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My former system before spendthrift spouse obliged me to sell it all off:

Magnepan MG-20r Speaker
Pass Labs X-350 Amplifier
Audio Research LS-22r Tube preamp (modified)
Accuphase DP-75 CD Player
Linn LP-12 Sondek Turntable (modified)
Linn Ittok LVII Tonearm
Dynavector 10-X4 mkII Cartridge
Krell Standard KPE phono Preamplifier
Luxman 5T-50 Tuner
Audio Magic Spellcaster II Speaker cable
Cardas Golden Reference Speaker cable
Cardas Golden Reference Interconnect
Cardas Golden Cross Interconnect
Audio Magic Spellcaster II Power cord
Bybee Technologies Pro AC filter

This system was astonishing in its depth, clarity and realism. For the most part, it simply vanished and left the music behind. All I have now is a pair of KEF 103/3 Reference speakers, a B&O 3404 turntable and a crappy Sherwood receiver. Post divorce, I'm looking at an Audio Research DSI200 integrated amp, a lower end Audio Research phono preamp and a better turntable of some sort. Choice of CD player is also up in the air as well. That Accuphase will be hard to beat.

How did you like those Magnepans? I thought about ribbon speakers but they were a bit outside the loop when I last bought speakers in about 1990. I went with the Kef Reference 104/2. But I’ve always been curious about the Magnepans.

Dude, That original system gives me wood...er..is exciting!

I must be the luckiest guy on earth.
My wife loves football, racing, and understands the need for AV equipment like that. She gives me more grief about my tools because I’m not a mechanic. I tell her it’s like her kitchen stuff. She’s not a world class chef, but you never know when you’ll need that 6” milled stainless saute pan.

As far as the audio equipment, she grew up on a farm in eastern KY. They had 1 TV station. Her exposure to music had been mostly small transistor radios.
After she heard the music she liked on my system, she was hooked. Her music tastes branched out (went from country only to Loving the Metallica S&M DVD) and went to her first concert at 32 years old.
She also doesn’t understand other women’s desire to either hide the equipment, or make their husband get rid of it.
She’s proud of the fact that we don’t go to the theater.
We cook a nice fat steak on the grill, have a few adult beverages, pop a big bowl of popcorn, and watch a movie with sound and picture better than any theater, with no talking idiots, cell phones, screaming kids, and not missing anything if nature calls.