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Downsizing; why?

I recently reduced my box count from 8 to 5 (not counting speakers). I don't see it as a downgrade though as the sound quality of my near new integrated amp sounds better than my 20 year old separates.

The new kit has much better WAF factor as it has a remote and has much better volume adjustment at lower volumes (the old preamp's stepped volume had big steps at low volume). However she does not see it as downsizing while I have speakers that are >5 feet tall and weigh 105kg each.
 
I have two racks full of the stuff (plus speakers & sub), fortunately as the room is generously sized it swallows it up. I have been careful to match colours & shades to the room furnishings where possible so the Mrs doesn't mind at all - and she loves listening to it too. FTR Chord Tran/DAC, Pre/1200E, Audio Physic Avanti, BK Sub, PT Anniv/SME/ART9, Gold Note PH10. It sounds absolutely stunning and I like nothing more than sitting down with a cup of tea/glass of wine and enjoying the music it reproduces. It has all been carefully chosen over the years and definitely sounds better than what I had before. No plans to downsize here.

One of the saddest phases of this hobby was during the early days of home cinema. I lost count of the number of family folk who sold off their wonderful hifi and bought an AV system because it would suit the family better. Then they realised it sounded crap on music and the room had even more kit & wires than they had before! Je ne regrette rien, honestly. :(
 
I did the 'four boxes down to one plus speakers' thing several years ago, but still have another four-box plus speakers system upstairs. I guess that if/when we move somewhere smaller, one of those will have to go.

One big difference now is that when I look at the pfm classifieds I no longer think 'Hmm, I could buy that', but 'Hmm, I've got one like that, maybe I could sell it'.
 
I've "downsized" from a multi-box Naim setup (82/napsc/hc/hc/250) to one that's at it's simplest: a £36 computer, a DSP DAC/preamp and a shoebox sized class D power amp. The "downsized" system has considerably better functionality, was cheaper to buy, is cheaper to run, and sounds better because I can actually tune the response to match my taste and the room.
 
People upthread have already examined the differences between downsizing and downgrading etc.

I got a bit fed up with massive Papworth mono valve amps.. beautiful as they were.. so decided to go for a nice compact but capable integrated. (LFD Zero MkV)

My record player actually got a bit 'upsized' as I went from LP12/Lingo/etc.. to Mitchell Orbe... But the Orbe takes up one shelf of a standard rack.. just like the LP12..

Next thing was to stop being surrounded by zillions of CDs which demand that you spend all night looking for the one you want to play.. So. they are now all on an Innuos Zen Mini/LPSU.

I still keep a Rotel RCD965-BX and Yamaha CDR in the rack. I suppose I coulddo away with the Rotel as the Yam makes a fine CDP.. but there's no rush........
 
I have collected quite a few boxes, all rega, so good value compared with some stuff out there. However I do fancy a few less boxes and am attracted to something like a hegel. Currently have neat momentum sx3i which are great but they are large and I defo prefer the look of mini monitors. Something like a hegel h190 or h390 with some proac tablettes perhaps.

I have some rather excellent ATC SCM19s for sale in the classifieds, these would sing on the end of a Hegel.
 
I have a main system, two bedroom systems and a loft system. Almost none of it would make much or be easy to shift so my three girls will have something nice if they ever leave home.
 
Similar to @Alex S I have multiple systems (three in my case) which are more use to me than the small amount I could sell them for. One system is based around a 1980 Philips Black Tulip pre/power, I love the meters and controls...nice kit. Another system is for AV and music, music is from a Pi into a Qutest DAC which admittedly would resell for a reasonable figure. My main system has recently been downsized in terms of complexity - it's now two boxes for most functions - 1 box for streamer, DAC, phono stage, preamp then the 2nd box is the power amp. I've got rid of all sorts of extra power supplies, buffers, separate streamer / DAC etc. So many i/c and main cables have been removed - this is my primary reason for downsizing.
 


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