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Struggling with lateral moves & multiple systems, is it just me?

Do you have the same problem?

  • I used to, fully recovered now

    Votes: 17 50.0%

  • I have the same problem...what is the solution?

    Votes: 7 20.6%

  • I see this in my future

    Votes: 1 2.9%

  • I don't know what you are talking about, find a new hobby

    Votes: 9 26.5%
  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
I have two systems upstairs.One is my chilling out with vinyl or classical fm system.The other is the nobody home six pack cranking system.Three downstairs and they are all the six pack cranking systems.Two of those three are the rotating of whatever is around or just acquired system.
 
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I have two functioning systems, and probably have enough stuff lying around to build a third, if I wanted it. My budget dictates that all of my stuff is of a price, and is a mix of new and vintage. I buy stuff that I think would sound interesting, and I really like auditioning different combinations of components. It may all be just lateral moves, but I have enough stuff to provide quite a few possible combinations, each with it's own subtly unique sound. I'm having great fun mixing and matching components, and listening to more music than ever......
I suppose I could sell off some of the redundancy in my possession, and invest in one "really good" system, but, no matter how good it sounded, I'd always be curious about what it would sound like with something different in the mix. Sacrificing ultimate sound quality for versatility is a trade off I'm willing to make right now
 
I suppose technically I have 5 systems not counting the HT setup for the family room or the 3.1 system in the Master bedroom.

How I got here I suspect is somewhat common to many a AK'ER

Budget Constraints - At the time I got into this hobby 14 years ago I had two young kids on the cusp of College and my wife worked only part time. This means that from the time I got interested in Audio/ Music up until very recently I acquired gear and music on a shoestring budget.

Available Resources - Budget constraints as well available resources went hand in hand with how my systems evolved. Best Buy and the now defunct Circuit City were the primarily options for Audio gear in my area as my interest in Audio grew. Consumer electronics stores serve a purpose but generally they are not going to get you too far up the Audio ladder. The one independent dealer I was aware of for most of this time was primarily focused on selling you a $5,000 Home Theater system than trying to interest you in a good system. So when I bought a pair of RTR speakers at a local Goodwill for $15 my eyes were opened to the local thrifts. Thanks to the military retirees and the surging popularity of HT the local thrifts and Craigslist seemed to be full of decent 2-channel gear. I won't list my thrift store and Craigslist scores here but when you are lucky enough to buy over the years Klipsch Heresy's, Focal Cobalt's or a Theta DAC for pennies on the dollar for what they are worth it had an impact on how I went about building my systems.

Gear Enabling/Envy - Audio Karma is a great place for educating yourself and learning about every aspect of this hobby. However for me at least it also has had the effect of wanting to try to acquire so much of the gear which is mentioned here on AK. That impulse when added to the two situations above led to a lot of sideways drifting.

Fortunately the budget constraints have eased considerably in the past couple of years. I have also been the beneficiary of some great deals through some AK members and so I have built a couple of fairly good systems in the past couple of years and the sideways drifting has slowed to almost a complete stop. I also have been able to listen to some incredibly great high end systems and realized that I can be content with a system that falls somewhere on the lower end of the spectrum between that $15 pair of RTR speakers and the $275,000 Von Schweikert's I had the pleasure of hearing last Fall.
 
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I have one main system, with a few choices within it.

Yeah I have things plugged in, in the garage, a 9090db & CA-F1 & BA-F1, EV4 Speakers and what ever else I'm fixing up. In a bedroom I have a Acurus DIA100 amp and JBL C38 loaded cabinet right now. This is used for a computer mainly, but do have a CDP plugged in also that really doesn't get used. While others might call these systems I don't, they are just amplifying the computer sound, and the garage it's really just a test bed. There is no symmetrical seating, layout or concern to improve a situation like this. While a lot of what I'm using like this some might love to build their main system with. Well it isn't the best I have, nor the best space so who cares.

The main system, is setup properly, symmetrically and with seating to listen to the system. This is different it has a peruse to listen to music the best I can. Nothing I have is a sideways move to it, or if you prefer it's not a sideways move to the other stuff.

If you want to stop making sideways moves stop buying the same level of equipment. If you have a lot of the same level of equipment sell it and step up your game. I see many people going sideways, mainly because their spending habits, and or addiction to shopping. They will be the ones going out every weekend buying $150-$300 run of the mill components because they seen it. They never had that unit in mind, till they seen it, and have the cash burning a hole in their pocket.

But if they save it and keep their powder dry they could be buying $4000 preamps, $5000 power amps and so forth. Trying to improve apon better and far more expensive gear really will slow down the constant dragging home of components that are run of the mill cheap and a sideways move to what you already have 10 fold at home.
 
I've spent about twelve years buying and selling and trying different things. With items currently on hand, I could put together five systems better than any I'd heard as of about ten years ago.

Although some here would consider them to be mid-fi, any of them could be a satisfactory end game system for me.

My holdup is a decent listening space. I just don't have a decent room for listening or comparing systems and I don't want to pare down without doing fair comparisons.
 
With crappy weather on Saturday I spent several hours in my unheated basement purging old bills and paperwork. I got to play 2 cds worth of tunes on my basement rig, a McIntosh 2105/C-26 combo with a Sony ES cdp and some Klipsch Heresy speakers. Even in a tiled basement, I really enjoyed listening to the system. Later I prepped a bunch of cardboard for recycling and got to listen to the system in my work area, a Sony 500ES amp with another Sony ES cdp and some EPI speakers. It made the mundane task of slicing up cardboard and boxing it up pass quickly. I guess my point is if you get to use and enjoy the equipment, then it is fine. If it starts intruding on your life and affecting your finances, time to purge some stuff and get your priorities back in order.
I have given away equipment to others to enjoy, which is painless and sold some pieces which is more of a hassle, but the truth be told, I really don't miss the excess equipment.
 
I have a main system which is in what would otherwise be called the formal living room (from an architectural standpoint). Before I got into all of this we rarely ever used the room other than for the Xmas tree. it is just off the entry foyer and separated from the great room area. in tis room is my best stuff....usually. It is also pretty visible due to it's location so it is also a good looking "lounge" which helps with the wife. recently I told myself that I will no longer pull into that system anything that has not been restored as of yet. It is not cluttered with multiple pieces of gear, but I do like to rotate in speakers and turntables. It's meant to look finished and for use in listening to music. The acoustics in this room are pretty good for whatever reason so I haven't been inclined to go crazy with treatments. Others audiophile buddies come over and always comment on that.

The system that gets the most use is in my home office. It's a legit office that I run my business from and also a good looking room. I've let this room gather a few too many pieces although most are really nice and fully functional. One side of the closet has a bunch of drivers etc in it. I do like to rotate speakers in here as well.

A 3rd system currently resides in the Great room. Why not. It consists of a Fisher tube console and some separate speakers flanking it. This is a piece of MCM furniture that matches our decor so it's easy to excuse being audio gear. I will for periods of time put a nice receiver or whatever on top instead like right now a beautiful fully restored Marantz 4400 resides there.

So as far as the "gear" clutter goes, as an architect, the visual appeal of this stuff is a big part of my interest in it all so I'd say it looks pretty good as well. Not just cluttered up and displayed haphazardly. That's where many go wrong with this. Gotta think of the aesthetics.

Now, as far as the other aspect of the OP's question, yes I recently determined I need to start making some moves up the ladder in the main system. I think I too often hesitate to sell stuff as others come in, but I need to so I generate $ that can be dedicated to getting new pieces. I've been dropping $ into recent speaker builds too so I've neglected the gear to some extent. I use the Bluesound Node2 in my main system but I think I might be ready to elevate that streaming game a bit with a separate DAC or similar. I just hate spending $ on the digital stuff since it gets outdated so damn fast. I also need to finalize my Citation 1 preamp.
 
Im grateful I was a electronics and audio nerd from a very early age.

Therefor I was always looking at other folks stereo gear long before even being in the market to buy gear.
This exposed me to allot of different speakers and gear.

IMO I really think folks should try and hear as many different speaker designs as they can. As there are ALLOT
of different designs and sounds out there. Examples like, electro static, planar, full range drivers, transmission lines,
horn type, direct radiator, line array and many more. Easier said than done I know, but man do they all sound different.
I think this COULD at least lay the ground work for discovering what one prefers and what to build around. I own several
different designs and find each bring something unique to the table.

Also as others noted. Dont be afraid to spend a good deal of $ when the time comes. Clearly this comes with the caveat
of living within ones means. However Ive seen it and done it. Folks becoming obsessed with getting a “score” on something.
Rather than simply buying something they know they want at a fair price. And some times the “score” price is there for reason
(not exactly tip top). Yes sometimes only searching for a “deal” might keep some from ever discovering the next level.

Another factor I suspect is keeping ALLOT of folks from getting their system to sound just right. And or keeping folks perpetually
chasing the dragon of next level. Room treatment/setup. I know its been said quite a bit here and on other web sites. But its VERY true.
How gear is positioned in the room. Room acoustics. Tailoring the sound via all sorts of ways. This can make or break how potentially
great gear sounds and comes across. It goes way beyond bass response. Its also something I wish to continue to learn more about and execute.

One major factor I suspect folks also never discover how good their gear could sound is amplification. I know I will sound like a broken record.
Just it was a MAJOR eye opener how big a difference having a real amp with real power behind it makes even mediocre speakers sound FAR
better than they should. This will vary if folks are using super high efficient speakers (97db+ abouts) as they dont need much to open up. But those
make for a very small % of what most enthusiasts are using IMO. Im not trying to say all med range power receivers, tube amps, smaller watt Class A
amps so on dont / cant sound amazing also. And allot of it depends on how loud folks listen. Room size. Material listened to. So on… But I personally
feel ALLOT of folks would have a similar revelation to my own if they had the chance to hear their and other gear driven with a proper high power amp. IMO

Lastly, and this is a generalization, play around with things. I imagine allot of folks set it and forget it. And this can apply to all sorts of things.
Cables used, gain settings, media used, different play back devices, listening position, opinions of others, tweaks in general, so on…..
Just messing around with things can result in some amazing discovery. You never know till you try as is said.

The journey can and should be fun achieving the right sound. It has its pitfalls. And looking back on things I would avoid allot of my purchases.
But at least I learned along the way. And I know Im still learning and hope I always am.
 
onwardjames said:
You spend you whole life searching, obtaining, and restoring the speakers you dreamed about as a kid, only to come to the realization that you have to choose just one pair, perhaps 2.
Click to expand...
... at a time!

Realizing that I could only enjoy one system at a time helped me put the brakes on the pace of acquisition I had for a while. I've still got 4 intact systems plus enough pieces for ad-hoc setups in the garage, lab, or studio. My audio projects have been on hold for a while with house projects demanding more time and funds.
 
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