Background, a year ago or so, I finished building out and putting in a dedicated home theater room in a new space in my house. I went through a big box place, and have been generally happy, though had to fend off the expected silly add-ons, and still got got with a wasted $1000 for a u-remote that amounts to two source selector buttons and a volume control, and I allowed them to sell me a power conditioner that was maybe 1% of the total cost, not bad. That took 6 months of searching, considering, choosing, etc. I am 90% happy with that, I’ll call it a win.

After that, my former movie watching space was available for reconsideration as a hifi setup. I have been researching that now for a month or so, working with a local small guy with good reputation, etc, and I was nearing the point of just saying “yep, I trust this guy, love the speakers I’m listening to, and also the amp, pre-amp, streamer,” and moving ahead.

Then, guy scopes things out for a total package price for my reference, and on it are 4 pairs of 4-figure cables, and a fancy pants power conditioner. The brand is easily one of the most chastized on here. I smiled and kept talking about some other stuff, but I’m thinking “cmon bro, I thought we were buds, dont make me do this to you.” Sigh. Now I probably have to ghost the guy, I cant justify dropping $15K+ with someone I can’t trust.

I thought purchasing an amp and 2 great speakers would be simple. Tired of the fact that I can’t find anyone to trust in this field. Maybe it’s time for just a great pair of headphones.