Great thread Donnie. Hindsight is always 20-20.

I'll start with early system building around solid state amps and integrated amps. I went through 4-5 mid-level products and never found any satisfaction. I did add an Audible Illusions preamp at one point which improved things, but the darn thing just ate 6922 tubes. Pursuing solid state equipment was my most costly mistep.

Next I'd say was not buying into the effects of after market cables. It just seemed like absolute B.S. As my system became tube based  more resolving, I experimented going through half a dozen brands of cables finally landing on Snake River Audio stuff.

Finally chasing isolation tweaks. IsoAcoustic products in particular never delivered any real improvements.

The one mistake I never made was selling off my vinyl collection, which began in high school. Boxing my collection for four family relocations was a PITA but well worth it.

HK