Longest upgrade time

[firearm12]

I think lots of us buy/sell gears regularly. It would be interesting to know the longest span that we had with a particular system without upgrading any major components (major being dac amp preamp speakers). Minor upgrades like cables etc are allowed.

For me 3 yrs was longest that i lived with below one system before upgrading.

Dac - audiogd dac 19
Amp - naim xs2
Speakers - dali mentor menuet

 

[anilpatel]

You have started another nice thread.
This thread will give lot of information about Stereo and HT setup that we should aim at so we invest our hard earned money properly to get better system which would last for longer period of time.

 

[panditji]

Can't say specifically about the system as a whole but individual components are as below:

Amplifiers:
Denon 1604 - 3 years
Rotel 1070 - 7 years
Luxman 505UXG - 3 years
Lyngdorf 2170 - 2 years and counting

DAC:
Meridian Director - 2 years approx
Chord 2Qute - 3 years

Speakers:
Bose 301 - 3 years
Quad 11L - 6 years
Harbeth Compact 7ES3 - 6.5 years
Tannoy Turnberry GR - 3+ years and counting

 

[fLUX]

@firearm12 Speaking purely from audio perspective the following
Headphones
Koss Portapro - 9 years +
Vmoda M80 - 7 years +

DAC
SMSL SU-8 - 1.6 Years +

HT- Speaker + Receiver
Polk TL1600 + Yamaha VX-479 - 3 Years (Sold)
Phastech Cinemicro + Onkyo TX-SR444 - 3 years +
Edifier DA 5000 Pro - 7 years (gifted to my cousin)

Got info Dedicated Non-portable Hifi this year itself

 

[Eight1zero]

I have been using my quad 22l for 11 years and not planing to upgrade till the time they give up on me.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Nice and thoughtful thread, @firearm12. It will also give us an idea of which brands members tend to hang on for longer. For example the limited data above is suggesting Harbeth and Quad. We’d get a better idea with more responses.

For me, the current stats are as below.

Stereo system:
- Castle Knight 2 speakers - 3+ years
- Audiolab 8200a - 3+ years
- Lyrita DHT - 2+ years
- CXC and CXN - 2 years

Desktop system:
- Beyerdynamic T1 - 4+ years
- Schiit Bifrost and Valhalla 2 - 4+ years
- MacBook Pro - 7 years

BT speaker:
- Bose Soundlink II - 7 years

TV:
Panasonic Plasma ST50 - 8+ years now

I expect to keep all of these for much longer. The principle always is ‘Think long and hard before buying, don’t skimp while buying, and keep loving once bought”. I cannot understand people who regularly sell within months of buying.

 

[Prodigy]

For me the longest was a Sony Hifi System which had dual cassette player and 3 cd changer for almost 15+ years.

My dad still has his vintage set up and I think its now 20+ years.
The speakers are from Infinity (not sure of the model) paired to a Sansui vintage amp.

 

[raghupb]

In this sense, I'd qualify as a hoarder
I have never sold any gear, just repurposed them at my place or parents place.

Edit:
The best repurposed component has been an old 29" Sony Trinitron bought in 2003.
2010 I got a plasma, so gave it to my dad. 2018 I got an OLED so gave Plasma to Dad and bought mum a 4K TV
My mum runs a kindergarten at home. So repurposed the CRT to play nursery rhymes for tiny tots.
They can actually throw toys at the TV, because it has a "screen guard"

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[firearm12]

wow I open the website on iPad and I can see everyones signature, seems like I’ve just started the journey

 

[avtar2008]

i entered HT/speakers world after lockdown and before that I used just earphone and headphone. so, here is my list:
Bose soundlink ii bluetooth :- 5+ years
hifiman he400 headphones :- almost 9 years
soundmagic pl11 earphones :- 7 years
meelectronics m12(i guess) :- 7 years

HE400 are still my most loved audio equipment i ever used and will try to keep them as long i can

 

[firearm12]

For example the limited data above is suggesting Harbeth and Quad.

Both polite British speakers. people do seem to use Bose also. I am also using Bose sound dock since last 8 yrs, no matter what others think I like the sound.

I cannot understand people who regularly sell within months of buying.

Billion dollar question. i believe in listening and being with a system so much that I start to like it. It’s like an arranged marriage, which tend to last long for obvious reasons. Love marriages have their own problems and more problems.

 

[firearm12]

HE400 are still my most loved audio equipment i ever used and will try to keep them as long i can

Good one another category to add - most loved audio equipment ever used only one

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Hi
A nice thread indeed. However, my journey started with Philips valve radio and HMV fiesta TT back in 70's.
In 2006 the TT breathed his last but I have kept it as my childhood memory and also the Philips valve set.
In 2006 I bought Philips hi q international record player and it has been with me till date. In 2018 I bought Audiotechnica TT and now I have two TTs. A Philips transistor takes the place of that valve set. I bought it in 2006.
I bought a Philips DVD player in 2007 and in2014 I bought a Sony hifi. Both of them stay with me.
Once I used a pair of passive speakers but in 2018 I bought Philips tower to connect my TT.
In 2016 I bought a Philips Bluetooth speaker and in 2019 I bought Bose sound link revolve plus. This is the shortest period (3years) for my upgrade. I generally don't sell any of my rigs. Even I don't throw those away. I keep all these as I have emotional attachment with all.
Regards

 

[fLUX]

Nice and thoughtful thread, @firearm12. It will also give us an idea of which brands members tend to hang on for longer. For example the limited data above is suggesting Harbeth and Quad. We’d get a better idea with more responses.

For me, the current stats are as below.

Stereo system:
- Castle Knight 2 speakers - 3+ years
- Audiolab 8200a - 3+ years
- Lyrita DHT - 2+ years
- CXC and CXN - 2 years

Desktop system:
- Beyerdynamic T1 - 4+ years
- Schiit Bifrost and Valhalla 2 - 4+ years
- MacBook Pro - 7 years

BT speaker:
- Bose Soundlink II - 7 years

TV:
Panasonic Plasma ST50 - 8+ years now

I expect to keep all of these for much longer. The principle always is ‘Think long and hard before buying, don’t skimp while buying, and keep loving once bought”. I cannot understand people who regularly sell within months of buying.

Personally speaking I have very rarely sold stuff I have auditioned before buying. Most of the stuff I sold on an immediate basis were purchases based on user/professional reviews.

Having said that whenever I see something nice and used which is available at a good price I tend to pick it up and give away something little lower in the chain which helps me keep my losses to minimum and also move to a better equipment

 

[raghupb]

wow I open the website on iPad and I can see everyones signature, seems like I’ve just started the journey

On mobile, use landscape mode to see signature.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[shinshya]

I bought Onkyo HT-S3400 in 2011 during world cup, upgraded in 2019 as the AVR went bad(no sound issue).

 

[DB1989]

Can't say specifically about the system as a whole but individual components are as below:

Amplifiers:
Denon 1604 - 3 years
Rotel 1070 - 7 years
Luxman 505UXG - 3 years
Lyngdorf 2170 - 2 years and counting

DAC:
Meridian Director - 2 years approx
Chord 2Qute - 3 years

Speakers:
Bose 301 - 3 years
Quad 11L - 6 years
Harbeth Compact 7ES3 - 6.5 years
Tannoy Turnberry GR - 3+ years and counting

I have been using my quad 22l for 11 years and not planing to upgrade till the time they give up on me.

Why do i see so many quad owners holding on to their gear?

insofar as I’m concerned,most of my gear is not older than 2 1/2 years.

However, i’ve had my altec lansing mx5021 for 12 years now. Unfortunately, the sub gave out in 2014 (saw way too many parties during my college days where people got carried away with the gain control) so i got an F&D 6000u the same year to marry its sub with the satellites of the MX5021.

i was a bit of a hoarder too but after discovering this forum, I’ve convinced myself to let go. The very first one will be my Q Acoustics Concept Centre since i’ve no use for it after the Quad SC2 and i’m thinking of following it up with the Yamma NS-SW300.

 

[Eight1zero]

Why do i see so many quad owners holding on to their gear?

I absolutely love my speakers I have upgraded almost all of my electronics and they have just made quads sound better and better.

 

[firearm12]

Why do i see so many quad owners holding on to their gear?

Because they are value for money. Once you get used to a polite sound which dont hurt ears, its difficult to go back to the hifi sound, and almost all modern speakers sound hifi which appeal to many at first listen. One more reason i think is that bollywood music sounds better on them than other modern hifi speakers, just my opinion

 

[panditji]

Quad speakers were atleast till about 15-20 years fantastic VFM and had the typical smooth, polite British speaker sound... No reason to sell unless you got something substantially better for which you had to spend x times it's cost..