Why Don't More People Love Audio?

That's very true Mapman, very true indeed. I just don't see why one should preclude the other. In other words, I may actually listen to more hours of music with my humble collection than he who owns more records than he could ever listen to. I have noticed that my frequent listening stack of records, about 20 to 30 albums I keep to the front, hasn't changed all that much. While half of them my be newer albums, or old gems I am revisiting, the other half are old favorites that I find myself reaching for again and again. A true classic never gets old.

And thanks Phd, I wish I could have been a reviewer!

What does good sound look like? People can see the difference between a supercar and a regular car. High end audio can be difficult to define as it is largely opinion based (IMHO) so how does someone know what to buy? It is not an easy task. As people have said here, just throwing money at the problem is no guarantee of success. It is not a project suited for today's microwave mentality.
As for not living without music, I enjoy reproduced sound like every one here. But has there ever been a time in history other than now when reproduced sound existed? What did people do before the last century to satisfy their craving for music?

Well back in the 19th century many folks in this country purchased pianos which was a BIG purchase and it was more about enjoying music by actually playing it. Of course there were always live performances as well. The "piano in the home" trend continued well into the 20th century peaking in the first decade until sales gradually diminished with the introduction of reproduced music, the phonograph and later radio.

The Hi-Fi "generations" (those music lovers who desire/d and are/were willing to pay for good sound, born no later than, say, the 1960's) were looking to get their recordings to sound as much like live music as possible. Music lovers born after that grew up hearing only non-acoustical live music, so Hi-Fi music reproduction doesn't have as much meaning or value to them. Something like that, anyway.

But even my contemporaries (we're in our 60's), both musicians and civilians ;-), don't seem to be able to sit still long enough to just listen to music. People will sit and watch a movie, but not just sit and listen to music---they get restless, fidgety even. They need to be doing something while music is playing, not give it their focused attention. The quality of currently made music could have something to do with it!

Cdc, you're correct, unfortunately there is no user manual when it comes down to buying audio gear and or trying to assemble a good sounding system. But if you have been in the hobby long enough you just know when you have reached that point of perfection. You might say that's it! that's the sound I've been looking for. I have reached this point on several occasions with different components only to screw it up later because I couldn't leave well enough alone. I think I'm more disciplined now.