What Audio Religion have you converted others to successfully?


We all have certain audio proclivities, some we expose to the world, some we hide even from our priests and psychotherapists.  We believe, strongly, there's a certain way to achieve magic.  A state of enlightenment which raises our awareness almost instantly to resonate with the sacred muses, and may actually transcend music and audio to reach the divine (as opposed to Divine).

In most cases, we share something with a loved one and they're like "um, ok, are still on for fishing this weekend?" but rarely, ever so rarely, the go home, they don't talk to their spouses, their children think there is something wrong, and they call you late at night. "You know that thing you did, with the cables and the vinyl and stuff?  How can I do that too?  Does my spouse need to know? Can I keep things at your place?"

So, my fellow audiophiles, what proclivities do you find yourself championing, and what do you think is an easy vs. a hard sell? Vinyl?  Room acoustics?  Rubbing Portuguese safflower oil on your cables before listening?


erik_squires
Wasn't a conversion, but a reawakening. 20 or so years ago, I couldn't believe how good a $500 manual turntable improved the sound over a more expensive one I had that broke. Told my brother in law about it who still had his college system with bookshelf speakers and he bought the same one and couldn't believe it.

Then it was amps replacing a receiver, then a 4 component CD system (since disconnected), then speakers. I think that is when he inherited a nice chunk of change and kept upgrading piece by piece many times over and down a rabbit hole and thinks he knows more than me because he spends WAY more. Wouldn't keep his records vertical until he built a custom record shelf built into the wall. Doesn't own a record brush and doesn't take the lint off when he plays them, but bought a top of the line record cleaning machine. Doesn't own a power conditioner, but paid to have an electrician put his system on its own separate power feed.

Says he wants to keep things simple and then buys tubes because he hears they sound better but has issues with them and the heat they create because of the room ventilation (his office) so he had to put a fan in (also because he used to smoke cigars in there - my sister won that battle and I haven't smelled a cigar for a long time). Talk about ruining the sound....

Anyway, after this experience, I just try to tell people that vinyl sounds better, but you may be limited by selection so you should at least have it as an option, but people with no records are hard to convince, especially the youngsters who never knew life without an iPod. It is making a comeback because vinyl and record players are "in style" which I guess is good if creates some new audiophiles.

I don't like it when people say they want "the best" because there is no best and there are always qualifiers. Sometimes people with a ton of cash forget that, and usually they don't really care enough about it to LISTEN and do some research before they buy.


My religion is advising people the way i would have been advise here in the first place...

Recommending branded names in audio is fun if you like them, and not completely useless... But...


You know what happens when those pairs of clean-cut young men clad in short-sleeve white shirts come to your front door.
erik_squiresSince I have actually been a psychologist, let me help.
Freudian slip: The doily that Victorian religious nut cases put on piano legs to keep men from being aroused by their erotic curvature. 

Projection:  Claiming you hear some deficiency in someone else's system, when you really worry that the same flaw is in yours.
Obsession:  A perfume that stops up ones nose and ear canals, interfering with the sound.
Transference:  The big, heavy wire wrapped things in your amp that transfer electrons into you filter caps.  This is not projection, which is a psychological issue, not electrical.