After three years of spending money on this stuff I've settled into the above system. I started out with a Sony XA20ES into a Sony STRDA777ES into PSB Stratus Bronze.

After realizing that I wanted to concentrate on two channel I boughy a Jolida 302B and immediately fell in love with the tube sound. Although the Sony amp had tighter bass, the tone on piano and guitar was just much better with the Jolida.

A local dealer then got the Triangles in and demoed them for me when I walked in with a friend. After lusting after them for a few months, I eventually bought the pair. They were more finicky than the PSB's but they nailed snare drums and plucking sounds so well that I kept them.

The Triangles with Jolida were a winning combination that were improved by the addition of the 47 labs wire which was recommended to me here. I had always been a wire skeptic, but the improvement over my Ixos stuff was staggering. It even converted a few non-audio enthusiast friends. Basically the wire gave me more detail and better tone.

After reading about the Ah! players I decided to order one and see if it could outplay the Sony. I was really dissappointed by the build quality, but the relative warmth of the player won me over.

The Rega was then added with a cheap NAD phono amp. I'd always been a fan of vinyl stemming from my middle school and high school days of dance 12"s. In college, I really appreciated the budget minded aspects of used vinyl. I had owned an inherited Sansui tt and then a Tech 12. It wasn't until I got the Rega, though, that I got the audiophile fuss about vinyl. The music just seemed to be much more alive and immediate in its presence. Since I had grown up listening to pops and clicks, I could pretty much tune them out.

Figuring that the NAD was really the limiting factor in the system, I went with Kevin at Upscale Audio's opinion and purchased the AES PH-1. Well, the soundstage blew up and I got back a lot of the bass I had lost with the Triangles's and the Jolida.

The last piece was added when I saw a good deal on the ASL Orchid. Everything I liked about the Jolida, the Orchid did better. Unfortunately, I did seem to lose some more bass detail and of course I lost the ability to play loud. I still have the Jolida as even after a year I haven't decided which I like better (it's a little unfair since the Jolida has Mullard small tubes and Sovtech EL34's while the ASL is stock). I'll probably end up with the ASL since I don't listen to much orchestral type music.

My music taste is all over the map, but I probably listen to alt pop (Yo La Tengo, Mogwai, Modest Mouse, Spiritualized, etc.) most. Of course even that is only 30% of the time - the rest of the time filled up with rock, jazz, blues, folk, and some classical (chamber, solo, and concertos mostly... I just haven't been able to get around large orchestral pieces... yet)

I listen to a ton of live music so tone, detail, and quickness are important to me. Given that you don't have a lot of choice where you're sitting (or standing) most of the time, I don't really get the obsession some people have with soundstage, although I do think it's 'cool' to have.

Comments welcome.

Oh, everything sits on a Sound Organization stand and I'm not doing anything about power. Also, I don't have any accoustic treatments. I believe in the latter and am more skeptical of the former... but then I've just about given up on skepticism in this hobby.