Number of yrs. to reach the finished line?

" What say you "

I say I feel the same as you do , However the influence of ones financial health cannot be overlooked. Get too healthy in that area and it always becomes easier to justify a little more expense at least easier than it was to do it all the years that financial health wasn,t there and still did it anyway. So I,ll say I'm done...... at least till I'm "healthy" enough to afford a kick ass all tube system and enough tubes to roll for the next 30 years!

CHEERS

Over 60 years and during that time have had 5 "Final" systems
That is also why tubes are fun because you can change the sound of the system by tube rolling although that can also get expensive. My power amp has 16 KT-88's

Finish line! There ain't no stinkin finish line!
There I said it, I have been at this for 35 plus years and have yet to see a finish line. You do get pit stops, some long ones a few years and some short ones only a few months but that is all. The never ending search, that's the fun of the trip. For me anyway.

It has taken me six years of effort to cludge my system together to the point of complete satisfaction. (I still wish to install dedicated lines but that is for completeness rather than seeking out audio improvement.) During the journey, never having excess money seemed to cause great frustration for me as I knew what direction in sound to continue to improve towards but could not get there fast enough. But looking back on it now I feel it was a blessing as it forced me to do far more investigation and be very disciplined with my selection process. Limited funds kept me from purchasing "flavor of the month" gear and instead forced me to rely more on my own ears than others' opinions. I still lost some money on some of the items I've replaced over the years but each replacement was always a great improvement towards the sound I was chasing.

40 years in the hobby and I think I'll be looking for a new preamp at my funeral.