Another WoW ! why do we continually spend more (upgrade ?) moments ?

[Idlewithnodrive]

Haven't had one of these for quite a while.

I'm in between my main speakers at the moment, sold and dispatched my wonderful old Heco 300's, waiting for my new ............................ Heco 300's :scratch: to arrive.

So, in the interim, slapped a £ 30 pair of Tannoy Mercury M1's on the end of my whacking great Class A power amp and a real :yay: moment ensues. They sound great, don't give an awful lot away to the Heco's. I could quite happily live with these.

Yes, of course the Heco's are better, but not at everything and not by as much as I would have thought / expected / hoped.

Sometimes you have to wonder why we chase that extra few % for 10x the cost :doh:

[struth]

Got a lovely set of those in spare room. Yes they work well

[Crackles]

Someone said to me many years ago that HiFi is a mugs game and that people end up wasting huge amounts of money trying to get tiny improvements. He said it's better to just get a simple system you're happy with it and leave it there.

I completely ignored him of course and proceeded to waste hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds on stuff I never use but can't be bothered selling on.

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[Idlewithnodrive]

These hadn't been used in 10+ years Grant.

I didn't expect much and got a great deal. If I had been wiser and re-appropriated some of the £1000's I have spent on kit over the years, just to gain / lose the odd few % here and there, I'd have a legendary record collection :D and that's what it's all about, after all.

[Idlewithnodrive]

Someone said to me many years ago that HiFi is a mugs game and that people end up wasting huge amounts of money trying to get tiny improvements. He said it's better to just get a simple system you're happy with it and leave it there.



Couldn't agree with him more John. But it's only age and experience that leads us there, and even then, some of us never arrive :lol:

[Crackles]

Couldn't agree with him more John. But it's only age and experience that leads us there, and even then, some of us never arrive [emoji38]Yep. I'm worse than ever now. There's about three grand worth of stuff I've got my eye on at the moment, all money that could be going into my pension or something, but that would be boring wouldn't it. [emoji16]

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[hifinutt]

The other day I had my 100 pound bw standmounts playing and a visiting audiophile preferred them to my new 4k speakers that were also playing !!!

[Smoking Joe]

Compared to the kit that I see on the site, I feel like a bottom feeder! ;-) But I started out with an all in one system, then a Cambridge Audio A1 amp, etc. and eventually found a deal on my dream amp an Audiolab 8000A. That was over 20 years ago and am still running the same gear. I got to that level and just never found the want to upgrade any further as I simply liked what I heard. What is wrong with me!? ;-)
I ended up putting that money into cars instead and wasting(enjoying) a ton of money in that way while enjoying my music on my system in the evenings.

Before last Christmas I did buy new speakers. The first floorstanders that I ever owned. A lovely sound. Different to my standmounts, but better? I am not sure to be honest. Not worse for sure. it's a strange old game this!
Also with cars.....I've owned mine now for 13 years and never felt the need to upgrade..... what's wrong with me!??!? :-0 ;-)

[Crackles]

Compared to the kit that I see on the site, I feel like a bottom feeder! ;-) But I started out with an all in one system, then a Cambridge Audio A1 amp, etc. and eventually found a deal on my dream amp an Audiolab 8000A. That was over 20 years ago and am still running the same gear. I got to that level and just never found the want to upgrade any further as I simply liked what I heard. What is wrong with me!? ;-)
I ended up putting that money into cars instead and wasting(enjoying) a ton of money in that way while enjoying my music on my system in the evenings.

Before last Christmas I did buy new speakers. The first floorstanders that I ever owned. A lovely sound. Different to my standmounts, but better? I am not sure to be honest. Not worse for sure. it's a strange old game this!
Also with cars.....I've owned mine now for 13 years and never felt the need to upgrade..... what's wrong with me!??!? :-0 ;-)I lost the bug for cars years ago and don't regret it at all. They just aren't worth spending loads of money on in my opinion. But I do get why other people love them and want to own nice cars. I suppose they are similar to hifi in that way.

My hifi is now worth more (in new prices) than I paid for my car brand new 7 years ago.

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[Pharos]

Interesting comparison between cars and Hi-Fi.

Both can have ego/status value, but few have Hi-Fi and do so thinking about status. Cars cost a lot to maintain and run, and roads are not as free and easy as they were half a century ago. I used to ride big bikes, but the cameras and traffic density have spoilt that, and for me car driving is not so pleasureful because of traffic density.

Once you have a system you like, it can provide pleasure continually and virtually cost free, and this is especially good in the winter, and for relaxing after say, a workout or a hard day's work.

[Jac Hawk]

This reminds me of when Alex and I did the 'cheap as chips challenge' at Scalford a few years back, the amount of folks that simply couldn't believe how good 2 systems for less than £100 each could sound, as you've said more expensive kit does sound better, but the gap isn't as wide as people would like to think.

[Bourney]

I've realky ramped back on the value of kit ive used over the years. My current system costs less than the cables I was using 10 years ago. Sounds fab. Becoming a bit disillusioned with expensive hifi.

[Pharos]

I tend to agree that exorbitant expenditure becomes, well, seemingly obscene and inappropriate in the scheme of life.

However, now I am up and running with my speakers, only on FM so far, it is evident after some doubt, that I have moved forward considerably.

The main thing I noticed today is that when listening to many tracks, one could group them previously as flawed to a similar extent, grouped together at a similar level of failure. Now the levels of failure are much more spread out so that some recordings are far superior to others; the range of qualities is perceivable as greater.

I will not change again, this is good enough, and easily the best I have had and maybe even heard so far, but is it worth the financial investment?

Is it worth paying £2 for a Green and Blacks 80% chocolate bar rather than a Bourneville bar at, whatever, say £1?

Is the former twice as good as the latter? That is a philosophical question.

People thought I was mad before this purchase, and now even my local injury nurse has said I am.

[walpurgis]

I am also scaling back on my Hi-Fi. In quantity and scale. I'm now on the road to a 'shoestring system', but with high performance via some crafty implementation of good components. Home build will be featuring soon again, as it used to. I feel a need to re-kindle my interest in projects. Not done any for a while.

And. The rule book tends to get thrown out of the window when I build stuff. I tend to rely on my existing knowledge, instinct, a bit of luck and a prevailing wind! :)

I normally make good things though.