Love for music shatter by highend equipment

Beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Just like the person who owns a Ferrari but will never race it or test it's driving capabilities, some people prefer the equipment over the music. Audio equipment has an appeal outside of its ability to respoduce music. Great enginering design, works of visual art, great conversation pieces, status symbols, etc. Who's to say that these characteristics are any less important than a piece of equipment's ability to respoduce music?

I happen to own a 1980's vintage Yamaha B-6 power amplifier just becuase of the way it looks. I don't listen to it, I just look at it. Suits me fine.

There are my two cents and my humble opinion.

Sound quality has nothing to do with music quality period!!! The main problem with these guys that are too lofty to listen to a "cheap" system is that they have their prioraties backwards and are listning for how a system sounds rather than how it plays music. They care more about audiophile terms like soundstaging, bass, imaging, ballance and on and on. But Music does not exist in those parameters. Thus while I have a $30.000.00 plus system in my main room, I had to work very hard to get it to play music better than my $500.00 rack system which plays music better than most of the systems that I have heard in the best Hi End stores price no object. Don't believe this is possable, just read the article in Stereophile called Music is in the Nuance - back several years but still on the web site. Or just start reading Listner Magazine and you will realize that there is a whole nother world out there of music lovers that listen to the music and not the sound of their systems.

I am in the music lover catagory for classical. The good system just makes it sound as good as possible. I have sold many better sounding CDs on eBay when I find another one with a much better performance.

Instead of one super great system, I have two pretty decent ones, so I can always have music playing without interfering with the rest of the household; like when they're using the third system (Home Theater).

Natalie,

I can appreciate your sentiments as well as the next person, but if you truly practice what you preach what are you doing hanging out here? Comic relief, or what?

T1hub -- my you are quite the poser aren't you? Why don't you just have your paper money gilded and then wallpaper your bathroom with it? I'm not so sure that expensive equipment has an appeal outside of reproducing music as you suggest. My friends and family all think I'm nuts for spending the money I've spent. Then again, I think it's stupid to buy a car or SUV for $30 Gs when I fantasize about all the cool gear I could get for that price instead. Don't mind me -- I guess we're all wacko in one way or another.

I enjoy both the music and the gear. I generally buy what I consider to be the best "bang for the buck" type products in the medium priced category, which for me is about $1500-$3000 per component. I enjoy what effect it has on my listening experience without going broke. I typically do not change systems for at least 5 years, although I do make some small changes and tweaks between times. Once I have settled on a system, I enjoy my music on it, and do not go out auditioning new stuff until I am ready to buy. While the music is the top priority, I do enjoy hearing it at high quality levels, and I appreciate "real" improvements in sound. Since I am not rich, getting systems in the price level stated above allows me good results without going too high on the "diminishing returns" scale. I have always been happy at this level, because I know I can never afford the outlandishly great and expensive, but I can get close enough to achieve a satisfying musical experience. By doing this, I can concentrate better on the music by eliminating the nagging psychological distraction that I should have bought better equipment. If you satisfy yourself that your system is the best you can reasonably afford and it sounds real good to you, the music is much more accessible for enjoyment, due to removal of the neurotic barriers. This method has always worked for me, and lowered my stress levels immensely.