are any of your friends audiophiles?


I dont have one single friend I can get into audio.

Of course through this hobby I have met friends who are hard core
'philes like me, but not one of my other friends will even consider letting me put togther a simple and low cost high end-ish system.

One friend now claims when he gets some money he'll let me get him
one of those $650 (used of course) chinese integrated tube amps but it hasn't happened yet. A few of my friends are even somewhat loaded, but none will take the trip.

Of course they enjoy hearing my system, and two even comes to the audio shows with me but that is as far as it gets.

What about your friends?
emailists
An individual who lives right near me has 36,000 discs and albums. No, that is not a typo, he has 36,000 of them. When he told me I thought for sure he meant 3,600, but he corrected me on that. He described the cabinets and shelving necessary to hold his collections. He stated that he has a problem with buying media (I'd say!) in that when he acquires a new artist he cannot buy just one album or disc - he has to get everything they've recorded.

As excessive as that is, he has a POS stereo and I cannot convince him to come over and share some time so that our two worlds can intersect. He seems to have absolutely no interest in it. A real shame.

Another audiophile friend is definitely "old school" with his vintage McIntosh equipment. (Not ripping on it, just pointing out this guy has never upgraded in 20+ years). He wants "live concert" feel, so he's got Klipsch mains with 15" bass (if I recall correctly), AND twin subs in a bedroom about 12x14! The experience of listening to his system at higher levels is somewhat like having a pile driver operating outside the room. No matter what system we listen to at my place, they never have enough bass for him!

Another audiophile friend was a DJ for a while, so he has a habit of making compilations of his music on disc. He does a superb job and has introduced me to several wonderful artists. He and I could probably get together every week for the foreseeable future and never run out of conversation and good times listening.

One poor couple I know have a lovely system and they've put much into a dedicated room, but they always seem to have issues with their equipment. Problems with an amp now, then their wiring, etc. In the summer their room overheats from the huge ARC tube amps, so the equipment sits unused a good portion of the year. It's fun enertaining them since they are into "Space Metal" and other genres of music that I'm not. It's like a cultural exchange to share our different favorites. I remember one time they put on some of their SERIOUSLY hard driving speed metal (or whatever they called it) music and were commenting, "Oh, this has good definition," while all I heard was DISTORTION! Of course, they suffer immeasurably with my Smooth Jazz discs. Our mutual love of equipment conquers musical differences.

It is a true blessing to find an "audio brother" (and rarely an "audio sister").
Unfortunately no. My friends love music and listening to my system but are too busy with the next gadget etc. to invest in quality audio. The only audiophile friend I ever had was my dad and he passed away in 2000. He sure did love his McIntosh gear.
None. Everyone I know is so far away from this hobby they would think I'm insane and or irresponsible to spend the thousands I've spent. My best friend has a fraction of an idea of what I've spent. He says I'm addicted and will never stop.
I think of myself as an audio enthusiast, but hesitate to claim the term "audiophile", because
(1) my interest in good-sounding equipment is driven more by a music listening/collecting hobby, and
(2) my gear is more along the lines of Klipsch, Spica, Mac, ARC, Sansui, Rega, Thorens, etc., and no $5k components or dedicated listening rooms or anything of that sort.

I have one friend with similar music-collecting tendencies, and he has discovered the value of some good Marantz equipment and a reconditioned Dual TT. But most of his music listening is still pop CDs played on the world's worst car factory stereo.

Most of my other friends, even those with excellent music taste and decent collections, insist on just playing their iPod through a muddy HT system, and gabbing over the music since there's so little noticeable detail worth paying attention to. At least a lot of them will still go to good live music shows.