What will it take to have live music for everyone?

I agree with most everything that has been said in this post. As a musician myself, I have noticed that many of my friends who sit in front of my system seem to "get it." In fact, I have had a few friends ask me for help in designing fair priced systems for them. My friends have not spent as much time with audio as I have so their observations are not as detailed as my own, but I feel that they all have the capability to really appreciate hifi. I think that it is because we know what music is supposed to sound like, and hearing accurate reproduction of it takes an important precedence...Now if I could only explain to them that my system is only at the tip of the iceberg of what is capable!

I have several friends that are very tallented musicians. They all either listen to terribly cheap Wal-Mart stereos or stuff I have handed down to them.
I have other friends that listen almost exclusively to MP3's.

Are these people any less "into" the music just because they are reproducing it in less than "perfect" ways?

I know a couple of audiophiles who will not listen to music over their vehicles stock stereo. They will not listen to an MP3. They will not listen to a boombox. They will not listen to a box system.

Does listening to music have to be an all-enveloping, near-perfect, bring-a-tear-to-your-eye experiance every time to be worthwhile?

Good question, Lakefrontroad. In a word, as one told me some time ago, the best thing one can invest in their system is 'time'.

That is the best answer I can think of.

More specifically I think that when one invests 'time' they begin to realize there's a lot of old wive's tales being propagated out there. And without time and experimentation it is impossible to develop an open mind which often times leads to further experimentation, and hopefully greater sonics.

Just a few of the more popular old wive's tales that can prevent the masses from achieving the type of system/soncis you're talking about might include:

o A room's acoustics account for 80% of the sound when it really is speaker placement and the speaker's interaction with the room. Even then it's only perhaps 20 to 25 percent.

o Refusal to accept that everybody's AC is dirty and is in need of proper line conditioning. Instead they focus their attention on power cables only.

o Thinking that most line conditioners must be good.

o Thinking that installing dedicated circuits/lines somehow magically cleans up the AC coming from the street.

o Vibration control via racking systems and mechanical diodes does little or nothing to a system's soncis. Rather they install their systems on a china buffet, window shelf, floor, Plexiglas, kitty litter, innertubes, tennis balls, etc..

o Many still don't realize that sharing AC circuits with other components, lamps, etc. can literally choke the dynamics from the amp.

o Many still think they must spend lots of money.

o Many still think that assembling a superior system is all science, when like most things in life it is more art and trial and error than science.

o Many still think cryo-treatment is snake oil. But that's only because their systems fall short in one or more of the above categories.

o Many still think that if an ic, sc, or pc isn't thicker than their garden hose it can't possibly be any good.

o Many still think that amplifiers are more similar sonically than they are different.

o That dealers, mfg'ers, reviewers, and enthusiasts know what they are talking about and are trustworthy. Far too many times it can be the blind leading the blind. Or worse, far too many times it can be the deceptive leading the blind.

There's plenty of other old wive's tales but I think these are some of the more sonically impacting ones.

-IMO

Stehno, your words of wisdom ring true, oh wise one :-) My only problem involves cryo'ing. Originally, cryo'ing was used as a tempering treatment for homogeneous metals. Different metals [or non-metallic objects] have different coefficients of expansion...think of how a bimetallic strip or coil works in a thermostat!

My concern would be damage done to a component using many different materials, with many different coefficients of expansion. They are being exposed to a temperature extreme for which the design parameters were never intended.

Yes, I know people swear that the sound gets better, or at least changes, but I would be afraid of premature failure or problems. I may be wrong...just my opinion.

I find it interesting that others don't have a sense that cost is a major factor. Cost being a function of volume for the most part. I can conceive of high end electronics being replicated in mass volume at costs that are mass affordable. Not cheap, but affordable.

If that was/is the case, and equipment continues in the same direction, it poses the possibility that many could have the equivalent of the rarest of systems today at prices that are currently in the uppwardly mobile market.

But, I believe correctly stated in another thread, the goal for many is not live or life-like music, but rather a skew on that. For some, as they imaging music to sound and for others as they wish it to be. Still others don't want the involvement and captivation that real music brings, but want music as a part of the landscape, not the subject itself.

I am all of those at various times and therefore relate to the ideas.

I just can't get my arms around the idea that everyone doesn't want the real thing, if they could get it.

Maybe, the truth is that most don't believe they can have it and therefore have a reason why it's not important to them.

As is obvious, the why really interests me.