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One more component change. I am presently building my own preamp. It has 15 db of gain with only one input and and output. Bye the way, my Legacy Whisper based system kicks ass all over anything under 50K that you people can come up with. Come on, you still think WATT Puppies sound like live music; if a piano is 2 feet wide...

Happily obsessed, continually striving for new improvements, and loving every minute of it!

But not as happy as I will be after another uprgrade;)

Upgrade bug?

It's good for a 17-year-old's system. I got into high-end audio in the last year and love it.

I like my system better than any I hear at the high-end stores. I attribute this to the purchase of a Sigtech processor. I just sit back and listen. Even the non-audiophile CDs sound great. I wish I had purchased the Sigtech first because I probably would have spent less on other components.

God, I could be SO MUCH happier if I could just stay the hell out of my local high-end audio store!! It's only here that I realize how much better ( and, of course, how much more costly) my system could be. Everyone who listens LOVES my stereo (but me). God save all us audiophiles in the endless, elusive, mindless, ultimately worthless search for the "perfect sound."

Part of the fun of high-end audio is the search for the "absolute sound." Although we may never find it, the joy is in the search. The journey through power line conditioners, bi-wiring, improved cables, isolation platforms, speaker placement etc. is where the fun begins. The ability to listen to great music and view great video are the fruits to be derived on this journey.

Hi Kohei Tamura, If you were not happy with your Ongaku, I will be more than happy to buy it from you. Just post an answer and I will contact you. Cheers,

It is very 'natural sounding', and it provides a very believable sound pictures, which sometimes can also be emotional.

Its taken years, but I finally am very close to the sound I want. Would like better imaging, but have to compromise because of room placement restrictions. Adcom 20-bit CD player and B&W CDM w/ Velodyne servo sub. I can now listen for pleasure instead of listening for deficiencies.

It's a combination of pro and consumer audio gear that I've spent years assemblying. I use it to make field recordings of folk and classical music for later playback at home. Since I know what went to tape I am more than satisfied with how the playback sounds over the home system. The only change I would make if I could would be a larger listening room but that is not possible right now. Speakers/amps/decks/recorders/etc. are a mix of Stereophile Class A and B components plus "no-nonsense, gets-the-job-done professional audio gear." (I just wish I'd never gotten rid of my Nagra 1/2-track reel to reel machine!)

Any time I get to spend listening to music is a pleasurable experience. As a hobbyist, I don't believe I will ever be completely satisfied with the components entirely. That's the fun of it. Thanks for helping to keep me informed about the latest and greatest!!

Since I replaced my 15-year-old AR91s with Martin-Logan SL3s, I am extremely pleased with my sound. The upstream elements (Rotel CD950 and AB Systems 810B power amp, with LAT interconnects) are of very high quality to begin with. I've heard dynamic speakers at five times the price of the MLs that could not approach their sound. The only deficiency I see now is my room, the most costly component of all.

Five years and $15k ago, I got a big bang out of my modest system. If it was that good, a new amp would make it even better, right? The new amp, of course, was too good for the rest of the system, and really didn't deliver the same emotional punch as my old one. So I climbed the upgrade ladder. It took $15k to get the good times back. Oh, the system is, by any audiophile standard, far superior to my first rig. But in terms of emotional contact with the music, I am lucky to have gotten back to where I started for only $15k. Many audio folks never get there once, much less twice. Why can't any of us stop while we're ahead? Is it a need to spend money, or is it a need to hear every permutation of every conceivable system just for the comparative "fun" of it?

CD's through tubes through Magnaplanars is the way to go.

Very happy. Sure, I get the upgrade bug every few months. It is then that I sit back, relax, and enjoy what I'm fortunate to have already.

I am often limited in choices because of what local dealers carry. I won't buy anything I can't hear. I like my system,but it is a work in progress.

It's a mid-fi system that cannot compete with any C-rated system, but it's respectable and leaves out the most annoying artifact of a high-end system, which would greatly interfere with my musical enjoyment: guilt. More important to me than going into hock to get a true high-end system is leaving money for CDs and the rent. What's nice about the high end is that dreaming is free.

My front left and right linaeum speakers (LS-2) the right tweeter does not work and they say the company sold they are unwilling to repair the driver or replace it.

It seems like the more money I spend to upgrade existing pieces, the more I realize that the lessor priced unit I've just replaced sounded better.

I've assembles a dream system early by financing it through a home equity loan so I have what I want now.

I carefully put together the system of my dreams over the years and the "tweaking" is all in the system. I don't spend my time fiddling, I spend my time listening.

There is always something better out there. I loce music, thats the main thing.

Reading too much advertisment and review in Stereophile.

AT ANY GIVEN TIME DURING A LISTENING SESSION I MAY FEEL "EXTREMELY HAPPY"-"VERY HAPPY"-"MODERATELY HAPPY"-"NEUTRAL" tO "A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED"-"UNHAPPY" and "DON'T EVEN ASK..." IT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT !

I love the sound, but resources have stopped me from completing the system. Analog front end incomplete, so how happy can I be?

I am, in actual fact, very happy with it, but, as I use my own speaker designs, whevever I come up with a better design, I know that it could sound even better if I decided to build the newer designs!

High-End audio is a quest. One person's "audio nervosa" is anothers pursuit of a hobby. Enjoy the ride. Getting "there" is half the fun!

Unhappy because I just blew up my amplifier :>