Remember to log your speaker build in a thread. There have been a few over the years and the results were, visually at least, amazing and impressive.
That patience; being good with your hands; all the planning and research is something that totally mystifies me and leaves me feeling inadequate.
I will definitely document, whether I succeed or not.
As I havenāt actually done any serious woodworking before, it remains to be seen what the result will be, but letās assume it will be a success 
You could always document it retrospectively, Iām almost certain to give the Troels Gravesen Ellam Flexās a go at some point, but might compress elapsed time a bit - not least cos the default thread closing behaviour on this forum will likely trigger many times before Iām done 
Gonna start with a rough go at the cabs before I buy the parts, if the cabinets turn out awful then Iāll scrap them and no-one need ever know! Donāt tell anyone thatās my plan though X)
ā¦ which ones are you going for?
No real strategy for upgrades, other than affordability. For many years I ran a Marantz CD, Systemdek, and Nait 3. After finally getting a bit of financial stability I could subsequently justify a few upgrades, so serviced the Nait and swapped to a CD5.
Iām now on an XS3, and have cabling and stands sorted, plus rest of kit in good shape. It all sounds great. No plans to upgrade (apart from the speaker plan above) until I have enough for a SN3 or can justify auditioning ND5 XS2/NDX2. I donāt plan to upgrade, or stick with what I have. I just think about what next when I have funds to allow it
The problem with full system change is cost: On the other side incremental moves with one component at a time jumping to a higher level enables gradually improving the system on the way to an end goal, whereas doing it in one go means saving for a long time with no improvement.
Since I purchased my Oppo 105 shortly after its release, I have bought a number of pairs of headphones, but nothing major until this year. I knew I wanted to replace my Squeezebox-based streaming set-up, but did not pull the trigger before now. There were several reasons: pandemic/cabin fever, increase in investment portfolio, and the cancellation of a project for which I was holding money aside (significantly more than the three Naim streamers I purchased.
This is 100% true. And I know a lot of people for whome some desire to have the system constantly evolve is important. But not everyone feels the need for constant improvement.
Itās nice to just build a balanced system and forget about the upgrade merry-go-round and just listen to music rather than listen and evaluate what the last change brought.
Some people always look at their system and ask, āwhat if?ā Others just donāt get itchy for an improvement that fast and so saving for 10 years for a big bang upgrade is a non issue.
The advantage, not the problem, is cost. The cost of the incremental improvements route is undoubtedly much higher.
I can see that side as well. For me for my first 25 years of hifi I was on a journey to a relatively high level, so did it by leapfrogging. (But I never spent time or energy thinking about what tge last change brought: each was a distinct improvement so I was happy and just played music until I could afford a other step.)
Then came stability until things died, apart from a chance stumbing on a bargain. One if thise changes from a dead item les to my change to streaming, which triggered a period of refinement. Then an inheritance, now retirement and endgame consideration.
Never lost money on doing such. Overall I actually have earned money. Second handed Naim if purchased smart will most often not be at a loss.
Could be it worked out in your case, but I suspect for the majority it wouldnāt. Certainly not for the group here thatās buying new through dealers.
And as we are comparing the two āmodelsā, Iād be interested in your view regarding changing all in one go. Do you feel it would have cost you more? And if so can you explain why itās more cost effective to upgrade incrementally? Thanks.
Compared to having no system while saving for decades, yes (in monetary terms, but not music terms!) But not compared to buying a system then saving for decades and changing it: changing each item once over said time would cost the same, but with audible improvements at each step.
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