I've been following this with interest, although some of its by-ways are a bit too obscure for non-technical me.

It seems to me, that in the end, the HiFi system one ends up with is, just like the music, a reflection of the kind of person one is. Anyway, music is too wide a parameter, there are many kinds of music, and in most cases a system will suit one or another but not all. My own set up sounds great with small-scale well-recorded baroque music on original instruments, but as that's what I'm mainly into, it would be surprising if it didn't. Pop music (sorry to use the all-embracing equivalent of "Classical music") sounds ok, if sometimes too strident, but it doesn't get 19th Century romantic music at all, but then neither do I. Now is that really the system, or just me? Me and the system, or me & the music? or both?

In fact, the system is more like me than maybe is good for me. I tend to be a bit cool and unemotional, and my taste in music reflects that, and so does my system. I sometimes wish I were a warmer-hearted more heart-on-the-sleeve type of chap, so dream of lush valves and elctrostatics, but know(?) it would all end in tears.

Sometimes the system sounds great, sometimes the music sounds great, and sometimes I'm crap, it depends on my mood. Titian asks how often any of us sit down and solely listen to music? I've always felt guilty: it's usually combined with something else, usually reading a book. In the system's latest incarnation, though, more and more I find myself letting the book drop and being brought into the music. Reading's taking a lot longer! Is the system more involving? Is the music more involving? Or am I just turning into an agèd brain-addled wino who can't do two things at once anymore?

Who cares!

Whether in the pursuit of great HiFi / musical experience, there really are two differentiated paths (music / equipment), I don't know, but in the end I suspect the one is unavoidably compromised by the other, and it all ends up being a reflection of: - you.