Five "Golden Rules" of HiFi?

1. Set a goal by listening to other systems.

2. Find one or two seasoned audiophiles whose opinions you trust, and then seek their advice.

3. Listen before you buy.

4. Trust your own ears.

5. Only buy new what absolutely cannot be found used.

4. Don't buy secondhand speakers (bad experience!)? Just asking why not second hand speakers, I have not had a problem in this area.Is it the weight when it comes to shipping and many not having the original box for this application to protect them during transportation.

My five are similar to yours, with a couple of modifications since I have had excellent experiences purchasing used speakers, and most of my purchases have been of used equipment that I couldn't listen to first. Here are my 5;
1. Protect your hearing,
2. have fun and enjoy both the eqipment and music aspects of this hobby,
3. interact with others about your system and music,
4. don't overspend, rather build a system within your budget that sounds good on your music, and
5. maximize system effectiveness - through room treatments, vibration management, and clean, protected power.

1. Research gear and set a reasonable budget accordingly.

2. Listen to as many live performances and audio systems as your can to help develop your ear and define your tastes and priorities.

3. If possible, connect with an audiophile/music lover community, preferrably local and/or online.

4. Determine whether you're a last 2% person, be realistic with repect to your given room and system components.

5. The room can be half the battle.

1: Focus as much time and effort to learn about new music as you do the music system. Afterall, it's all about the enjoyment of the music. Without this, what's the point to all the madness of assembling a system.

2: Learn to enjoy what you have rather than constantly being self-pressured to make changes/upgrades.

3: Keep an open mind. We often have expectations on how a component will sound or compare to another only to have the outcome be quite the opposite.

4: Network with other people in the hobby. There is so much to learn through friendships here.

5: Every link in the chain is an equal. Some links may take more time for us to find the "right" piece, but each can only perform at its best if all else is there as well. The result is a well-integrated system rather than simply an assembly of pieces.