[Jenn]

In article .com,
"Bret Ludwig" wrote:

Soundhaspriority wrote:
"Jenn" wrote in message

om...
Like all of us (I suspect) my journey to get the best sound possible in
my home (given normal budget limitations) has led me to the purchase of
several pieces of gear. I also suspect, however, that given the number
of years that I've engaged in this trek (about 30 years, with about 5
years off for good behavior), I've owned less gear than the average
person on this board. For example, over that 30 years I've owned but 3
power amps, 3 preamps, 1 integrated, 4 turntable/arm combos, 3 CD
players, and 5 pairs of speakers. I've bought gear that looks ugly and
"industrial", plain black boxes, turntables that look "normal" and those
that look like space ships, new and used, tall and short, planar and
cones, tube and SS, well reviewed and poorly reviewed, expensive and
inexpensive. I've spent months and years seeking out and improvement
and many times I've walked away from a store after long auditions and
high sales pressure in spite of wanting the auditioned device to sound
better.

Most generally, females with a serious interest in recorded sound buy
one good one, once, and are thereafter happy with it, at least until it
breaks or until enough time has passed for something really better to
be common. I just bought a solid state McIntosh amp from an estate of a
woman who bought it new from our local "Mac Nazi" in the mid-80s. She
had after divorcing her husband bought an all-McIntosh system with a
Linn Sondek and a Nakamichi Dragon cassette player. It have her over 20
years of good service. Her kids remarked that when it came to cameras
and archery gear she was that way, too. Their father was the opposite:
he was always buying, selling, and dicking with everything he had,
still did. They were both Ph.D psychologists: she retired at 65, he's
still going, well past 80, but isn't in good shape. The kids, my age
more or less, seemed like squared away people without too many issues.
The amp has all its original paperwork and box. I'm going to use it as
a test bench amp.

Interesting, thanks. My interest in recorded sound has always stemmed
from repertoire and performance. I collect recordings for those
purposes, and I therefore need gear to play them with.