Hey guys, thanks for all the great comments. As for my Dad, I got HIM into audio. Needed a CD player, went to the store, came back with a Marantz CD6000 (great player for the bux!), and plopped it into my dad's office system (he was using the computer as the CDP ). "Hmmm....this is incredibly better! I wonder what an even BETTER one would sound like." The rest is history. I think I got my philosophy on audio because I got really caught up in the whole "tweaking" game. Suspensions, couplings, contact cleaners, Aqua-net on the drivers (on my homemade Voigts, don't go nuts), etc. etc. Then one day, as I was doing a "listening test" on a new pair of cables vs. my old ones, I thought to myself "hey, I need to STOP listening to these dumb cables, and start jamming out on this Clapton!" Duh!
Right now I work for a commerical audio design/installation firm as a CAD draftsman. NONE of these guys believe their ears...just what the LCD screen on their little computers tell them. BUT, I'm learning incredible amounts of info I could never, EVER get sitting in some classroom. Most EE's (in school) could solve a complex circuit diagram for you, but couldn't tell you what a capacitor is used for! Backwards teaching is the name of the game here, folks.
Lak, you have no IDEA how many concerts I've been to that I was appalled at the sound quality of. I live in Austin, TX, and have seen my fair share of great band/poor venue. But I could have cared less when I was going nuts in the mosh pit at the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. Maybe I'll design some cables that can recreate THAT!
Happy listening,
Brian
P.S. I got a "C" in philosophy. My teacher wrote on my papers that I "made up my mind too quickly" on certain subjects (especially Kant...I HATE Kant), and that "perhaps I should study both sides of the issue before passing judgement." That's what I did last night, Teach! I guess my arguments weren't "circular" enough for her taste :)