Celebrities A/V systems - any interest?

The first thing I thought of when I saw the title of your thread was that Fabio system in Stereophile a few years ago! I enjoyed looking at the pictures, but thought the whole thing, esp. all the marble floors in his CA palace, was ridiculous. Since then, Stereophile regularly shows the stereo systems of the musicians/composers it interviews and without fail they are all dinky non-audiophile systems. Patricia Barber has a boom box or something, w/a pair of Proac Tablettes at least. I'm not sure celebrities' systems will provide you with much to write about. Like most people, they don't particularly care about great sound. As long as some kind of sound comes out, they are satisfied. If you can dig up other rich people who happen to crave great sound--now, that would be a good article! Maybe some of the dot.com youngsters in CA and various other locales.

Sc53, you are probably right about the majority of celebrities not caring about or delving into the world of high-end sound. Fabio's system is probably the exception (marble floors great for sound, eh!), but there must be a few closet audiophiles here and there, even among well-known presonalities. It might be fun to try to seek them out and do some articles.

I figured if that didn't pan out I could go the route that you suggested and maybe do features on systems of well-heeled audiophiles. I'm just trying to get some ideas together right now, so your suggestions and everyone elses are quite welcome. Thanks :)

I may get hammered by the masses on this and as well, please don't allow my opinion to in any way discourage you, Plato, but in light of most reactions or lack of same from our so-called "celebrities" in response to recent observations they haven't shown the same zeal for speaking out on behalf of the best interest of the 9/11 victims' families as they did for securing their share of the limelight/quintessential PR opportunity; questioning for example why so much of the money THEY solicited under the premise it was going to the "families" is now by the various charities' own admissions, earmarked in all sorts of directions having nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11...why so little of the money has yet to find its way to the needy "families," and perhaps the most RIDICULOUS of all, how and why the September 11th Fund has issued a grant of $171,000 to aid 8 individuals currently being held in connection to 9/11 I must say I find myself at this time wholly turned off to anything and everything associated with these folks. For that matter, IMHO, even absent the above issue, I really couldn't care less about celebrities' audio systems. I'd find hearing more about the everyday guys'/gals' systems infinitely more compelling and in particular hearing about those who've accomplished more with less, as opposed to elite, high ticket gear ensembles. If anything, I HAVE been entertained/intrigued finding the occasional article written about the audio systems owned by MUSICIANS and in general, hearing their take on the subject of music reproduction. I think THEY bring something of genuine substance to the table. I think it can be quite absorbing to hear what the talented folks who actually BRING us the music happen to like/dislike or are seeking to achieve in a system in the production/reproduction of a particular recording, etc., etc.

I don't think many famous people are into audio, I recall seeing Alan Parson system which consitst of a marantz(basic) CD player, yamaha turn table and Gale speaker ON THE FLOOR, behind a piano. Not what I would consider 'high-fi', I would rather see the systems of the infamous members here, such as Cornfedboy, Sean, Albertporter....the list could go on. I would rather see the rooms and the gear of those who are into this hobby for the music, not for money(endorsments). Just the way I feel though I may be alone here, interesting thought though.

I love watching MTV's "Cribs" for this reason. Most "musicians" that are on MTV have poor, poor systems. One of the backstreet boys showed off his "over the top" Onkyo/Pioneer system...it was a joke. One of the other boys from that band did have a fairly decent Krell KAV/B&W based home theater... Tommy Lee looked to have a system with mostly Meridian gear, although I couldn't tell very well.

I very much enjoy watching for hi-fi in Movies. Terrible movies especially. In the recent movie "Loser" (which is TERRIBLE), four dorm-mates have a pair of Martin Logans up against the wall in this cramped bedroom...powered by an Aiwa Boombox. In "What Lies Beneath," Harrison Ford owns a fairly standard system made up of McIntosh gear, as does Jack Nickolson in "As good as it gets." The best system I've ever seen in a movie, though, has to be Mel Gibson's in "What Women Want." Although there's two of everything on his rack (Half a no.32 preamp, and a no.380 as well), it's a well set up Levinson/Revel system (obviously a madrigal add, but I wouldn't mind owning this system). Cheers!