This thread helped give me some perspective.
I felt like I have a fairly "modest" system, especially in comparison to some I've seen at friend's houses.
In fact, I have 4 systems, and the one I am listening to as I read this thread is my second system that I use mainly for streaming from my PC and listening to headphones. I started adding up the list price of the components in this system and it's somewhere around $12-$13K before cables, power cords, stands, vibration control, headphones, etc. Needless to say, there are more expensive pieces in my main system.
Having said that, for the most part, I've cobbled all of my systems together one piece at a time, often buying used gear (so this system probably cost me more in the realm of $5-$7K) and often "flipping" pieces I don't like or that don't work well with the rest of the system for close to what I paid for them.
I ask myself when I'll be happy. I always seem to be close, but there's always "If I just add______ or change ______, I'll be good".
I went through this phase with my photography hobby, and over the last 2 - 3 years I've hardly bought anything. That may be in part due to most of my purchases being for this hobby, but I think it's more that I've reached the point where I'm happy with what I have for the most part. There are always new camera bodies, lenses, and accessories coming out, but once I reached the point where I felt like I had all my bases covered and the gear wasn't holding me back, I felt like I could stand pat for the most part.
That's where I hope to get to with this hobby. I think I'm close, but I see my speakers changing in my main system at some point and there may be a better integrated in my future. For now the most pressing issue is to see about getting some acoustic treatment done as I think that my room(s) are probably holding my enjoyment back more than anything else.
I felt like I have a fairly "modest" system, especially in comparison to some I've seen at friend's houses.
In fact, I have 4 systems, and the one I am listening to as I read this thread is my second system that I use mainly for streaming from my PC and listening to headphones. I started adding up the list price of the components in this system and it's somewhere around $12-$13K before cables, power cords, stands, vibration control, headphones, etc. Needless to say, there are more expensive pieces in my main system.
Having said that, for the most part, I've cobbled all of my systems together one piece at a time, often buying used gear (so this system probably cost me more in the realm of $5-$7K) and often "flipping" pieces I don't like or that don't work well with the rest of the system for close to what I paid for them.
I ask myself when I'll be happy. I always seem to be close, but there's always "If I just add______ or change ______, I'll be good".
I went through this phase with my photography hobby, and over the last 2 - 3 years I've hardly bought anything. That may be in part due to most of my purchases being for this hobby, but I think it's more that I've reached the point where I'm happy with what I have for the most part. There are always new camera bodies, lenses, and accessories coming out, but once I reached the point where I felt like I had all my bases covered and the gear wasn't holding me back, I felt like I could stand pat for the most part.
That's where I hope to get to with this hobby. I think I'm close, but I see my speakers changing in my main system at some point and there may be a better integrated in my future. For now the most pressing issue is to see about getting some acoustic treatment done as I think that my room(s) are probably holding my enjoyment back more than anything else.