I'll take a stab at this and hope that it helps someone because this is what I learned as I spent the last few years building my system.
1. Avoid starting out and not having a philosophy or a goal of what you want to achieve.
2. Avoid starting out and not having a game plan that lays out your entire planned, or eventual system with costs, components, etc.
3. Avoid being influenced by people that have agendas.
4. Avoid not trusting yourself and your ears.
5. Avoid listening to (if it is reasonable and you believe that you are on the right path) the family members, friends, etc. that tell you that you are spending too much time and money building a good rig. (And maybe they start implying that they may have to do an INTERVENTION on you).
6. Avoid listening to (if it is reasonable and you believe that you are on the right path) the fellow enthusiasts, etc. that listen to what you have assembled up to that point and start criticizing your system and start telling you what you need to change or buy.
Buy the same token avoid NOT LISTENING to fellow enthusiasts whose opinion you respect and whom you believe have your best interests at heart just because you may not be ready to hear what they have to say.
7. Avoid being impatient.
8. Avoid not deciding if you want your system to be home theater centric or audio centric (assuming that you have to make that decision).
9. Avoid (and I know that this one is really hard for many of us) purchasing equipment without doing a home demo where you can live with the component for awhile.
10. Avoid buying a component that your are really not sure if you need it or what you will do with it but "heck, it was a really good price."
Hope this helps anyone that's interested.
1. Avoid starting out and not having a philosophy or a goal of what you want to achieve.
2. Avoid starting out and not having a game plan that lays out your entire planned, or eventual system with costs, components, etc.
3. Avoid being influenced by people that have agendas.
4. Avoid not trusting yourself and your ears.
5. Avoid listening to (if it is reasonable and you believe that you are on the right path) the family members, friends, etc. that tell you that you are spending too much time and money building a good rig. (And maybe they start implying that they may have to do an INTERVENTION on you).
6. Avoid listening to (if it is reasonable and you believe that you are on the right path) the fellow enthusiasts, etc. that listen to what you have assembled up to that point and start criticizing your system and start telling you what you need to change or buy.
Buy the same token avoid NOT LISTENING to fellow enthusiasts whose opinion you respect and whom you believe have your best interests at heart just because you may not be ready to hear what they have to say.
7. Avoid being impatient.
8. Avoid not deciding if you want your system to be home theater centric or audio centric (assuming that you have to make that decision).
9. Avoid (and I know that this one is really hard for many of us) purchasing equipment without doing a home demo where you can live with the component for awhile.
10. Avoid buying a component that your are really not sure if you need it or what you will do with it but "heck, it was a really good price."
Hope this helps anyone that's interested.