Seems I'm really done!

@zavato, Congrats! I have been there myself on several occasions. Hopefully you have a better run of success staying there than I have. Having my system dialed in perfectly many times doesn't stop me from making changes, often screwing things up again in the process.
DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!

@davidpritchard , do you work for Synergistic Research? I see almost all of your posts seem to be pushing the SR brand.

I do think after an audiophile has a speaker, amp, front end, and room acoustics picked, the audiophile can then make or break those choices with cables, fuses, and A/C outlets.

David, I totally agree with you on this point. I have tried a few different fuses and outlets, and many, many, many cables and cords over the past few years/decades. After decades of trying different cables/cords, I am of the mindset that ANY gear can be made to sound good or bad depending on the cables/cords used with the gear.
I have heard cables sound terrible with some gear, sound fabulous with other gear. I have heard some gear sound terrible with some cables, and fabulous with other cables.

It's all about system synergy and personal tastes, IMHO. I feel so strong about this, that I don't know that I agree with this statement of yours:

 I have tried to report what I have heard as so not everyone will have to repeat the experiment.

While a noble sentiment, I don't know that there is any substitute for personal trial and error. What sounds good to me may not sound good to you, and vice versa. Also, since we are probably using different gear, I tend not to take anyone's opinion as something that will prevent me from running my own "experiments".
I have owned too many highly praised items over the years that did not work in my system to think that anyone can perform an experiment that will save me from having to repeat the experiment. 

I've also learned that if someone is happy with there current sound to congratulate them. I do not try to stir the pot to continue to feed the disease.
I've been perfectly happy with my system a few times in the last 30+ years. I wished I could have learned to stop and just enjoy the music.

It seems every time I'm "perfectly happy" I  get bored after a year or so and try to "better" my system by trying some great new XYZ that the Net and/or Mags rave about, only to screw up my perfectly tuned in sound.
Then it takes me a year or two to dial the sound into where I am happy again, but the cycle will repeat itself.
Sigh.....like a dog chasing his tail, this is what we do for fun.

If genuinely happy  why the boredom rather than continued happiness with a  well conceived system?

Good question Charles. I don't know if boredom is the correct word. I know myself, and over the decades I have found that I can remain happy for a longer time if I 'leave' the audiophile community. For me, glossy rags and audio forums drive the desire to upgraditis. That feeling that something new has come along and audio now is better than ever. I feel in many ways, ignorance is bliss. Many folks live for decades very happy with one set audio system. Those folks tend to not read audio magazines or frequent audio forums.

Those who know me know that perfect sound is not my goal, at least not the highest possible resolution. Like any other audiophile, I like to balance the sound to my tastes which lean just slightly to the warmer side of neutral. From what I have read, I would say the majority of members here tend to like more definition and analytical sound then I do. Some like it warmer than I do.

At it's core, I think it is man's nature to be a hunter, finding ways to seek 'better'. Whether that is a better car, job, audio, whatever. I feel that most of us on these forums are hunters, few are happy nesters, at least in the audio realm. I have been married for over 32 years, so I'm not hunting women, or homes, or cars. Audio is an outlet where I find it difficult to settle down though. Eventually, I find my way back to the forums, and soon find the idea churning that I am missing out on something.

Of course not all of my audio happiness has been disrupted by 'boredom'. I have had to disassemble systems I was perfectly happy with due to unforeseen economic disturbances as well. When the well runs dry, many times priorities change. Not fun, but life does go on.

Charles,

My specific audio goal is to make the music as enjoyable as possible to me, within my constraints of budget and room parameters. Obviously many factors figure into designing a well organized system, and many of us have certain restrictions to work with.

After many  years of playing, I am now of the mindset that all of my goals cannot be accomplished with a single system. Since so much depends on the quality of the recording, and the genre of the music. Trying to find just one system that will perform best with all types of recordings/music has lead me to believe that one system simply cannot do it all. Perhaps if my musical tastes were more limited, this would be feasible.

I have been to the home of other audiophiles who are fortunate enough to have 2, 3, or even 4 systems. Ones where they can adapt different systems for different types of music as well as different quality of recordings. SET/Horns for small intimate quartet music, large dynamic speakers driven by solid state amps for large orchestral/rock music, etc., etc.

In my opinion, this would be the way to go if I had the rooms/money. Unfortunately I do not. So I try to balance one system the best that I can to suit my tastes, which vary from rock, jazz, blues, classical, and more. 
A difficult, if not impossible task. 

I would say that I am not satisfied with my system in it's current iteration. I recently changed my front end analog and digital components, which of course requires more tuning with cables/cords/fuses, etc. 
I am in the process of tuning the system now. I have done this several times over the decades. Hopefully, this time, when I finally have it all dialed in to suit the majority of the music I listen to, I hope to leave it alone.
Accepting that it is impossible for any one system to do all things perfectly is the first step to accepting limitations of a system. 
The key is to not touch anything once you have a system performing up to your expectations. Once happy, do not change ANYTHING, not even a fuse. In my experience, ALL changes have ripple effects that may (usually do) require other changes to be made.

Cheers,
John

I’ve actually found one system can PERFORM best with all types of music in regards to always delivering all the goods in most any recording in a musical way all the time.

You are very fortunate Mapman.