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When is your system good enough-and why?

Frank van Alstine once suggested that this should be measured by how much time you actually spent listening to your system (not Frank's exact words, but my summary). When the sense of pleasure of the "rightness of the sound" is added, I agree it is an excellent yardstick. I have traded many systems that gave me great pleasure for more capable ones that did not. My listening time invariably plummeted.
Many have replaced tube based systems that were wonderful at low volume but failed at so called "realistic" volumes or with demanding material, with solid state replacements did the demanding material, but never delivered the pleasure of it's predecessor. I wandered about for years before discovering some of the particular characteristics that made all the difference to me (tubes, surprisingly were not among them). Rather than recite my list (and perhaps have to defend it), I would like to take the coward's way out and ask others what they have discovered matters to them sufficiently to make their system "good enough".
samujohn
bdgregory
1,721 posts
 
Aren't all hobbies about the journey, and not whether you reach a destination? That's my approach to this hobby. To quote . . .
03-21-07: Onhwy61
My system was good enough way back in 1988. But that didn't stop me.
. . in my case it was 1975.
beheme
231 posts
 
Agree with Bdgregory, NEVER, and the destination does not matter, just the journey...as a matter of fact, this hobby is a mirror of life itself: you always have enough because you always have more than the average human on earth but you never have enough because there is always something better or at least different out there...you can be content early and diversify your interest or you can always be chasing the Graal yet never invalidate the precedent choice, you can be happy never being fully satisfied or you can be unhappy to reach a state of satisfaction and then move on, you can change system when you are unhappy or you can work on improving your system when you feel it is becoming boring....but the ultimate system does not really exist and if it did, it would be very very sad and depressing. AMEN.
samujohn's avatar
samujohn OP
291 posts
 
Thanks for the remarks guys. I recently listened to a current Wilson system w/ Halco amps etc. It was very dynamic and in a huge room. My little living room would be lost inside- as woulld my bank account. However I did not pine, knowing as we do that a newer better system is just around the corner. My next thread will be about just that. What do we all want now!!. Get your list ready.
thanks to all,
Sam
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
For me the sound is a thrill and exhilerating experience every single time I listen (music or movie). I have no need to add gear anymore.

Realistic live music levels and a convincing timbre/soundstage presentation with low distortion is what does it for me (room acoustics and speaker are, by far, the most important factors to me). I respect that others will have different views... this is simply what turns my crank.

(I never experienced the constant struggle that others seem to face with CD players, DAC's, interconnects, cables and inadequacies of SS gear - all minor insignificant differences to me. I liked Vinyl when it was the only thing out there too. I'm just lucky I guess. I will admit to being frustrated that most modern pop CD's are deliberately compressed and sound like CRAP)
cdc
1,862 posts
 
It makes the music sound as good as possible. It doesn't cross the line where I start worrying about sounds and components - bad CD quality, bright I/C's, etc.
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