Has this happened to you? How can it be stopped?

My vintage addiction ended when I splurge bought an Harman Kardon KH430 (which turned out to be the best sounding of the vintages, with excellent separation and imaging), a Pioneer SX 450, and a Marantz 2238 all decked out with one of those nice wood cabinets...  All beautiful pieces, all professionally refurbed... 

And they all got blown away, one after the other, by the factory refurbished Marantz nr1200 receiver that I bought including shipping and an extended warranty (which I rarely do) for $600 including tax to the door.  The nr1200 sounded more clear, more spacious, more gutsy, better imaging, quieter... plus it has all the modern hookups, including a streamer and subwoofer management, in addition to traditional tone controls and balance control... oh, and the nr1200 has a remote control as well.  The sonic superiority of the nr1200 was obvious.  

Of course, the vintage pieces are all very nice, very cool looking each in their own classy way... but the new receiver is clearly better on every audio aspect as well as functionally.  So, I sold all the vintage stuff on ebay, made some money and saved some money, and lightened my possessions load while improving the overall quality of the stuff I have kept.

Have I ever had the urge to but a piece of vintage audio gear? No, not at all.

I have previously owned and continue to own various vintage pieces. One has to replace electrolytic caps or count on luck to be able to use them. Too much work to continuously recap new vintage purchases, besides new equipment superior to much of the vintage.

Depends on what you buy. With selectively bought 80’s 90’s top of the line you’ll still pound most of what’s offered today. Restore, upgrade where possible and enjoy what most still can’t afford. It’s all mechanical and all eventually needs work, that said most can still be done. Look inside the average ‘quality amp’ today what you see is the cheapest possible parts and assembly line work, otherwise that $6th unit would be $12th, and so on. Then there’s the specs and hearing, odds are you won’t go wrong there either. The market is there to get you to buy, Great still beats good modern or not.

Cheers

@2psyop I don’t see a problem here. You just need to use the 1:1 spending method with your wife. For each dollar you spend on "irrational" purchases for you, you graciously allow her to "invest" the same amount in "irrational" purchases for her. Just don’t keep score. You may not like what you find out.

As for myself, I’m a retired audio dealer who still spends one day a week servicing vintage audio equipment. The goal: "Prevent good equipment from going into the dumpster." Once in a while, I come across a piece of abandoned equipment. I’ll repair and hang on to what I consider "a good example of vintage audio gear" for my grandkids. The problem is, of course, I now have more vintage gear than grandkids.  I can also tell you that I have more deep regrets after selling off a piece of gear that I should have kept in my collection, than purchasing a few more items that I shouldn't have.

I’m also a car guy and have 9 cars. Hifi gear is much easier (and, cheaper) to operate, maintain, insure and store than old cars. My user ID: "waytoomuchstuff" has more than audio implications

Thanks for the post. Good stuff!