Changing audio beliefs

Well, I was raised a "Linnie" back in the 80's. I was taught, and believed, a number of quasi-religious lessons: Direct Drive and Idler turntables were the Devil's tool. CDs were worse sounding than cassettes, and way, way worse sounding than vinyl. Tube amps were soft and wooly and did not serve music. Horn speakers would deafen and sterilize you with their strident drivers and silly dynamic range. You don't clean vinyl - you play the record, and then clean the stylus. God knows you don't use things like vacuums and ultrasonic doo-dads. Speakers almost don't matter - they are the least important link on the sonic chain. Getting the info off the records, and you were basically done.

And now, 45 years later, I have an idler drive turntable, tube amps and horn speakers. And, I'm happy. But I've strayed, dear lord. I've strayed...

Once I got into this hobby I fell for imaging, clarity, and black background. The first setup I had that I really loved was around Martin Logan CLS's (the original ones).  I knew bass was lacking but the other things overrode that.  Through the decades I've bought and built a plethora of systems along with aging and some upper frequency hearing loss.  Interestingly, the same preferences are still my overall goal.  I realize I'm not hearing the same things I did earlier, but my appreciation level has, if anything, gotten higher. I can still hear, what is for me, anyway, deep into the soundstage. I still hear equipment differences, even minor ones. I still have to watch myself when evaluating a turntable mat or weight, not to mention (please help me) cable differences. I've got my setup set up, so to speak, and  I'm sticking to it.  I'm happier that way, and life is good when you are not crazy.  

Comparing physical and mental well-being to a hobby is a ludicrous analogy!

@dayglow ,

I don’t know who that was meant for, please elaborate.

Because frankly, it doesn’t make a lick of sense.

I was never a big cable person.  Always just upgrading just to the first few tiers of quality for interconnects and speaker cables, but, using stock power cables.  On my latest iteration of my system, I upgraded all my interconnects (OCC) and power cables to much higher quality, and when it came time to upgrade my 12 foot speaker cables which were already good quality, I went with very, very thick cables using very thin strand copper (OFC).   I was instantly shocked with how much more bass my speakers generated.