LoFi

My first decent system some 50 years ago was from Radio Shack. I enjoyed it immensely until I heard a Magneplanar/Audio Research system at a stereo shop. I enjoyed that immensely till I heard ... you get the idea. Going back to the basics is not a bad idea. I think now I'm to the point where I can accept just about any system for what it is. Nevertheless, when I have the time to do some focused listening the big system has no substitutes. 

The music just seems to hold together in my mind better without the distraction of the SQ which I have poured so much of my energy, time and money into. 
I’m not ready to give it up though.  It’s too much fun.

Hmmm a hobby about sound where the sound actually getting better is a problem sounds like quite a problem! Human nature I guess.

Yep!

I am supposed to end this post by saying it’s the best audio that I ever had, that all the fancy gear I’ve since bought has never equaled the joy of that source through my Advent 3 speakers. Sorry, no effing way. Once I was able to start buying better stuff there has been no turning back. Wanting to go back would be like a castaway on a desert island who having been rescued after years insists on ditching fine dining options for a meal of coconuts and raw jelly fish

Exactly!

I remember the old days--people would come over and we would go through the LPs or find an 8-track and we would put something on and pop open some beers and the cake pan would come out from underneath a sofa and someone would roll a joint or the bong would come out . . . it was a lot of fun, but that kind of listening had a limited shelf life. It was a lot of fun, but if it hadn’t have evolved, it wouldn’t still be my hobby. I will never know The Holy Grail or be able to reach out and actually touch the music that I am listening to, but I am a lot closer now than I ever was then.