Michaelhigh
You’ve certainly got lots of kit. Having had “lots of kit” myself not that long ago and having recently had a major clear out and transferred to file based audio I can’t recommend it highly enough.
AoS, as you have probably noticed, has its fair share of vintage eye candy loving audiophiles.
I have no doubt that there are some great sounding systems in amongst all those shiny boxes.
My point is, does one need all that kit to provide a satisfactory music listening experience?
My belief is that at a certain point the tweaking, the upgrades give such a marginal difference/improvement (?) in sound for the expense and trouble it just isn’t worth it.
There are always going to be those who are prepared to go to great lengths to squeeze every last drop of performance out of their wallets and kit but I have always had a sneaking suspicion that some of these audiophiles are exactly that rather than music lovers.
The bad news is not much has happened within the Hi Fi industry in the past 40 years.
A good amp from the 70’s say is still a good amp today; the basic design of an amplifier hasn’t really changed be it valve or solid state.
Imo the only major change in this time period has been choice of source; the most recent being file based audio. Despite what the analogue enthusiast may claim, you can get excellent sound from file based audio and in theory the possibility of surpassing any source that relies on mechanical transport and/or links in the chain is there.
I think at $400 per component, a lot is going to depend on how many components you want to include.
Looking at your gallery pics I think you may be hard pushed to get satisfactory audio at that price point particularly if you include source (laptop, streamer, PC) in this.
I would certainly have a listen to the HRT 11+ and if it ever gets here, the HRT HD which is on its way apparently.
I would also have a listen to the Quad 12L actives.
The Lio-8 from metric might be a contender given it looks like you “do” music. It would also give you active crossover control.
A lot is going to depend on how you want to source your audio.
Single spur balanced Mains. Self built music server with 3 seperate linear PSU, Intel i5, 16 GB RAM no hard drive (various Linux OS). Benchmark Dac2 HGC, single ended XLR interconnects/Belkin cable. Exposure 21RC Pre, Super 18 Power (recap & modified). Modded World Audio HD83 HP amp. Hand built Monitors with external crossovers , Volt 250 bass & ABR, Scanspeak 13M8621 Mid & Scanspeak D2905/9300 Hi. HD595 & Beyer 880 (600 ohm) cans.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
-Bertrand Russel
John.