Older And Wiser or just Tighter and Deafer?

An additional thought: with today's abundance of quality equipment there's absolutely no reason to spend gobs of money on new gear if it makes you queasy thinking about it.  You can put together quite a good system nowadays without taking out a second mortgage.

When I have this problem I ask my self how long are you dead? 

jl35:

make smart used purchases and you won't have to worry as the value
will remain fairly stable for a few years...

Hey, I never claimed to be smart!  If my history is my m.o., I tend to shop for discounted, new entry-level or slightly above.  I keep it years if I like it and it lasts (I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD-580's I bought new in '95.).  And if I don't like it, I want it gone.  (I bought a pair of Klipsch La Scala II's in late '07 and sold them in early '08.)  That said, I'm much less likely to spend, say...$3000 on a pair of speakers today than I was 20 or 30 years ago.  Today, I get queasy above maybe $1000, and it has nothing to do with my ability to pay.  It's...I don't know what it is!  I guess I'm back to the original question!  The scripture in the N.T. about the fellow who planned to tear down his barns to build greater, not knowing that his soul was soon to be required of him, I'm sure that plays into my thinking.  (If that gets me banned, its been a nice visit!)

Do you know what year this is ? Maybe you are in another time period and things feel different there ?