Why Don't More People Love Audio?

Oregonpapa,

That's fascinating about the homes without books and music.

Recently on another AVforum someone mentioned that they didn't really listen to music. I queried, perplexed by this, and he responded that he appreciated what music added to movies and games or whatever, but beyond that music just didn't interest him at all, he never listens to music.

Frankly, in all my life, I have never encountered such a creature. (Then again, I grew up in a very musical family, father being a music teacher, all of us playing instruments, everyone I know being into music).

Your post suggests this creepy, twilight-zone phenomenon is wider than I would have guessed.

My conclusion is that we have, fortunately, stumbled upon a way of telling the body-snatching pod people from real folk!

I have books in my house , I had a pretty nice system going. I figured out that I enjoy listening to music through headphones more. So I bought a nice pair of Shure 846's.
I sold my system off and downgraded to a system that I'm thrilled with.

I realized that I was just too antsy to sit in the sweet spot for more than a couple of minutes. I can however sit through movies , plays, concerts , etc.
for hours.
I would think many people in today's times are the same way. To really enjoy a high end system , I think it's import to stay in the sweet spot. I don't need an eight grand system to dust around the room, do dishes in the next room over.

"I can...sit through movies, playes, concerts, etc. for hours." Well, a listening session is a concert in your home. Isn't that the whole point of exceptional sound?

I haven't read the whole thread but it is certainly interesting and varied. I write this from a perspective of having been once a devotee of high quality audio who set it to the side due to having two kids, a demanding profession and a wife who was not in the least going to give me the space to sit down and enjoy my system. Got rid of the wife. She gave me the kids, so more years in the wasteland without. 30 years.
Kids gone, something missing here. Oh yeah, why not.
Has NO IDEA all this existed at such a high level. Found out about BAT, VIP, Fidelity Research, Balanced cables, LOMC, Power Conditioners on and on. But I had to research, a lot of it here on Audiogon. Started looking and voila.
The take away here is that very few allow themselves the space to separate out and indulge. But I'm a music lover, live music has always been there for me. I really think if more people knew how close to the live music experience they could get with high end audio, more would be interested. Very poor marketing is a big part of it. And face it, it is an indulgence, ever how worthy it may be. People do little indulgences now and high end audio is not a small indulgence. It's just the times.

I think this thread has gotten around to the real point that hearing realistic reproduction of music and the thrill of classic performances entails more than bookshelf speakers and a receiver sitting in one corner of your living room.

I started this hobby while in college and stayed low key through graduate school, two kids growing up, many moves, and a wife that went from being a nurse to a top hospital administrator. With the kids gone, she announced that she did not want her living room being a "laboratory." We moved into a house with a big game room, which became my man cave.

Now I have mono blocks, both vinyl and digital quality sources, 200 pound speakers, room treatments, quality cabling, using magnetics, vibration control, thousands of records, cds, scads, etc. I seldom watch anything other than NOVA, some college football and basketball games, a few other PBS programs, and morning news programs while I am either not in the room or engaged in Yoga.

Occasionally, a non-audiophile friend asks to hear my system or I demonstrate it for grandkids. Response is mainly, "it sounds real." And I can see they are ready to move on. In the past my kids while they were young would ask that my music be playing when they went to sleep.

Oh, and I have achieved incredible realism in my music. I'm happy.