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Sold a testicle.

I spent all the tax money I have to pay for 2009. My accountant is not happy.

The most extreme thing (so far) has been the replacement of my beloved KEF 105 Series 2 speakers by a pair of Wilson Audio Grand Slamm X-2 speakers. But the crowning glory came a week later when a pair of Transparent Audio Reference 2239 XL speaker cables arrived, connecting to a pair of Krell 650M monoblock amplifers. The result is like heaven suddenly opening in front of you. A forever unforgettable experience that I still enjoy today.

Custom-made velvet drapes to block traffic noise emanating from a glass sliding-door. Ineffective for the magnitude of the problem—a big waste of money.

I built a special-purpose equipment rack. Three years in the design stage (I was in no particular hurry) and about 60 hours of construction.

Driving 20 miles through a severe blizzard to get the next—wait for it,—Stereophile. That was pretty stupid, wasn't it?

Sold my car.

Have just spent three hours organizing and rerouting all the cables hanging out the back of my computer and associated stereo, using hooks and string under my desk so that no cables are touching at all—closest gap is 25mm. I think it sounds cleaner and more organic, and that's all that matters, isn't it ?

Spent the last 41 years working in this industry. What a long strange trip it's been.

Years ago, I put off paying the rent for a few days so I could take advantage of a killer deal on a cassette deck.

Nothing too extreme. I like to plan business trips around record store locations.

Bought CDs before I had a CD player. I was angry at being forced to do this when LPs started disappearing.

Breaking up with my girlfriend when she told me I had to replace my speakers with something small and cute.

Spent unemployment benefits on a stereo.

Sold my body to an escort agency so I could afford to get a set of pure silver banana plugs.

In 2008, I sent my wife, daughter, and sister to Hawaii. With the wife out for eight days I was able to pick up and install my new Monitor Audio PL300s. Sometimes it is better to beg for forgiveness than to ask permission.

We still get wide audio bandwidth transmissions in Australia, using the NRSCA curve, and you need a wide-band audio AM receiver to benefit from it. The two stations I bother with are in mono only, but it is still worth it. I strung a 60' long wire antenna to drive my rebuilt valve receiver harder. I added an antenna tuner—a tapped coil over a ferrite rod and a vane capacitor, so the random length wire can become resonant at 666kHz or at 846kHz. The antenna runs from my house to a a neighbor's house. From my TV and FM antenna mast through a second mast on my block and then to their chimney. The ropes are UV resistant—we used eggshell insulators and a lightning arrestor in the twin ribbon down-lead. One side is active, the other is the shield, and the output from the arrestor is earthed to rods in the earth.

Bought a second pair of main speakers when I can only use one, then upgraded my DAC and added another sub to get the 1.7's sounding fine.

Re-fied my house and took money out to buy my magnificent Magicos.

Waited overnight to be one of the first in line at a record store going-out-of-business sale while in college, back in 1974, I think it was. Picked up British import copies of many pre-DSOTM Pink Floyd albums at ridiculously low prices, among other things.

Have an addition, a 19' x 21' room, added to my house for a listening room.

Not really extreme, but paying what I did for the MoFi Beatles Box, and the MoFi Gold Disc of Jethro Tull's Stand Up.

When I was in college, I regularly would skimp on quality food or pay bills late to feed my ears. Gradually I've come to a more balanced way of buying, but it took a long time!

Paid $300 for a Sony CD player in 1986. (That's $593 in 2010 money.)

Bought 30-year-old second-hand Quad electrostatics unheard from a friend in a pub—what a steal.

Used a skylift to deliver a 200lb carpet to the third floor for my listening room (there was no other way).

I drained a fair proportion of my trust trying out different equipment (mostly amps and preamps), before settling on what I thought sounded best. That was long before the market bust.

I have mixed an electrostatic loudspeaker with a dynamic on the right and on the left side have a dynamic loudspeaker and a subwoofer

Been retired now for about five years, and still have a paper route so that I have the extra dollars to splurge on way-out audio gear. My latest project is to run all my gear on battery-power. I am collecting as many as 23 12V lead batteries to have enough voltage for my single-ended 45 tube amp. Even the bias voltages is done with batteries. You might think this way out, but eliminating all AC voltage and rectification pulses from the amp works.

My twin sons were born in 1994, just when the RCA Living Stereo reissues were released. Despite the impact of double formula and diapers on the budget, I bought as many of the Doggies that I could, including almost all of the titles on the TAS Superlist. And when my older son, three at the time, trashed my cartridge under the watchful eyes of the babysitter, I took a deep breath, and emptied the piggy bank on a Lyra Lydian. The first of the batch that I listened to was Symphony Fantastique (LSC-1900). The sound was ravishing. I had never hear massed strings reproduced like that, and have never looked back since then.