Originally Posted by: alexh 
As the title says, are you at a point where you can sit back and enjoy your hard work and how long did it take to get there?
Yes, all of it! Took 30 odd years to realise a wrong turn, mind (actually, that's harsh as, for years, the Lentek gave us a lot of pleasure but is now eclipsed. Read on.).
Good decision 1 - not buying NAIM. I'm with Pete, above, listened to NAIM gear (at Jeffries Hi-Fi, Grahams, Billy Vee, Spaldings and all the shows) and we both agreed that its awful mid range presence uplift (a PaCT con) wasn't like real music (made for music lovers?!) or, at least, not like the music we heard in front of orchestras and bands.
Good decision 2 - a TD150 and upgrading arms from SME 3009/2 ADC 10E & XLM to Mission 774 and moving coils BUT then upgrading to another "flat earth" t/t, an LP12 with Ittok/AT-OC9.
Good decision 3 - Sony APM66ES speakers (they followed Lowther Acoustas & CA R50s).
Good decision 4 - Marantz SA15 CD/SACD player and a CD63KI that should be repaired with a new laser shortly (the "15" has also stopped playing SACDs).
Bad decision 1 - selling the CA P110.
Bad decision 2 - in 20/20 hindsight: buying the Lentek amp that replaced the P110 (even though, at various times, it trounced the QUAD 44/404, NAIM 32/250, Marantz PM17KI and Tag 100wpc pre/power, it isn't as good as the, refurbished, P110).
We now have four (4!) vintage Cambridge Audio amp based systems throughout the house. Speakers range from the Sony APMs to Sony badged B&W DM1s, MA BR1s and some tiny single unit JVC micro system units that sound strangely good via a CA P50Mk1 and a Roberts Stream 83i in a bedroom system so obviously at low levels.
OK, it's all vintage and nothing has been in the esoteric/stratospheric (£175,000 CD player?!!) class but each system keeps us listening way beyond the point we plan to pack up.
The tricks? Sonics-wise - detail. The rest - stop hankering after the next bit of kit and just listen! Oh and keep going to live gigs (hi-fi is only a pastiche, so get over it).
