Charles,
Yes much has changed in 40 years: high school, college, and 4 different jobs. Those JBL's were my first foray into mid-fi, but I was already hooked. By college I started delving into serious hi-fi. By 1976 the huge JBL L-300's had caught my eye, but was introduced to Fried Model H (coffin transmission line stereo woofer cabinet with LS3/5a clone "satellites"). A nice vinyl setup, high end Nakamichi 700 cassette deck, Hafler pre/power amps took me into my first marriage. Along the way the turntable was (physically) dropped and I followed the "perfect sound" promise. Predictably the system was down sized and ended up with smaller Frieds and NAD CDP/3020 receiver. After the death of my oldest and ensuing divorce I finally got back into the fray with the help of the internet.
Tried to like SETs, but settled on the fact that I'm a "speaker guy" and couldn't find SET compatable speakers I liked. Ended up going to Bob Brines and commissioned "full range" single driver transmisison lines. Tried music server, but the modded Squeeze Box routinely "glitched" so I'm back to spinning CDs. I now have three systems: the "big rig" is in my dedicated man cave/listening room; a 5.1 HT system in the family room (but I'm not really into movies); and the living room system (with "leftover" components). Even the A/V system has audio leftovers in it.
Now as I consider retirement my future audio goals are becoming more "reasonable". Won't need 20K Hz, 110 dB response, will need more convenience/simple to use interface, integration with video, and more WAF. But damn if I end up with a "lifestyle" system.
