JE,

Congrats on your happiness. One can become so... obsessed? jaded? chasing the almost unachievable goal of accurate sound reproduction that we don't realise how good our systems sound IMHO.

I'm guilty of this (Dang it!! Where's the magic? THAT doesn't sound live!! grumble grumble need new speakers grumble better tt grumble a 25 x 60 clamshaped addition!!), that probably applies to most of us, at least at one time or another. And I have only spent a fraction of many.

Then the friends come by - Wow! Man, that sounds GREAT! Do you have/can you play (maggotbrain, Ricci, Frankie Yankovic, fill in the blank)?

I was not offended.

I remember when I got my 1st pair of "good" speakers - that I would not use now - hooked up to a BOOMBOX. A decent one, but still. I was estatic!!

Blah blah blah. The Monstrous One and the Defender of the Free Universe are onto something, knowing the way music really sounds will allow you to accurately judge the sound of various components/systems when you demo them.

The biggest difference I've heard since getting decent (to me) components is: 1) quality stereo subs. Many will disagree, but to me at least, it added a astounding level of realism I had not heard previously, amazing, even my better half noticed, and 2) upgrading to a preamp and using my rec'r as an amp, in my case inexpensive pre (a Hafler DH110) yielded concrete results.

I've not had as much experience with high end stuff as many here, but that's what I've heard with my own ears so far.

Good luck!

Pete