How does one get off the merry-go-round?

Gthirteen, I'm not laughing at all. You definitely killed whatever buzz I had workin. Damn, that's hard, I only have two or three more upgrades to go before I get to the promised land. Now what?

Hey Drubin, you talking to me? I took a 7 year break, does that qualify? I was hardcore from the late 80's to the early 90's ( Krell, Coda, Audio Research, EAD, Proceed, etc.) I found myself so wrapped up in family, that I had no time to listen. I have 3 boys who like sports, I got started coaching and had no time for listening. I found the only thing that 'cured' me was downgrading. I mean nothing real drastic, Parasound and McCormack, nice stuff by many standards. I lived happily for 7 years with the same gear, imagine that. I didn't listen much, to be honest, once a month if I was lucky. As the boys got older and I got more time, early in 2001 I got back into it. I've been ecstatic! It's wonderful to be back! I'm back up to Proceed and Classe and such stuff, damn I feel like I can breath again. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the family time, but it's great to get back to a hobby that you REALLY enjoy. The music just moves me like never before. When you leave the field for 7 years, you'd be surprised how much technology can develop. Oh well, my advice would be, if you're burnt out,take a break. This great stuff will be here when you return. Enjoy the music.

G13!, great to see you again Joe! My take on this is that this hobby should have some sort of direction. It should have a destination. Once that destination is reached, there is not that much more future buying needed. Maybe a big step up as a result of having a lot more money than you did 5 or 10 years ago. Maybe a new player when a new format takes hold. A cable here, a cable there. Maybe a used piece of equipment for sentimental reasons. Something built or modified because it is both fun and educational. Not the kind of turnover that would make a fast food restaurant blush. The most important investment one can make is in themselves. More important than ANY piece of equipment one will EVER buy. First, get to know everything about your tastes, and what you want out of this hobby. What kind of music and sound you like, what kind of room you will listening in, and your budget. You will then be able to seek out and buy(after a thorough audition) the kind of equipment that will provide you with LASTING(!!!) enjoyment of your music. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of me being an audiophile? Is it to be music lover or a gear lover? That will probably answer more questions, and be the best fortune teller there is in this whole hobby. If you are a gear lover, and find the music secondary(we KNOW audio has WAYYYYYYY more of these people than admit to it), read this next sentence very carefully(read it again if needed). YOU WILL NEVER GET OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND!!! There it is. Straight, no chaser. Face facts. These people are always tweaking, modifying, upgrading, changing. Saying that they are getting more enjoyment out of their system today than ever before, but appearing as crazy as a loon. The only difference between them and a madman is that they are not mad.

Trelja, Leafs, and other “recovering audiophiles”:

Have you checked to see if your region has a local AA (Audiophiles Anonymous) chapter? Our group meets every week at the local Radio Shack where we listen to MP3, boom boxes, but mostly just talk about downgrading.

Many of us were normal folks, you know -- nice people – good job, loving family, close friends and decent power cords. With me, it started with interconnects. One, two, and then sometimes three a day! After a month or so, I just couldn’t start my day without de-oxidizing that Golden Cross one more time. It was real bad.

But I am happy to say I’m getting better now. I now only reach for that hidden box of Black Diamond Racing Cones when I just can’t get to sleep without a tweak.

At our chapter of AA, we follow a proven 10-step program.

1. The First Step is Admitting You DO have a Problem: I remember my first meeting -- real scary. I had to stand up before the entire group of recovering audiophiles and admit I had three preamps! And that sometimes I couldn’t face the day until I tried mixing tubes and solid state just one more time. Clearly, I needed help. So I embarked on the 9 other steps to recovery listed below:

2. Always Attend Your Local AA Meetings: Last meeting, there was this one guy who came wearing his Stax Lamdas and just couldn’t take them off. Another guy lashed out at other group members with a PowerSnake he had brought along when the group leader suggested that he try unfiltered AC for a week. Poor guy, we had to restrain him with #12 gauge speaker wire and forcefully remove the Bybee filters from his Maggies.

3. Gradual Downgrading – A Sure Way of Getting Off the Wagon: Start slowly. Try cutting your Nearfield Pipedreams in half, or removing the “Martin” from your ML’s so they just say “Logan”. That’s a start. But don’t be too rash -- I once put a Redbook CD in my Sony SACD player and was so hung over with digital grain that I missed the next two meetings.

4. Help Other AA’s Recover: Tell your fiends to resist those Revel Salons, say “no” to that pair of Merlins up for auction, and give the new 10 ft. Nordost Valhallas to their daughter to skip rope with. (Remember, to remove the spades, as kids prefer bananas)

5. Abstain and Stay Clean: Go to eBay and bid on anything Bose. After you’ve set up a surround sound system connected to a Circuit City source, invite your friends over for a “Bose party” Start by hooking the 901’s to your 1000-Watt Classe Omega. Slowly, slowly turn up the volume, and then remove your earplugs. It helps if you are standing next to glass or any other reflective surface so you can really catch those 2nd order harmonics. Did I mention itis beneficial to remove all carpeting and put mirrors on the ceiling?

6. Limit Exposure to Those who Would Corrupt Us: When visiting the CES in Las Vegas, stay in the hotel hosting MP3, visit the “worst of show”, car audio, and Bose (maybe the same as “worst of show”). See if you have the willpower to stay out of any good sounding rooms. Be strong: you can fight temptation!

Last show I spent an entire day inside the Kenwood Van -- the one with the 22” woofers. After that I couldn’t hear anything, so I was immune to the temptations of Levinson, Red Rose, Lamm and some of that strong sounding German stuff, Burnmester, I think it was called.

7. Avoid Relapses: If you must visit a friend with good equipment, bring your Jensen headphones and a hidden MP3 player. If you wear the in-ear design, no one will ever suspect you are “wearing a wire” and not really listening to the Accuphase that your host is hopelessly hooked on.

8. Counsel Your Fellow AA Members: Remind other recovering audiophiles that 2 channel is dead, SACD and 8-track sound about the same, with a slight edge in hiss to 8-track, and that it’s OK if your amp clips now and then.

9. Gradually recover: Crank up that subwoofer, move your system to an all glass room, go back those Chinese tubes. Hell, I even downsample my 24/96 CD to 16 bit by hooking up my DAC backwards. It really works – the graininess is back, soundstage folds up like a tent in a high wind, and my wife says I’m less spend less time fiddling with wires in the back.

10. Stop Temptation Before it Starts. Begin by visiting only the HT section of audiogon. Then abandon audiogon altogether. Stop all subscriptions to Absolute Sound, Stereophile, and especially those highly addictive British mags. Shop by reading the classified of local newspapers, set your browser to search “Realistic”, or buy your speakers from the famous white van man when he visits your local supermarket parking lot.

Congratulations! You’ve reached the Final Stage: You’re off the wagon; now stay off!

Get a job a Circuit City. If there’s no Circuit City, then a Best Buy will do. (Ask to work in the car stereo or portable audio section.) Trust the good advice of your fellow workers and learn from their knowledge. But remember, when you become Manager, you must immediately fire any staff member who tempts you by uttering the words “SACD”, “separates” or “tubes”. And be sure to train your co-workers to tell customers “the bigger the woofer the better”, and “you can’t hear anything above 10KHz”, so why bother, “just hook everything up to your PC”.

All in good fun --- however, the last sentence contains, believe it or not, actual quotes from Future Shop employees (Canada’s equivalent of Circuit City).

Have a great weekend --Lorne

Lorne: Are you a friend of Bill W's? My wife once attended a meeting of the Beverly Hills chapter in the 80's at which a young gentleman who once attempted to rob "The Saloon" in BH's while dressed up as a cowboy (think "Rhinestone Cowboy") and high on cocaine, got up to speak. Nobody took him seriously during the robbery attempt and he was arrested without mishap as he had no intention of firing the six-shooter (which was not even loaded).