Last year, I decided to replace my old, worn out system. However, with many financial irons in the fire, I had a need to be very careful to get the best bang for the buck. After all, I must care for the other "hobby" as well - two Mercedes.

This system retails at approximately $8000 but sounds far, far better. Almost all of it was purchased pre-owned and through Audiogon - even while they revamped their site - which was no small feat!

My goal was to purchase all US made gear - and I came close.

The Rogue Cronus Magnum is an outstanding integrated amp, complete with headphone stage - perfect for when I finally break out my 35-year-old QL7 turntable.

The speakers are Merlin TSM's. I've found these to have an interesting following in the audio community. Owners seem to be near rabid about them - and I now understand why.

The CD player is a standby for many people - Rega Apollo.

I research cables and determined that, while I needed high quality cables, I could never convince myself that I had to spend thousands. So I went with River Cables. The seem great to me.

I added a Sonos music player so I can stream Apple lossless of a terabyte drive in my home office. The Sonos is truly a modern miracle as far as I'm concerned.

Sound anchor stands and an Emotiva DAC so I can run DVR sound through the system (thus making it useful to my spouse - good plan) round it all out.

I love to read about super high-end gear, but this is probably where I'm going to be for the foreseeable future. All good and no complaints!