As I’m contemplating retirement, and the possible shedding of gear at some point, I started to wonder what I could live with in terms of my system and what I could sell.
It brought to mind the question that is sort of an offshoot of this:
If your system was going to be taken away, but you got to keep one single component, from which you can move on and rebuild your system with different components, which component would you keep?
I guess it might be a version of “ what is your most cherished component in your system that you feel you could not do without?”
For me what sprung to mind is that I would choose to keep my Conrad Johnson Premier 12 tube mono amps.
They’ve been the most consistent factor in my system, as I’ve had them for something like 25 years now, powering all sorts of floor standing speakers, through periods where those were sold and I only had more modest stand mounts, and then back up to more expensive floor standers again when I could afford them.
It didn’t matter which speakers I had hooked up, every system truly sang to me with the CJs.
At this point, I don’t care whether it’s how they actually sound, or whether it’s a partial bias effect or entirely a bias effect. It does the job for me and I would want those on the end of any speaker I would use next.
How about you folks?
(I suspect I would get some slightly different answers here versus other audiophile forums, which is partially why I am curious).
This is an interesting question! For me, I think the answer most in the spirit of your question would be my Genelec 8351b's. My current system is just them, a Mac mini as a local music server, a Sony disc transport that I hardly use anymore (because all my discs are ripped and the mini is so convenient) and an SMSL digital converter box to get from the mini to the Genelecs.
However, with that said, I'd also like to comment on that final parenthetical remark in your post: that answers here might be different than those in other audiophile forums.
I agree with you there, and in my case my experience at ASR over the years has made me less attached to any particular piece of gear -
not because I don't love and value my gear, but rather because ASR has taught me that the idea of a truly unique-sounding stereo component that produces some kind of synergistic "magic" that I could never replicate with other gear is a myth, and a myth in two different ways: (1) most of the time it's possible to get more or less identical sound with different gear if the gear measures sufficiently well and is set up properly; and (2) even when there are subtle differences, as there will always be with even the best speakers, there's a level of perceived quality beyond which differences are discernible but (at least for me) do not necessarily register as clearly better or worse; they're just subtly different versions of "awesome."
So I do prize my 8351b's, and I love how they sound. But honestly, the reason I wouldn't want to get rid of them if I couldn't replace them with another pair of the exact same model is simply because the other models that would be "no-brainer, I'm 100% sure these will be just as good or better" choices for me are more expensive: basically the 8361a and the Dutch & Dutch 8c.
The MoFi Sourcepoint floorstanders might be just as good or better, but then there'd be the hassle of adding a power amp and MiniDSP or similar component back into my system for room correction, and I've gotten spoiled by the Genelecs being basically an entire system unto themselves. The KEF LS60 might be just as good too, but I've never been a huge fan of KEF's software and I'm not convinced they'd give me quite all of what I get with the Genelecs (although maybe they'd give me more, who knows). You get the idea.
