Disappointing Evening


I had some dinner guest's over last evening. I had my main system warming up just in case there was some interest from them in audio. I have a second system that was playing when they arrived. It's a Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 9000 that my inlaws gave me a few years back. Well soon enough a couple of them were commenting about the good music, so I asked if they would like to hear my pride and joy system, mostly all tube gear that (IMO) looks pretty cool with all the tubes lit up and sounds way better than the B&O stuff. No interest at all in the tube system and they hovered around the B&O loving the way the glass door opened and the arm moved to each CD. Boy was I insulted, all the time, money and energy I have in my tube system!
markpao
i don't have the need to impress. i am more concerned about mywn thoughts about something than other people's opinion of my posessions, appearance, or ideas.

i am not easily influenced by others unless they can argue logically and offer a basis for their positions.

i tend not to pay too much attention to trivia, or tv shows or movies.

i'm not stylish and tend to be a bit sloppy.

i don't understand why so many people are so concerned what others think of them.
One of the worst things you can do is play BS music when entertaining. What do I mean? There's a member of this site, who played a CD of music that lasted no more than 10 seconds each.

He marveled at the soundstage, timbre and image specificity. To call his selection "music", would be a misleading. "Aural gobbledygook" seems correct.
A lot of people do not know what good music is. They have spent their entire lives with cheap i-pod plugs in their ears or walmart boom boxes on high volume as if they sounded good. Ever been to somebody's place and they have this awful sounding musical device you have to listen to all night? Not much different than if your in a bar where it sounds so bad you can't stand it. Then I know people who listen to bad background music all day every day, at home, in their car etc. Bad music overload. I can't call these people music lovers. Other than a minority, sitting and listening to music over a great sounding system is of no interest to most people, sad to say. I-phones for god sakes.
Don't ask. Just play a short piece on the B&O, then say "I have something else for you to hear"....
People are social and it is normal to have concern about what other people think of us. Afterall, we cannot succeed materially or emotionally without the feedback/appraisal of those around us. To say we do not care what other people think of us is really just a statement of denial.
As for the stereo system, I am happy to play something for someone if they show in interest in my system. I have no feelings about it one way or the other. Many people seem to barely notice my system and I don't bother to play it unless they ask and it happens to be on. On the other hand, on the rare occasions that I get to have a fellow audio hobbyist over to hear my system, I actually feel a little nervous. I guess because I know I am going to get a valid critique from someone with knowledge and ability to evaluate my system. I appreciate honest criticism because it is easy to get complacent or used to a certain characteristic and their fresh viewpoint can give us a direction to go for further improvement- if I feel like it is worth it, of course.