Why Don't More People Love Audio?

What's the audiophile gold standard? Perfect reproduction of live, unamplified acoustic music. Well, the last time most Americans heard live, unamplified acoustic music it was their high school marching band. With no standard to compare it to, how could a high-end system impress them? People who love music can listen to anything. Being an audiophile means caring about sound reproduction. You can love music too, and most of us do, but it's really a separate passion.

I think the ingrediants that make up an audiophile is more then just the love of music. I think you have to also love the gear, be pasionate, creative, and to be a little on the obsesive side. The love of music is a perfrence but being an audiophile is a hobby. I think that marketing and exposure would be very benificial to the hobby and would make it more of a status symbol. I dont think anyone here buys it for status and if it turned into that it would cheapen it. Then again if it was a status symbol maybe my favorite little hi fi store wouldnt have just gone out of business.

I also think that most people dont have the listening skills. When I hear a laugh track I always here the indivdual people laughing. When I walk into a crowded room I dont hear a group of people I hear a lot of individual conversations. If you listen you can even hear a conversation crystal clear from twenty five feet away in a crowded loud room. They talk louder because of the ambient noise level yet trained ears can "focus" on those particular sounds. Try it.

Someone here once compared fine audio to wine tasting. I think that is an excellent analogy. Being a wine counasour not only takes talent but you need a trained pallet to be good at it. Like most people cant tell a fine wine most people cant tell a great audio system because there ears arent trained well.

Very well said Perfectimage...

Reminds me of a print ad campaign many years ago that asked, " Why do so many people buy Kenwood?" The owner of the Sound Seller in Marinette, WI (You still out there Roger?) posted the ad in his store with his own rhetorical question as a response, "Because they can't hear?"

I made a statement that we are doing ourselves a great injustice by supporting companies that have " money is not an obstacle" attitude. The cost of brewing up a true reference system is extraordinary. I'm sorry, but I can't justify spending $50,000.00 on a pair of monoblocks, even if I had 10 million in the bank. When support these companies we are hurting ourselves and the possibility of increasing the numbers of audiophiles. Anyone can learn to appreciate a good system, just ask my wife, but what do you give up in the process of aquiring a good system? I buy used equipment primarily. Champagne tastes, sparkling wine budget.