Has anyone had success converting friends?

Everyone I know loves music. Three more play guitar and
drums, and pretty damn well. And not a single one is into
equipment like we are here. The closest one would be my brother-in-law (guitar, piano, bass) that would have a
hi-end component, and that's an old pair of Design Acoustic
speakers, with which he is completely happy.
Everyone I know loves my equipment, but at the end, they think I'm nuts as to the extent I have gone just to listen to music.

Since getting large three ways I have the opposite experience. People always ask - generally the reaction is OMG that sounds so real - especially drums.

I admit I rarely get the "jaw dropped on the floor reaction" at modest music levels. Lets face it a cheap pair of audioengine speakers at the local Mac dealer is pretty good. And the average car stereo is 10x better than what it was in the 70's. There is stiff competition out there.

I think it reflects the fact that most systems - even cheap ones - are good enough sounding to most people (non audiophiles) at modest levels.

IMHO, to impress/knock socks off you really need to present the live music experience with total clarity and definition - in essence do something that the majority of systems are incapable of - reproduce a band at realistic sound levels.

nope but two ladies came to my door trying to convert me to mormon. I just stared blanky and stated "no hablo mormado i'm an audiophile" and they said "May Jesus heal you", and left without even handing me a leaflet. It was that bad.

No my friends could care less and especially if they knew the financial investment I've made.

Been in this hobby 27 years. Up until about 16 years ago coworkers and friends were coming up to me to set them up.
Gradually that has changed. The last 10 years it has been almost impossible to talk about it. Surround sound and DVDs and even car radios has taken over. I like music to be as pure as possible within my financial abilities. Most people around here just like noise. However I do have several friends that have nice systems and they come to me for advice plus we have fun talking about music and the components. Sad to see how most people support junk and throw there money away though.