I recommend a less drastic path. Some sort of anti-stimulant. . . might be a nice Scotch, or a nice rolled smoke, or a cool little pill, whatever seems to suit your fancy and nature best. Just something so that hiss and pops don't bother you and you can be immersed in your upcoming excellent sound!

    Well I will tell you, Lon.  A few month ago I was thinking about how I used to listen to music when I was in high school.  On Saturday my buddy and I would take our allowance for the week, head downtown on the bus, and then hit the record store.  Sometimes we knew exactly what we were looking  for and other times we would spend a couple hours just searching.  Then we would head home, crank up my Dad's sterreo, and spend hours listening to every beat and riff.  We would sift through the jacket reading every lyric and stare at mind bending art like Roger Dean's Yes album cover.
    Some 30 years later I find myself one day huffing and puffing in the gym while one of the thousand songs on my IPHONE bangs its way into my ear like it was being blown through and aluminum foil cone.  I wondered how I got here.  Why was I listening to this crap?  I realized that music had become the soundtrack and was no longer the main show.  So I set off to set this right.
    After getting a bit of advice I set up my listening room in (don't laugh) a 1965 Aladin travel trailer.  I got a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic, a Rega Apollo CD player, and pumped the signal out to a pair of Sennheiser HD650 head phones.  What a gas.  I found myself just standing there listening to a whole song.  What a thrill it is to listen to a piece you have heard a thousand times and then suddenly hear something different, something you never new was there, even if it is something as seemingly benign as hearing a great vocalist take a breath between verses.  Some CD's I had neglected became new favorites.  Others were dissapointing.  I popped in my cherished Dire Straits Making Movies and was a little bummed to hear that the playback seemed so constricted, like somebody had crammed the whole group together into the corner of a room.  Then I ordered the Warner Brothers remastered Making Movies and I was stunned.  It was great!  What a difference.  Still, there was something not quite right.  It took me a while to figure it out and then it dawned on me.  "Mark Knopfler cannot sing!"  Oh good audio stuff is unforgiving.
    My wife and I like to take an occassional trip to the coast and stay at a little place that has a deck up on a cliff looking out over the Pacific.  When we go I pack up all my gear.  My wife thinks it is a bit crazy but what is better than looking out over ocean on a sunny day?  Doing the same with Yo Yo Ma's rendition of the Bach cello suites pumping into your head, holding a bloody mary in your left hand, a ranch dressing smothered Ruffles potato chip in your right.
    So now I need to buy an amp an I am fascinated with Decware.  I am so impressed with the reviews and each unit is a real piece of art.  I made the mistake of purchasing some bookshelf speakers first (B&W CDM-1, 88db 1W/1M.)  I did this before I learned of the low wattage revolution and high efficiency speakers.  I am not sure if one of the more resonably priced Decware amps will drive my speakers but the volume I have to fill is very small.  I think it is worth a try.  I can always get new speakers.
    Well I am looking forward to this forum.  Its fun to chit chat with some other audio enthusiasts.

Will do!  Yeah I think I will just pay the stiff entry price.  With some things if you go cheap yoü wind up paying more in the end.

Got the all clear from the wife.  She is too good to me.  Thanks for the advice.
John