HiFi lacking social recognition?

IME most people rate Audiophiles only a very little bit higher than child molesters... which I find hard to understand. Why are audiophiles so easy to marginalize???

:o

I think atleast some of the upper class income folks do have nice systems, they simply dont change gear very often.
With all the business, travel,& social commitments those folks have they do not have time to listen like others do, hell if I could fly first class anytime to vacation and see the world with a pocket full of cash I would probably not care about this hobby as much either........but I would be going to DOZENS of concerts yearly!

Chadnliz, you are probably right about busy lifestyle vs time to procratsinate and even my buddys in audio retail admit that it is an 80-20 rule again: 80% of their revenues come from 20% of their clientele who can afford very expensive systems either because they are true audiophile or because they heard that Wilson-Spectral or Wilson-Levinson is like Rolls Royce. But they confess that their bread and butter come from average Joes often looking for special financing, lay-aways, ready to go into debt to upgrade their gear way beyond the threshold of disposable income -when they are not unemployed like a few I know!
So, Hifi may make it into Forbes next "Top 10 drugs to blow your bonus on" right after cocaine and way before Oban 14-yr old.

high nrchy:

if someone reads enough posts on audiogon, it is probable that he/she would suggest that 2 persons in white coats round up all audiophiles and transport them to the nearest mental hospital.

you don't have to be nuts to be an audiophile, but it helps.

what's fun about audiogon is the repartee, not the subject matter. i find the whole process of reading and writing posts more entertaining than real life or watching movies.
much of what is said is so funny, it should not be taken seriously by anyone.

I think its cyclical, with a long, multi-year period.

I remember as a kid in the 1960s I saw some component systems on display at a department store when my parents went to buy a console stereo. (We eventually bought a Magnovox console.) When we asked the salesmen about the components, they pooh-poohed them by saying they were for audio enthusiasts and greatly higher priced. While we didn't buy, I was intrigued -- here was something new, beyond the realm of my prior experience.

When I got to high school, I had to walk past a stereo store every day on my way to school. Inevitably, I went in and was drawn to the quality of the components. I don't think I even heard them well, but the esoteric appearance and dedicated technology of the products on display captured my enthusiasm. This was the real deal! I saved my lunch money for a year and a half and bought the cheapest Fisher three piece system (two speakers and a receiver with a turntable mounted on top of it).

For me, the key was the first exposure at the department store, when I learned that there was something better, much much better, way above the whole mass of choosing between different consoles -- Motorola, Magnavox, RCA, etc. To be able to rise above the crowd, above the mundane, was something that kept me going.

Today, home theater is the draw. Customers go in to buy the TV, and many are made aware that there is a whole heirarchy of audio components. They understand that they are not buying the high end, but they now know it exists, and that there is something there, and there are people (us) who are enthusiastic about it and can tell the difference.

Like my family, they don't want to spend the money up front, but maybe the concept has some appeal, a little hook. I think they'll be back, at least some of them. I have faith the cycle will swing back to us, sometime.