Are You Content With Your System?

Dr Joe, I want the same speakers!

I am not sure that my ultimate goal is to be satisfied with my system. I am sorry to say that if I ever did find sonic nirvana I would eventually screw it up by changing something. I am very content with this being my only obsessive vice. If I did not focus on this I might find something that would be much more harmful. The advantage of this hobby is that music is beauty and that I am always listening, though sometimes for the wrong reasons.

All that being said, I am content with my tuner. I have a Fanfare 1A and it has been the greatest audio investment that I have ever made. I listen to it more than any other source that I have and it provides me with great joy. I live right outside of Manhattan where there are a number of great radio stations and I never took advantage of them until I purchased this tuner.

I'm pretty sure I'll never be happy with my system because I'll always love music and will always want to be 'touched' more by it. Better equipment has always allowed the music to affect me more, drawing me closer to what can be a heart rendering experience - good equipment can bridge the gap between hearing music and experiencing a real event.

I recently had to offload a very expensive and very satisfying set of speaker cables for financial reasons and replace them with a pair a quarter the price. The decline in the quality of the music was immediate and all too obvious. I have to say I don't look forward to listening as much as I did. I used to throw disk after disk into my CD player and listen for a couple of hours with my girlfriend over a bottle of wine. Now, even she can't wait till my system is 'back in action' as she says.

Were my last few upgrades to result in scant improvement, I'd likely settle for what I have and think that I'm missing nothing. But my upgrades have yielded results. I've little doubt that improvements in equipment and consequent experience/musical appreciation await me as I invest more in my equipment. I can't wait.

Drewfidelity, I also listen to my Magnum Dynalab Etude Tuner more than my digital source. If you've got a good station locally with an uncompressed signal it's VERY good quality with the right tuner. I'd recommend the Magnum or Fanfare models Etude or 1A or above to anyone looking to discover new classical/jazz.

I've only been a balls out, crazy ass audiophile for a little over two years, and for the first twenty months wasn't very close to what I thought I could achieve sonically. A lot has changed recently because I switched to tubes and found power cords that are doing the trick for me.

For a long time I lived with bright, closed in, unmusical sound, that is now transforming into open, glorious music. About a month ago, I actually spent close to fourteen hours listening to my little system. I didn't have anything to do that day, but I was well rewarded.

So the question is, "am I content"? I don't know how to answer that, but I'm pretty damn happy!