Are you too old to be an audiophile?

@Jax2 You either don't get it, or as just trolling, not sure which... But if you are legitimately trying to understand my point, read Douglas Schroeder's posts. He gets it. You keep harping on the "neutral" thing. Forget I said that. I don't use an EQ either so you can stop harping on that too. I don't see how you don't understand how hearing loss can affect one's ability to judge a system. Not saying there is a prize for it, or that having "perfect" hearing is all that matters, just that the ABILITY to HEAR matters. In math, sometimes the easiest way to see how variables will affect a function is to put in variables that represent an extreme. So let's assume someone can only hear between 250hz and 2kz. Still gonna tell me it doesnt matter? I mean no offense to you if you are not trolling just trying to elicit a reaction, but I truly do not understand how you do not understand this point.

@Dan_ed I chose that topic so people would read it. It is meant to sound controversial to grab people's attention.

Are you too deaf to be an audiophile? You can be. If you can't hear audio is of no importance to you.
Too poor? I would say no, although obviously in extreme cases the answer is yes. No money? No system at all.
Too stupid? Based on some of the responses I've gotten, I'm going to have to go with no. You can never be too stupid to be an audiophile. :) Before anyone jumps on that.. It's a joke people. But obviously you can never be too irrational to still be an audiophile. How else do you justify $20K speaker wire.

I am not saying I know more about high end audio than anyone on this board. I don't. You can see some of my other posts to see what my system is, and I know it's not great, but its just my starting point. I am sure that with experience you get better at building a better system, learning what you like, etc.. however one chooses to word it. My main point is that I will read people talking about the most minute details of their system, or the room, or whatever, but ignoring the fact that their hearing is the ultimate variable. You can't tell me that the frequencies above 10, 12, 14khz don't matter. Granted, to those who can't hear above that, they dont, and those frequencies arent important in building a system (for themselves), but what if you can hear above 14 or 15 or 16 or 18 khz? What if your system is always outputting a 110db sound at 40khz?? Wouldn't bother you, or anyone else for that matter, but your dog would be going nuts! Im not arguing that the midrange isn't important. I'm not saying that there is much music 'up there' or that they are my favorite frequencies.
I don't understand why you think it's a topic that's hard to take seriously, but I agree with you that it sounds like most people are starting to worry. Most of the responses seem defensive to a question that was meant to be for fun.

Obviously, with age comes experience (and the ability to build a better audio system) but not logic. With the exception of Douglas Schroeder, everyone here seems to think that the cables, power chords, window treatments, exact speaker placement, the type of knot in the rug covering their floor, the stands, spikes, etc etc, matter, but that their hearing, and any hearing loss they make experience with age, doesnt. What sense does this make?? None.

This actually goes to something much deeper.

Taken from wikipedia "Audiophile":
Criticisms usually focus on claims around so-called "tweaks" and accessories beyond the core source, amplification, and speaker products. Examples of these accessories include speaker cables, component interconnects, stones, cones, CD markers, and power cables or conditioners.[15] Manufacturers of these products often make strong claims of actual improvement in sound but do not offer any measurements or testable claims. This absence of measurable (rather than subjective) improvement, coupled with sometimes high prices, raises questions about the truthfulness of the marketing.[16]
Roger Russell – a former engineer and speaker designer for McIntosh Labs – describes the introduction of expensive speaker wire brands, and critiques their performance in his online essay called Speaker Wire - A History. He writes, "The industry has now reached the point where [wire] resistance and listening quality are not the issues any more, although listening claims may still be made....The strategy in selling these products is, in part, to appeal to those who are looking to impress others with something unique and expensive."[16]
Skeptic James Randi, through his foundation, has offered a prize of $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate that $7,250 audio cables "are any better than ordinary audio cables".[17] In 2008, audio reviewer Michael Fremer attempted to claim the prize, and said that Randi declined the challenge.[18] Randi said that the cable manufacturer Pearl was the one who withdrew.[19]
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@Altbrewer You bring up a very interesting point about "live music." I feel like this is completely different topic unto itself but a very interesting one. In my experience, a recording sounding "live" or like "real music" has more to do with how it was recorded and people's natural "expectations." By "expectations" I mean, how your brain subconsciously expects it to sound in the room you are currently in. I say this because I am a musician and record music. There have been times I have recorded things (with cheap equipment) and played it back over my "system" and thought it was real. As in, when I heard the voice I literally thought it was in the room with me. When I say cheap, I mean the mic on my laptop, or an inexpensive condenser mic, and when I say "system" I mean my computer speakers. I have accomplished this with "good" equipment too, but to me the ability for a recording to sound "real" has much more to do with how it was recorded than how it is played back.

As for hearing loss, I totally agree with you.. it sounds good to you.. that truly is all that matters :)

I often find it interesting, and telling, to look at the posting history of participants in a thread; particularly when there is disagreement. In the case of this thread, there are two posters, Douglas Schroeder, and Farmajed, who share a strong dissenting view. If one looks at their posting history, one notices that in the case of Douglas there are many posts in threads about equipment and technical matters, and only three posts in threads about music. In the case of Farmajed, not a single post about music.

Dan_ed, I'm not sure why you find it so difficult to see that for some of us the question of hearing acuity and age is important. You say, "...I do think this is a topic that is hard to take seriously. It sounds more like some of you guys who are just starting to realize that you are getting older are starting to worry. Most people are much more interested in what their health will be, or what sex will be like. ;-)"

This IS an audiophile forum, not a general health or sexual health forum. It is perfectly natural for a person who is keenly involved in music and audio systems to wonder about age related effects on listening and enjoyment of the system. That is especially so if the person is younger, getting interested in establishing a rig, and has reasons to wonder about the guidance he might receive - as seems to be the case with our OP.

Seeing approximately half of the audiophiles who have passed through the door of my listening room and turned out to have significant hearing loss (shared in discussion, usually only after I point out some nuances in the music/system which they cannot hear, but which others who hear the same music readily discern) the question of the impact of potential hearing loss arises.

The difficulty of this issue of hearing loss does impact real world decisions on setting up systems. About 7 years ago I stopped at an audio shop which was steeped in the Quad/Naim tradition. The two store reps were helpful and showed me some CL-3 rated in-wall cabling I could use to wire my surrounds in my HT I was building. I appreciated the discussion but was quite surprised to see that they were using the very same in-wall cabling for their main two channel rig in the store and I questioned it.

Their response was that they had conducted comparisons; the CL-3 was as good as any higher end speaker cable. I mentioned my speaker cable at home and they fairly dismissed it. I decided that since it was not terribly cheap and the amount I needed was nearly the entire spool I would buy it all and use the few extra feet to conduct a test of my own between my speaker cables and the CL-3. I had come to the conclusion years before that cabling was significant in influencing sound, so this would be a good price/performance test.

The CL-3 was crap; it had the effect of turning my system into a giant boom box, worse in every appreciable way. Reinstalling my speaker cables was like breathing life back into a dead body, the difference was that profound. My conclusion was two-fold; those men could not hear for sh_t, and I would never go to them again for anything related to advice in establishing an audio system. It seems they believed they were really sharp, avoiding the costly cable in order to get what was to their ears the same result. They thought they were doing me a favor by giving me such inside information.

I learned through that relatively inexpensive lesson that anyone in the audio industry can be subject to grave error in their recommendations and or handicap in hearing. Having such an experience I vowed that I, from conducting listening tests, would be the arbiter of what form my rig would take. Had I been a newbie and simply accepted their conclusion based on authority my system would have been compromised and had I not put their advice to the test it might be compromised indefinitely.

Perhaps there is no perfect standard somewhere, but in the real world of audio system building when someone gives you advice which worsens your rig it becomes a perfectly good reason to avoid their advice. They said they had listened and done the comparisons and could hear no difference. My only logical conclusion is that they were hearing impaired, leading to a poor recommendation. After all, they seemed sincere; they could have sold more expensive cables to customers they said. It seems they literally could not hear a compelling reason to do so. All their customers were shorted in helpful system building advice.

It was the very kind of experience that perhaps Farjamed dreads, getting guidance from someone who is incapable of giving the best guidance. It is a real possibility.

Does hearing acuity matter? You bet. Would I take unweighted system building advice from someone I suspect has a hearing impediment. Absolutely not.

I should have also pointed out that in the case of the posting history of posters holding the other (majority) viewpoint, there is a far greater percentage of posts about music in relation to posts about gear.