Where do you draw the line???

Nate ... great idea for a thread.

1. I will not accept that LP's are worth the bother. I spent too many years in the 70's & 80's making cassette tape copies of LP's, because LP's were so easily scratched up.
2. I will not accept that there is not a market for audiophile quality stereo receivers.
3. I believe that pop music peaked somewhere between 1966 & 1968. It doesn't get much better than Gary Puckett & the Union Gap's "Woman, Woman."

I will never change my belief that the RIAA is a bunch of money grubbing sharks, doing the bidding of even hungrier money grubbing sharks.
I will never change my belief that the best way to fight the RIAA is to purchase only used vinyl over 30 years old.
I will never change my belief that stereo equipment makes sound waves appear as if by magic.
I have come to believe that yes indeed, as TAS used to crow, that CD's are a curse upon the land, and need to be banned as the work of evil minded con artists, wanting us to buy the same old albums all over again. (I still have 900 CD's and gave at least that many to my local library).
I believe that if I don'r like a CD, I should allow others to use it for free, and the best way to do that is to donate it to a public library, then I am screwing the RIAA and doing a good (legal) deed at the same time. (and for those whom itemize taxes, the donation is tax deductible!)
I believe that I will buy some stupid SACD's, when they actually put out some new music, that uses the formats capability, that I don't already have. (and I got like a dozen SACDs... I am not consistent am I?)
I believe that Dakinis dance on my cables when I have been a good girl.
I do not want to overwhelm some folks, so I will stop here!!!

People who need to draw the line seldom convince me of anything, except that they seek validation, which makes them even less convincing.

Tubes and the way they sound fascinate me but no way will I ever put a time bomb into my system just because it sounds good.

1) I believe that every component matters significantly enough that no one component is the most important
2) While cables are not components per se, they generally help make or break a system
3) There are lots of fine business/marketing/economic reasons for cable pricing, but the pricing is bordering on obscenity
4) Very expensive turntable systems will outperform cd systems (that is different than saying all or most turntable systems will beat all cd systems)
5) Tubes are not inherently superior to solid state
6) Acoustics do matter, but the human brain can also do a pretty good job compensating in most real life environments
7) Isolation matters for source systems (e.g., cd, tt)
8) Everyone's ear is different and preferences are different -- there is no best for everyone.
9) There will always be great music and great musicians
10) The music companies will be better served by lowering their prices.

Great thread!

The only beliefs that I hold dear are that (1) most of the folks who want to talk endlessly about what equipment sounds best have never optomized what they have by setting it up properly in a good listening environment and (2) its only the music that really counts!