How does one get off the merry-go-round?

Pbb, I think Gunnar is saying something quite different. Human nature being what it is, sometimes it is what you deny and repress that you inadvertently empower. The Catholic church state side is sadly coming to terms with this fact. This is not the first time. Disavowing the worldly they ruled the world rather mercilessly for some centuries.

Turn away from food or sex and see what is on your mind most often.

All folks work their way through this, IMHO. Most of the great Christians were great sinners first (Paul, Augustine,......). If you deny the journey you deny the destination.

Probably sounds too much like pop psychology for a catholic.


Sincerely
I remain,

Yes, definitely embrace it Gunnar.

I think many centuries ago, Martin Luther would have made a fine audiophile. And if the day ever comes, rise up and fight against the Audio Inquisition.

2nd the -embrace it- theory. If you hear the expensive stuff you may realize it really isn't as great as it's hyped to be. If you don't go out and listen, well; your imagination can play on all the hype you read and make you think $20,000 speakers are that much better than $2,000 speakers. And if you do listen and they're better, you'll only be out $18,000 :-). Usually more bass and louder spl is all you get for more money.
I read about one guy who taped a picture of some $15,000 speakers over his humble rig and imagined that was what he was listening to.

My last post was written with a certain degree of levity in mind. Seems it didn't shine through though. People stateside (and elsewhere, I imagine) seem to forget all the good that the Catholic Church did over the years. I remember hearing not long ago on Public Radio a program where situations quite similar to those causing such problems to the Catholic Church were reported nationwide in the public school system. Two wrongs don't make one right, I readily admit, but could the propensity of the US way of doing things by awarding insane amounts in civil suits to those going after defendants with deep pockets be overcompensating some claimants and leaving others in the lurch? Seems strange to me that some think nothing of bankrupting the Church but bend over backwards to protect the billions of dollars ill gotten by the tobacco companies and reinvested in food companies as a way of protecting this loot. Well back to more important things.

Hard answer to find, and it is mostly personal for most. I am willing to share mine. I used to have 15K speakers, 3K preamp, 5K amplifier and so on....total cost of system around 25K. I downgraded with a smile, although I do admit that the smile came in after only 2 to 3 months as part of a ''reality check'' phase. I will not get into how I came to realize that I did want to get off, that's a whole other topic. Let's just assume that you do want off, but want to make it a painless as possible right? Here's My formula.

1. Get gear that LOOKS great.

There are many ways to get cheaper gear, and a lot of cheaper gear do sound pretty good. But I feel better if the gear happens to be great looking, so you can still be proud to diplay it (All audiophiles, while many won't admit it, love to diplay their gear). But the real reason is, it should look good to YOU. For my part, I went from a mega-buck Sonic Frontiers preamp and amp to an Audiomat Arpege integrated, arguably one of the sexiest looking unit regardless of price.

2. Get gear that sound good,but not at the top echelon of excellence.

This is hard because we have a habit of comparing, after owning expensive equipement that spoiled us. So....we must STOP ANALYZING AND STOP COMPARING TO THE PREVIOUS set-up, and think of the artist playing.

3. Listen to some cd's or LP's of the pre-audiophile days.

If you totally tripped on The Beatles's SGT Pepper album, or Billy Joel's The Stranger, or Pachelbel's Canon, or Vivaldi's...whatever, it should bring back great memories of when music was more important than the equipment it was played on (and especially what you were doing or where you were at that time). It did work for me! My first high school date was partly spent listening to ''The Best of Bread'' on a Pioneer SX-525 receiver, a dual turntable and some cheap housebrand, no-name generic speakers (wow, did it sound GOOD! back then... ) - in my mind, I have never encoutered a high-end system that could replay these songs as well as this system did that evening!! Joking aside, there is some truth to this...

Pursuing my downsizing, I went from magnificient 15K speakers to a pair of 2K Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home (going back to rule no.1 again, they LOOK great, and they sound good)Even my wife think they look beautifull - an easy feat with any Italian speaker really.

4. Take 10% of the expensive gear sold, and buy something sensible and practical - don't laugh - a new dishwasher or refrigirator will bring a tangible proof to your family that all is not bad in downsizing! A weekend getaway will also do wonders...

5. Lastly, get sensible but quality equipment for the rest of the system - Audioquest type 4 speaker cable (cheap but still ok),some discontinued Wireworld Equinox interconnects, DVD player than can do double duty (any of the flagship Sonys will do, the old 7000, 7700, and of course the superb 9000ES. (I'm selling mine as I am simplifying further to a dedicated, simple-box cd player.

And voilà, you have downgraded ''almost'' without pain and kept your dignity !! Of course, even a pair of Grand Pianos can be considered expensive and not really a downgrade for some. The important thing is, if downgrading is a path to follow, it's always possible to do so. Heck, you can always goo back to ''it'' in a few years if you want to. These are only toys after all...

Hope this made for an interesting read...Good Luck!