm tubed preamp does help to deliver the texture and emotional energy in the music), but it is engaging on a much more satisfying level than it was before. We plan to eventually get another pair of SET amps, but they will be for those special, attentive listening sessions, or for those times when we care to interrupt the zen of satisfaction with an ardent session of analysis. :-)