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

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!

I read that our brain gets used to a sound after awhile, so we can come to enjoy a sensible modest systems like the majority of Europians. Even an esoteric systems can fail to satisfy us at moments, coz we get used to the sound and it simply doesn't "wow" us any more.

So I decided to settle with a system that is:

A) About 70-150 watts per ch amp - discreet and wide current.
Old marantz 2270
Parasound HCA 1000
NAD
Inexpensive tube amp

B) Speakers without listener fatigue that is bit transparent and liquid

Niles audio
B*W
Paradigm
Speaker City
Mission
Tannoy
Athena

C) Soft souning CD player without that steely digitalness
Parasound 88
NAD
Denon DCM 370


D) Silver cables DIY

I have been around live music all my life, and I can enjoy the sound of mid-fi systems. Some of the Hifi components have gone beyond live sound, which is not a bad thing, but if you are looking to creating a pretty realistic sounding system to enjoy music, you can do it for 2k. Just look at all the Europians with an integrated amp and bookshelfs, and they tend to take music more seriously than we (americans) do.

Krell sounds great, but I can't help thinking where have I heard live sound that is that liquid, transparent, and powerful? HIfi has created a new art field in this exciting period we are living in, but music can be enjoyed for less, coz esoteric HIfi has gone beyond live sound. I just wish the CD industry comes up with a durable CD player that matches LP sound - Still less texture in digital. Anyone in the industry, please keep pushing the envelop higher for faster processing of more info. - computer CPU has been getting faster - We can take advantage of this.

Really expensive Cd player doesn't make sense to me at this point, coz LP is still better.

So, to get off your upgrade bug, think about all the musicians who are happy with mid-fi - They say it is realistic enough to be enjoyed. Think about all the Europians with modest systems, and they take art appreciation seriously!

From the files of pop psychology, the actions that are rewarded are repeated almost unconsciously. When we buy a new component, it usually looks and sounds better, and we are rewarded, hence our habit of upgrade is reinforced. Manufacturers tempt us with beutiful looking pieces as if to say you can buy class and gentlemanship here.

So, while I am against constant bank breaking upgrades,
economical tweaks are always fun and educational. One of the benefits of dedication to a hobby is that we learn incredible amount with child like ease... and it's good for our brain, and keeps us young at heart.

You are right, we should get off this constant bank breaking upgrade bug - it will make our loved ones happy... and simply enjoy the music

The problem is, those musicians and Europeans you speak of don't have the disease we have. If we could be content--truly content--with mid-fi systems, I think many of us would be happy to do so.

How does one get off the merry-go-round? Find the system you love, that is, it gets you going, digging the music, it gets you wanting to get into more kinds of music, but whatever tradeoffs it has you can live with 'cause nothing is perfect. The merry-go-round can go on and on, and mine did, but pay attention to what you like and don't like and the lessons you learned. Be aware of these things and keep them in mind. Someday, you'll get there. THEN, you voluntarily get off the merry-go-round and be happy. Things just settle into place and it synergizes. Once you reach this point, don't second guess yourself. Keep in mind all you went through and realize there is no grail. You're already at the end of the rainbow. Now enjoy it for all it's worth.

But, FWIW, there IS a lot to learn and many different design philosophies. Enjoy the quest if you can and have fun. Don't give up too early if you simply don't like it. That final system doesn't have to be expensive either. There is lots of value out there to be found that will give you great sound.