Ladies analogy lover?

I think you have to be a music lover before you get interested in equipment and the rest of audiophilia. If you don't like music, what's the point?

My wife loves music but was never exposed to good gear until she met me. As our system has improved, so has her enjoyment - her ears are at least as good as mine, and she listens differently than I do, a helpful complement. While she doesn't have the level of interest I do, she's happy that I have a hobby that keeps me in the living room next to her. Since she works a lot from home and listens during the day, she's a direct beneficiary of my tinkering.

My experience is that almost everyone likes some kind of music, and they may not even know what it is because they haven't heard it yet. Find the music your wife likes, play it for her often, tell her how much you enjoy sharing your audiophile interests with her, involve her in your decisions about your system, love her deeply, and cherish your time together listening.

Armstrod, I'm not sure if I agree with you. Saying you have to be a music lover to be an audiophile is like saying you have to like getting from point A to point B if you are a car lover.

I admit I do love music, but can see how you can get mixed up in this hobby based on the equipment alone..

S7horton said: “Saying you have to be a music lover to be an audiophile is like saying you have to like getting from point A to point B if you are a car lover."

Not to split hairs here, or mix metaphors more than needed, but I would say its more akin to saying you have to like driving to be a car lover.

While I agree, you could be an audiophile for the equipment; I believe most audiophiles are combination music lover/gadget freak. Perhaps men in this age are far more likely to be gadget freaks than women. My girlfriend of many years has enjoyed my hobby, and listens all the time. She has a preference for what little good vinyl we have over redbook CD, but she just isn’t as into the actual equipment as me.

A good friend and industry contact once said to me that "An audiophile loves music, a stereophile loves equipment."

I think people come at their entrance to the HiFi world along a continuum between the two poles. And to relate to another HiFi lover (HiFiphile?)it helps to know where they are coming from.

Personally, I have zero musical instrument training, nor any measurable talent, yet according to the tests, have near perfect pitch, and great ears. I am definetely motivated by being moved by the music, and hearing things in it I have never heard before, which is the underlying motivation when I buy my gear.

Some people, on the other hand, just like big shiny boxes with blinky lights on them, and expensive braided cables as big as your wrist. They like HAVING the gear as much or more than listening to the gear.

S7horton,

I'll admit, I never considered the possibility that someone would spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on audiophile pursuits if they didn't love music.

Perhaps someone here on Audiogon who is NOT a music lover might have even better advice for Audioblazer. Any takers?