Let's be honest. There is a massive difference between regular music lovers/record collectors and what we do. I have friends that are even way more into music than I am, (constantly reading reviews to hear new artists, and seeing them live), but they don't have audiophile systems. I have a friend who has an encyclapedic knowledge of rock, a music server that is always on, and way more cash than I do. He has those tiny Bose acoustimass cubes and a sub, and for him they sound totally fine.
I believe that the true harcore audiophile is a unique breed whoose auditory center is either more deveoped than the average person, or perhaps for whom the auditory center is more closely tied in with the pleasure center.
I believe that differences I hear as being huge improvements in my system, are often only modest if at all gains to the the average set of ears.
My father and older brother were always into music as I am (for my 6th birthday present my neighbors asked what I wanted, which I told them was the Beatles LP latest at the time, "Let it be.") So I had pretty advanced tastes for child, but my father never bought more than a very simple and cheap rig, and my brother uses much of the same rig he had in high school, in the 70's.
I on the other am close to insane with this hobby, and have always wanted better gear since I was in junior high, though I was never exposed to anything high end till I sought it out in High School (but couldnt afford it)
The defining moment for me was when I went into a store to have my Mac SE computer fixed here in Manhattan, and saw the store also sold Quad ELS 63 USA's. Since I had read about 'stats, I had to hear them. Even though they were only played with modest Quad amps I knew I had to have them. I had never heard music reproduced that life like before.
I started going to the better high end stores and was shocked I needed $4,000 of MIT cable even to get to the the level of what Lyric had at the time.
I soon discovered Audiomart, and bought my entire first system used, including Crosby Quad 63's and those MIT shotgun cables I has seen. (along with Spectral amp and preamp)
I basically duplicated the system I saw at Lyric but used at less than half the price and better sounding (due to the Crosby mods to the 63's). I even bought some gear used listed in the Sunday NY Times - anyone else remember when those classified were a viable place to buy used hi end gear?
That first high end system was CD based, but I did have an old $100 technics turntable from my high school system. I was shocked how good that cheap table sounded compared to the $800 Phillips 880 CD player, and I bought a real table. At that time in NY everyone was selling their vinyl by the miikcrate to local stores like St, Marks sounds. In the late 80's/ early 90's I bought over 3500 LP's which formed the basis of my rock and jazz collection today.
I now mostly listen to LP and tubes, and couldn't be happier. After I finish this next speaker upgrade, my system should be stable for a long time, except for cables, tweeks, and replacing phono carts since there is basically no where for me to go as far as upgrades, unless I can spend spend way over 6 figures, (which I can't)
I truly love this hobby. I love hearing music with all the emotion, tonality and sonic detail of the original recording session as possible. Most live shows are too loud for me, and live jazz (and alot is amplified which kills the whole purpose) is really expensive. I can generally hear better musicians in my living room than are playing locally that night, with a fidelity approaching live unamplified music at the volume level of my choosing.
