Burned out Audiophile - Trying to Find some Zen

I have also been an Audiophile for over 35 years and also was co-owner in an audio salon. I burned out once and did not have a system for three years. After that time I slowly began to realize that external pressures as in, Stereophile and Absolute Sound and Audiophile friends with their crash and burn system changes, put me directly on the upgrade treadmill. Don't get me wrong, I was willing to do so and it was ultimately my fault, but it had to change. I slowly rebuilt an Audiophile system that was hand picked by me, through the experience of listening to equipment that satisfied my sense of nirvana. I lived with that system for six years without a change. I recently seriously upgraded and isolated the A/C in the system and speaker and pre-amp and cabling were also upgraded. I am truly satisfied with system before and after the upgrade and continue to listen to music two hours a night. I still read Sterophile and Absolute and still have audiophile friends, however; I think I have matured and keep the external influences in perspective.

A friend of mine recently worked for Harman International. With his employee discount, he put together a honkin' Levinson/Revel system (well over $10K retail). Then he got downsized. So, he sold all the gear and replaced it with a stereo Tivoli table radio and a Walkman (about $300 retail).

He still had surprisingly good-sounding music, and a fat wad of cash with which to pursue a new career in antique clock repair.

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Me, I've only just now hit The Wall. I have as much, and as high quality, equipment as my budget can afford and my room can accomodate. Unless I win the lottery and/or move to a bigger house, there's no sane investment I can make in my system. I'm trying really hard to relax and just listen to the music. And there is a Zen to it, the Zen of not trying, which I only seem to acheive at the worst possible moment, like this morning, when I absolutely had to get out of The Chair and go to work...

While I am not burned out, I do try to be careful not to go crazy and spend big bucks on the "latest and greatest". I try to stick with a game plan.

That said, you may want to take a look at vintage gear. Buy yourself a nice 70-80's receiver like a Pioneer, Kenwood or Sansui, some old Advent speakers and a source and just enjoy the music. Very nice sounding, inexpensive, great build quality, and great to look at.

Good luck,

Anyone read the book "Affluenza"? It may be a cure for Audiophile burnout.

I started out in 1965 or so as a teen.
So I have been around awhile.
At this point I am just wanting to have some RELIABLE, equipment, that sounds ok.
I have been recently (last two years) buying up LPs (14,000.. then tossed 3,000) and just since December 2004 gotten about 300 Jazz CDs also.
I like to tinker a little bit with the equipment, but try to keep anything that is pretty good sounding for a long time.
i do go in cycles where I decide to start looking for something... but no too often.
The last group of items were all Phono stuff. (all from the goN')
My current system is satifying to me.
If I had to pick one area where the Audiophile community has gone 'nuts' so to speak, it would be cables, and powercords.
The other problem is 'state of the art' at $20,000 and up.
The manufacturers concentrate on the small super high end and seem to ignore the middle ground. If they invested as much time in creating $1K to 2K products, they could sell a *ell of a lot more of them...