end game audio system -- how do you know you are there?

just saw this thread topic. seems like it was calling me.

i've been on a 26 year run of serious system building, including a no holds barred purpose built dedicated room. and i'm actually at that "know you are there" end game point right now. this last year i've added 3 more turntables and associated gear, and the last of those pieces (three cartridges, another turntable and arm, and 2 exotic cables) arrived in the last 30 days. a couple years ago i upgraded my digital, and two years ago added my 3rd tape deck. 5 years ago i finished tweaking my room, a year ago my long term amps were upgraded.

there was actually a strategic plan somewhat driving this; i'll retire likely in the next 20-30 months, and i did not want to be in acquire mode any more. and for my particular sonic tastes and speaker type, i'm where i want to be and there are really no forward jumps left. i'd need to change to horns or dipoles or some other driver tech to really take things in a different direction, and not interested.

my system fulfills my reference sound in my head, checks all the boxes, every time i listen it excites me. no unfulfilled gear lust. never wanted to listen more than right now. i'm happy. so i feel i have reached a system status where it's at the point to stop and smell the roses.

so for me it's a combination of (1) finishing my system plan completely, and (2) anticipated life changes. i did invest more than most into hifi, but got a big level of satisfaction too. and i'm not stopping my enjoyment or selling off my gear; now it's time to just listen. i will likely be buried in my room.

time to go fishing ('catching' is a different thing).
 
Fishing in your neck' means downrigging for salmon (boring). Mike, don't take this the wrong way but you're never 'there' :) I cant be the only person that has watched you and your system grow into what it is today. You managed to do it quickly and reach the pointy end in under a two decades--which takes most of us at least three, if not more. So, for the sake of being modest lets just say you're taking a respite until after you retire, then its back to no holds barred :)
 
puroagave said:
Fishing in your neck' means downrigging for salmon (boring). Mike, don't take this the wrong way but you're never 'there' :) I cant be the only person that has watched you and your system grow into what it is today. You managed to do it quickly and reach the pointy end in under a two decades--which takes most of us at least three, if not more. So, for the sake of being modest lets just say you're taking a respite until after you retire, then its back to no holds barred :)
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Yep, pretty sums it up for Mike as well as all of us [emoji851]


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puroagave said:
Fishing in your neck' means downrigging for salmon (boring). Mike, don't take this the wrong way but you're never 'there' :) I cant be the only person that has watched you and your system grow into what it is today. You managed to do it quickly and reach the pointy end in under a two decades--which takes most of us at least three, if not more. So, for the sake of being modest lets just say you're taking a respite until after you retire, then its back to no holds barred :)
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well......my neck of the woods extends to the Aleutians. and i was clear that the catching part was not significant. it's more where you are than what you catch. best cruising in the world from here to there......and i will have time. with some fishing thrown in. but not quite ready to do that yet. moving that direction.

as far as my system and whether i'm done, it's fair to say we have to just see how that goes. i know how i feel about it right now.

if you were me, what would you aspire to do to get to a higher level of hifi performance along the same path i've been on? show me what i should be thinking about. and not being a smart ass, just curious where i still need to go.
 
aKnyght said:
having spent the past 2+ years slowly and methodically building / upgrading my system, i must say that at this point i am really, really enjoying it. when listening critically, i no longer find myself thinking that i need to upgrade this component or that cable, etc. instead, i find myself thinking about things like the quality of the recording.

honestly, i do not think embarking on another upgrade cycle would increase my listening enjoyment one iota. so, i may have reached my version of the proverbial end-game.

however, that being said, the tinkerer/hobbyist/audiophile in me says this is a heck of a lot of fun -- keep going!!

just curious how others here know when they have reached or will reach their end-game -- and once there what do you do?
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I don't know about anyone else, but...I listen to music. That's the whole point, IMHO. Not to be churning "gear."

So, given that, I'm pretty darn close....I am very intrigued by the Spatial Audio M3 Sapphires, though. If they are as good as I think they may be, I may flip my Harbeths for them. Or, maybe my big Dyns.

And then, I'll be done.

And that will be nice.
 
In all honesty....

I could have easily stopped 3 years ago with my end game systems (as I have 2 I play with).

But .... I still have a job and like it. So I've been able to get even a better to my ears and toe tapping system since then.

So I'm HAPPY AS ..ck to have this as my end system. But ..... will I stop. HAHAHAHAHA. that's funny!!!!

At some point - my end system requirements will probably change. Just like my wife and I went from a 4,000SF house to a 1,400 sf house 5 years ago and love that change!!
 
IDK, My system sounds great and my whole excuse for spending so much(for me) was because it's my end game system, but change is fun so i'll probably build a smaller 2nd system, or another motorcycle. First world problems eh.
 
In my view you are there when each time you are listening to music you get a big smile and think ‘WTF’. It took me about 30 years to get at this point. About 10 years ago a finished my dedicated room, wherein I made hardly any/no compromises and that provided me with a lot of relieve in my head. After that I upgraded by system in quite big steps and in a structured way. Currently no clue what I could do to improve it even further, but going back to the first sentence... if you have well recorded content and you are dragged into the music, you should be happy and conclude that you reached your end-point. Stop spending money on hardware and buy music.
 
If your neighbors love your music you're doing it right!!!
 
My feeling is as Jan said. I sit down in my listening room and never cease to be stunned by the sound my system creates. I can be taken to the world of any performer that is playing at that time.
I'm sure there may be some power supply upgrades and possibly a cable or 2 that gets changed but I don't have any need to move on.
 
bzr said:
If your neighbors love your music you're doing it right!!!
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I used to play my music very loud while in college. Years later a person who lived in the same building told me that I played the music very loud and that he could hear it from several rooms/floors away. Then he said that he never complained because he really liked what I was playing. I enjoyed it too and did not even know that “high-end” existed.
 
nicoff said:
I used to play my music very loud while in college. Years later a person who lived in the same building told me that I played the music very loud and that he could hear it from several rooms/floors away. Then he said that he never complained because he really liked what I was playing. I enjoyed it too and did not even know that “high-end” existed.
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I can relate to this. i had a neighbor that used to yell out between songs to turn it up. We moved into another house but eventually sold that & returned to our previous dwellings. The neighbors told me again that my music just seemed so good & don't be shy on sharing....
 
Earlier this year when I upgraded to the Wilson Alexx I realized after a while that I was no longer listening in terms of audiophile terms but just enjoying the music. Before the speakers I was always thinking I'm almost there as this or that isn't quite right ... Now I'm done with this version of the system as I have no desire to change anything at all. Also, ignorance is bliss! :-)

George
 
Probably depends if the hobby is the music or the gear. Having the ability to swap out components that accentuate a different spectrum of sound and make old songs sound different enough to be interesting again can't be dismissed.

My current system is the most natural sounding i've heard anywhere so I'm done right? hmm.
 
I like the way Chris put it. It will never really end if I'm healthy, happy and have and income, and interest in audio. At the least, I will wear out a cartridge. Tubes will die. Something will fail. Something will need tweaking. I am already thinking I want new caps In my speakers. Will I make big component changes. Maybe, maybe not. I don't want to. I have other hobbies and activities that fulfill me too.

As for Mike L. His new quest should be to slowly shrink it all. Take it from the massive towers to a single driver and 2.7 watts😂
 
I have basically had six different systems in my listening room over the last 28 years. Three of the systems produced stellar sound quality and musicality and the other three were disappointments.

The moral of my story is breaking down a great sounding system and replacing it with a more expensive one does not always result in better sound. The winning systems were system one (Denon, Bryston, Apogee), system four (Esoteric, Pass Labs, Revel) and system six (MSB, Vandersteen, Vandersteen). Each of these systems produced magical sound.

Ken
 
Hi Carlos,

I hope all is well with you. I know you’ve had some amazing gear grace your listening room over the last several years. It would be interesting to hear where you’ve landed and if you are content or if further system changes are planned.

Best,
Ken
 
Alpinist said:
I have basically have had six different systems in my listening room over the last 28 years. Three of the systems produced stellar sound quality and musicality and the other three were disappointments. The moral of my story is breaking down a great sounding system and replacing it with a more expensive one does not always result in better sound. The winning systems were system one (Denon, Bryston, Apogee), system four (Esoteric, Pass Labs, Revel) and system six (MSB, Vandersteen, Vandersteen).

Ken
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Hi Ken,

Hope you are well and throughly enjoying your current wonderful MSB-Vandersteen system.

I can relate totally to your post. In many ways, for me the enjoyment of this hobby, aside from the pure listening pleasure, also comes from continually learning new things about audio, and applying that knowledge to hopefully improve the listening pleasure; even though the improvements quickly reach a point of decreasing marginal benefit per unit cost.

So I’m curious to hear your thoughts on what, in your case, motivated you to move from system 1 to 4 and then to system 6, although the two systems previous to 6 “produced stellar sound and musicality”? And what specific improvements do you feel you gained in system 6 versus 1 and 4?

Thanks


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Kingrex said:
I like the way Chris put it. It will never really end if I'm healthy, happy and have and income, and interest in audio. At the least, I will wear out a cartridge. Tubes will die. Something will fail. Something will need tweaking. I am already thinking I want new caps In my speakers. Will I make big component changes. Maybe, maybe not. I don't want to. I have other hobbies and activities that fulfill me too.

As for Mike L. His new quest should be to slowly shrink it all. Take it from the massive towers to a single driver and 2.7 watts😂
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:rolleyes:

as far as shrinking it all, or a different amp/speaker approach, i suppose how my life evolves with pending retirement is maybe the significant issue. i'm prepared to continue this level of involvement in the hobby, and with this room and system, but when i don't have the 6 day a week work focus and stress, will i view all this as essential anymore? right now it fits perfectly as a balance to work.

anyway that is the prism i'm viewing this through. i'm not going to continue this approach as some sort of shrine, it has to be what i love to do to keep this up. i could see fewer turntables, i could see fewer tape decks. a different speaker/amp approach? the only reason i might do that is that i've gone as far as large dynamic cone speakers can take me, and do believe that my room/system is able to do horn-like or planar-like things already. but would a change be enough fun to go to the trouble? or might i move from my room for life style reasons and then be able to try something different for difference sake?

i have interests and repressed hobbies (i've not given the needed time or resources to) that might rise up and command more of my time and so could push hifi to a different spot in my life. no way right now to say for sure how that will go.

i will simply follow my heart and keep on keeping on.
 
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