[medium jim]

Robert Harley in the recent TAS (#226) wrote an editorial about "Hedonic Adaptation".  It describes the sickness that many in our hobby are inflicted with.  How does this relate to the bottom octaves, a lot!  Most of us are trying to raise the bar.  The question begs to be asked, are you inflicted?

The bottom octaves are the hardest (to me) to get right...this is not to say that my bass is bad, it is darn good.  Since I have tube amplification and preamplification, I can roll tubes to change the bar setting, but this for the most part has little effect in the sub bass region.

Speaking for myself, I cannot afford the next or newest thing that does this or that and try to get the most out of what I have.  This doesn't mean that I don't look, listen to what comes along. Rather I try to rationally assess if it will raise the bar and if so at what cost. It it passes the my personal go for it tests, then I budget it into my world.  So I guess I'm a soft core "Hedonist". It is about the music at the end of the day!

How do you control your Hedonist Affliction?

Jim

[SteveFord]

I throw money at it which provides temporary relief.

[AVnerdguy]

I throw money at it which provides temporary relief.

Steve is right on the money (pardon the pun!). A wise (and broke) man 

[medium jim]

A good friend of mine cured me of it and explained that there are many well to do chaps out there who buy the newest toy only to repeat this process.  The end result is you can wait til they list on aGon, eBay or Craigslist.

This still doesn't cure the urge to splurge when there is something that is advertised to be the best thing since sliced bread.  Robert Harley is correct that the human brain is very forgiving and will adapt even when the bar had been lowered.  At some point, it is the music that takes over not the name cache of what you are using to reproduce the music. 

Knowing that ultimately it is the music that gets you to the sweet place is what saves me from impulse buying and making informed buys with regard to stereo gear. This doesn't mean I don't want the best system, I do!

Jim