Like others have said it is a hobby, can get pretty good sound for a couple of grand, even better for ten or so and after that it takes large upgrades of 30k or more to make much difference. Only as good as the weakest link, including the room the system is in.

At the moment my ears still hear pretty well (for my age) at some point that won't be the case, so enjoy it while I can.

KC911 I do agree with you that Vinyl has a lot of limitations, and is a pain, the high end digital processors have improved a lot over the years.

Fancy stereo is one of the few items I feel like I really get my money out of, since I use it and thoroughly enjoy it nearly every day.

Like all hobbies though I try not to take it too seriously.

Not sure if it was Cary. I only knew his buddy as Keegan and do not know who he worked for.
Or, Hot and Nasty, Roadrunner
Saw Pie in St Louis and in Milwaukee at Summerfest when a riot broke out. Not long before he died, Marriott played a low end club in my hometown. Couldn't bring myself to pay $5 to see how far he had fallen due to his excesses.

Audio Advice is where he worked.

zactly.

Buddy had four Advent Large he sold to me after getting four Infinity Quantum II's during his quad phase. Early 70's as well for him out of Washington during college.

Workhorses. I did foam and tweeters. Maybe one crossover.

4 Big Advents was the hot setup then. I could barely afford 2 even with quarter beer nights.k

I've always had fairly nice Hi fi gear going back to high school in the mid seventies.
Never the extreme high end stuff though. The one good thing about buying quality
gear, is it can, if taken care off last for decades. My Definitive Technology towers
and subs that I bought in the mid 90's still sound great and rock out. I've got a nice
Marantz receiver that I picked up used that combined with the Def Tech's are a nice
home theater system. The one current issue that complicates things is HDMI cables
from new widescreen tv's that might not be compatible with older gear. Fortunately
for me my Marantz is new enough where it has HDMI inputs and digital inputs as well
for home theater use. There are alot of nice used receivers and amps out there that
people have dumped because of the lack of HDMI inputs.

76 year old ears, worked in a sawmill, shot rifles, drag strips, etc. All done in the years before anybody used hearing protection.

A 6 transistor radio works for me...:(

That said, still have some middle of the road stuff... Marantz receiver, pioneer CD, nakamichi tape deck, old techiques linear tracking turntable,
'70's vintage JBL's I've had reconed.

With Cindy telling me she thinks I need hearing aids, I sure don't need to upgrade the old stereo.

I had 4 large Advents stacked. Drove them with a pair of bridged Hafler kit amps and preamp.

Had an assembly party that went on for 24 hours straight. Booze and drugs, amazingly they worked flawlessly for over 20 years.

My El Camino has two 3.5 inch speakers in the dash and no amp or subwoofer. That is good enough for me, but I do like music.

One of my friends is in to crazy expensive tube based stereos, and turntables. He has a golden ear I guess. He has said the folks with "just 100K" stereo systems are just getting to the good stuff. As a side business he sells tubes and repairs some of the crazy expensive stuff. He has clients in Europe and all over the USA.

It is just another expensive hobby. No different than boats or airplanes or race cars. Pick a hobby and the cost can be unlimited depending on your desires and checkbook.

Way back in 1970 I wanted to establish credit and buy a stereo system. My dad cosigned the loan and I bought a $1,000 system that in 2020 money is $6,652.45. The "state of the art" then was quadraphonic 8-track tapes and turntables.:eek: Dual 1218 turntable, and 4 Advent speakers, and a huge amp in a wooden case. It lasted me many long decades. The 8 track was discarded long ago.

This does all I need.:cool:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587505799.jpg

Back in the day, we used some substances that would, ahem...enhance the music organically.....I swear seeing some of the Pink Floyd tracks. This was on mediocre $1000 systems.

I remember seeing Johnny Winter, late 80s in a club on University....I couldn't hear for three freakin' daze :).

The only way THE BAND sounded good.

You rascal!

I can relate...

In my teens/early 20s I lived in a town with an expensive private college and went to college at the private school in the next town. The kids in the private college would show up with a cheap stereo and a hundred obscure albums while the state school kids would have more expensive equipment, but less interesting music.
That's just generalizations of course. It was a state school kid who introduced me to NRBQ's first album with "Kentucky Slop Song" "Fergies Prayer," "Lisa Jane," etc


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Well, that explains my problem.

middle of the road stuff... Marantz receiver, pioneer CD, nakamichi tape deck

I'm gonna say those are very nice items, esp. the Nak decks (tho their greatest Dragon has been laid low by the sword of St. Digital)

Imterestingly, there is a shop/guy where I grew up that buys and resells this vintage equipment and seems to do quite well. Couple buddies have sold him Pioneer and Sansui stuff recently. Apparently, there is a good market for older pre digital stuff.

Yup. And at least in part because of that "proper" listening, I now need the same level of volume just to hear it ... :(