I started with a basement HT system about 10 years ago. I liked listening to music mostly and my wife allowed me to develop a separate 2ch system and home theater. In 2007, we moved to our new, custom built house. There is a first floor library/music room (23'by 25 by 9.5') built with double studs and double Quiet Rock 545 for outstanding sound isolation. With the custom 300lb door (rubber stoppers underneath which automatically click into place when the door closes) I have superb isolation which allows to play the music as loud as I want without any issues (ie wife) elsewhere. In the basement, there is a larger, separate beautiful home theater room (with an assist from Rives Audio design), similarly isolated for sound. I listen to classical, vocals, and jazz, and I especially enjoy acoustical music. I favor a natural relaxed sound, with as as much detail without sacrificing musicality. I live in the DC area and was fortunate to be exposed to vinyl and tubes by a local dealer, Vu of DeJavu Audio. I started with a Cary 300B amp and mmDeCapo speakers ( I still have them.) My next move was to 45 tube amps and the SAP speaker. I still have my first turntable and have upgraded the arm and cartridge. For digital, I started with the Sony 77ES SACD player, later had it modified by Dan Wright, and next purchased the EMM gear.

I really enjoy the Audiogon web site and learned a great deal, especially about trying things on my own. I love listening to music in my system, which continues to slowly evolve. To paraphrase, 'the world is flat' and 'there is always better'.