Do you listen alone or with guest s


I am curious about the social element of listening to an audiophile system. Do you listen alone?? with wife, ladyfriend, buddy or guests?? For myself, I prefer to listen alone and for a few important reasons. I like to listen to the performance of the system I have put together or have made changes to. I listen to judge the performance of the musicians in terms of innnovations,and new revelations about the music's structure. I listen to "just" listen, to get that emotional fix that only music can provide. I occasionally ask my wife to listen with me or to a particular cut, but after about six minutes she loses interest. In the past, with lesser systems, I tried to point out things to friends in the music that I was hearing. After a short while, I realized I was making others uncomfortable, and also myself. Listening alone over the years became a ritual. I never regretted following this path, and was/am surely open to other listeners in the room....Maybe this is smug attitude to have; I think it comes with the territory of high-end audio. It often annoys me when I see people switch on a stereo and listen for just background music, or incidental music. I feel it denigrates the music and the musicians (excluding hip-hop, Daughtry,and Lady Gaga) I realize and am grateful there is no "golden rule book" for listening to music. The audiophile who drops thousand of dollars on his system cares about sound and music---science in the service of art.
sunnyjim
Well the nature of high end invariably means that the majority of listening sessions are solitary. However, the most fun I have had in this hobby is sharing the experience with friends. I am truly blessed to have a group of like minded enthusiasts (?fanatics?) to share music and audio...
You have to be alone to listen critically. As mentioned above, focus is absolute. I have our rig in the living room and my wife does love to listen but doesn't like all the Bebop I play and her ears are more sensitive to DB's. So when we are together I will play mostly contemporary jazz or pop. This is fine because it gives me a break from what can be very demanding music and gives my subwoofer a workout from synthesizers. I do use the system for background at dinner and NPR news as well so it is on about 14/7 (yes it's solid state).

Where other people are concerned it's a total waste of time to even mention this hobby. Most people use all music as background for the total chaos/boredom going on inside their minds, never hearing or appreciating anything. At least someone using an Ipod shows they have a spark of intelligence about them. And you should definitely stay away from mentioning or answering questions about what stuff costs. It's a lose lose situation. I'm lucky to have a wife that is willing to share this experience.
I'm with Viridian on this. My dog is almost always there with me listening and shows his appreciation of certain music by laying in the lower sweet spot on the floor. My wife enjoys listening to classical music and her listening is generally background while doing other things. I have never run into another audiophile in my daily life other than of course in an audio store. I used to try to convert people but gave that up long ago.
Great question. I listen alone most of the time which is fine. I would like to have friends or even acquaintances that enjoyed music enough to sit an just listen but at last those are few and far between. As stated before most friends don't get it, want to just look at the room and equipment, want to know how much it costs and will maybe sit through Money on DSOTM. This is strange because when i was in college (mid 70's) people listened to music as a singular activity alot, where did they go. I have one friend, interestingly enough in his late 20's who loves to listen for hours. This is undoubtly a strange hobby but I love it.