Insanely Expensive....and Worth Every Penny

Tbg: I would like to hear my gear on a Stillpoints rack someday. I just bought the Bassocontinuo rack system earlier this year and I am very happy with that unit.

Polk432: I hear you but when I buy, I tend to get the best I can afford for my ears and then I stick with it. I have had my MFA Ref for about 2 years now and I have no intentions of getting rid of it, in fact I added the MFA Baby Ref to the stable for the second system. I have a Graaf Modena which I purchase about 4.5 to 5 years ago and in fact had it modded so that bias and DC-offset can be done externally without ever moving the amplifier. When it sounds right, I stick with it. Now digital... as it changes I have moved from a Bidat and Dynastation 2 to MSB to Metrum Octave to AMR in the last 4 years... but honestly at this point my digital has outperformed (DRASTICALLY I might add) two +$40K analog (one using the Monaco TT and the other an Avid Acutus with SME 5 arm and Dynavector XVS1 cart) front ends so even in the digital front I am very stable. Also I have had my Acoustic Reality Thaumaturges for a couple of years and have not heard better, despite listening to the new Bat Rex amps, the Audiovalve Baldur 300 and the Ayon Orthos II's in a family members system.

Some people enjoy rolling new equipment, I don't I like to get the sound I am after and then stop :)

Audiofun, what you are doing is not insane. I like you purchase things that I want to keep. You have expensive taste and that's a good thing. Bybee speaker bullets, Ogden wires, rubber coated bricks, little pebbles, dots on the wall etc. are entirely different. I don't tweek often, but when I do, I prefer single malt Scotch. Stay hammered my friends, and happy listening. The most interesting audiofile in the world.

Polk432: Thanks and I like your shout-out to the Dos Equis dude!!!

if a component is insanely expensive, it may disqualify itself from purchase unless the purchaser is insane.

Recently, I bought some insanely expensive midrange drivers and horn (Western Electric driver 713b and 12505 horn). These were in perfect shape and well matched. A few months later, another pair went for a MUCH higher price on ebay (who knows the condition?).

I haven't heard midrange drivers I like better, and they appear to be appreciating in value (they were made some time around 1939, so depreciation due to age is no longer a significant concern). There is the possibility that someone will successfully clone the drivers, but, so far, the other attempts at cloning old Western Electric drivers have not been entirely successful.