State of the Art? I don t care anymore.

You guys are jaded as hell.You talk this way today; tomorrow you'll be out on the street,trying to score cabling or some other "stuff". It's like trying to leave the "mob". (to many Sapranos' episodes)It's ok, and good to vent;that's what we're here for.

I have really enjoyed my Audiomat Arpege. Good price, great sound. Along with the Bel Canto Dac I don't feel as though I am missing out on much compared with the big guys. and of course my humble Meadowlark Kestrels which have been with me a few years and have never made my eyes wander at another when I'm out and about.

CWE, congrats, again an excellent thread! I think it was about 15 years ago. I was on a long trip by car, driving down the autostrada del sole in Italy, when fiddling with my car radio, I just hit upon the beginning of the second movement of Schubert's Quintet in C minor and soon, with the beautiful countryside flahing by, I was deeply drawn into the music. Afterwards I realised that my enjoyment had been completely unhampered by any system related thoughts, that at that very moment I had regained an innocence of enjoyment, I had long lost. In a way, that was a turning point in my career as an audiophile and my further development seems to mymic closely that which RCprince has described so well: I wanted to get back to the enjoyment of music and once having attained that, the budget for my hobby was hardly strained anymore. The changes which I have made to my system in the last 5 to 10 years or so became only minor. Recently, because of an amp-mishap, I rescued an old Threshold Stasis from the mid seventies from its resting place in the cellar and was amazed how good it really sounded on my Maggie bass panels, lively and punchy and when I put it on the Quads, well it was not exactly Jadis, but it was enjoyable enough not to be too distracted. Need I say more?

I think I am there with some of you... The turning point was when I have noticed that my other hobbies were starting to take my spare cash... Now I have a really nice wood working shop for the price of way less than my speakers cost (I wear extreme ear protection)...

I still listen often(5x or more), but I personally reached the point to where I decided I was just going to listen, enjoy and upkeep, rather than strive for this or that that costs thousands a pop and never really completely does it for me. My forte in this hobby is the love of music, I grew out of the needing several complete equipment swaps over 10 years -- it became a hassle to me. When the recordings get to the point where my system cannot resolve them, maybe I will be the mad swapper again... I enjoy my stereo more after leaving it alone than when I was always changing equipment.

Maybe some of you should try your hand at a Lie Nielson No. 7 on figured Maple with some favorite tunes on an old 50s vintage Sherwood Mono Tube Radio setup (Garage Sound System) and you will naturally enjoy life more...

Cornfedboy. That's deep sh*t, or at least good comedy. You're the most zen-like lawyer I've ever met.
A really nice little setup (I don't have all of it anymore) is a set of spica tc-60's with a conrad-johnson mv-50, sonograph SD-1 cdplayer, and an adcom 750 preamp. I had it hooked up to one of my televisions, but lots of times I just liked to listen to it when I didn't want so much detail and power to contend with. Sometimes you don't really want the band to be in your house. The old cj equipment is wonderful for relaxing systems, and priced very low for it's enjoyment factor. Not that detailed, but definitely magical.