Why aren't the older members still active ?

I've been around for almost 10 years, always trying to be respectful of others but sometimes the tempatation is too great (please witness recent recording vinyl digitally thread). Early on Audiogon, it seemed there was always a decent population of senior members who could snap everyone to attention and get them back on topic.

I miss the interplay between Audiofeil and Bartokfan. That was always good for a laugh. It seems now that many newbies consider themselves incapable of learning something from someone else....they almost get offended when you tell them to go listen to music and different setups. Brick and mortar dealers are almost extinct so I fear more and more topics like "I have $2500 dollars to spend and what should I buy" will continue to populate these pages.

I know the economy has been tough but I think there is more to the exodus and inflow. There are alot of people coming into the hobby today who are pretty sure anyone with a vinyl rig also believes the world is flat. They can't believe digital nasties are in fact nasties. With that being said, digital today is better than ever and continues to improve. The "Boom Tizz" isn't as agressive on vinyl so it must not be as revealing they believe. Oh well. I am glad though that the youngsters are here and some are learning.

.....I have been on this site for over ten years - and I personally got tired of the same people trying to start arguments and one wanted to actually drive and meet me.....I'm still waiting by the way. Others just post just to see their name ( the same member ALL the time ) and offer nothing to the question or to the poster and then I see they move on to the next post and do the same thing. I got tired of THEM...I get ticked at the ones that correct your spelling as I am not a good typist as well....again, the same member on that as well. I also lost interest here - when Audiogon started to charge a '' commission '' when you sold your item ...REALLY !!!!...isn't that what the add fee is for ???? I won't sell here anymore and I recall when adds were only $2.00 and I realize the site has grown and the cost of doing business always gets more expensive....and now you charge me a percentage of what I sold MY item for !!!!! I have gone back to working with dealers ......just my two cents

Hey....work.....I am on the road 95% of the time now trying to sell Hi End analytical instrumentation to a shrinking Big Pharma market. And universities and colleges cannot even get an instrument grant from our wonderful government. So even if you get a PhD in a science there are not many jobs; 20-30 applicants for that one position. Average salaries for a PhD in Chemistry was about $75,000.00 in 1990, now it stands at $75,000-$80,000.00 Zero increase in 20 years! And student loans running over $100,000.00; just great if you starting out. Not too many budding audiophiles with that load on their minds.

I do not think I have been in a high end audio store, just to shoot the breeze in 5-6 years??? I heard Magico make great speakers, but I have not even had the time to listen! I let my two subscriptions to Stereophile and Absolute Sound lapse. Even they became boring as hell. Same clap-trap issue after issue. I am surprised they stay in business. Would you ever see a review of Opeth (death metal) or Lerna Auerbach (who composes classical music NOW!): NO, just another review of some audiophile CD of Journey. When they reviewed a Jeff Beck CD ( and if anybody cares, I always thought the Yardbirds with Jeff Beck in the 60s where the most innovative group, not those idiot Beatles), they said, Jeff's new CD "is so creative." I purchased not because of their review, but because I happen to like Jeff. Played it once. It was god awful. I frisbeed it into the woods behind my house. What a crock of crap those re-viewers are. And self-delusion on my part that Jeff was as gifted in the 10s as he was in the 60s 70s and 80s.

Right at this moment, I have a pair of $20.00 Sony computer speakers hooked up. I am listening to a CD full of very crappy mp3 files of very obsure 60s garage bands. So at this minute, it really does not matter whether I am listening to my rig or not. I think I am listening 99% of the time on my car stereo anyway. Which ain't half bad 10 speaker HK that came with my little 2006 Bimmer (when I
was properous ;)))] with 200,000 miles on it now (cannot afford a new one). Don't even get me started how crappy BMW cars have become. Hey my mother-in-law just bought a Buick LaCrosse with the new 5.1 HK system....really not half bad. The stereo, not the car LOL LOL Thanks for reading!

I'm an Electrical Engineer.......
All cables sound the same, all amps sound the same, etc. etc.

And yet there are worthwhile discussions from time to time and I do enjoy the occasional flashes of humor.

PS: There are a few EEs here whose posts are always illuminating, valuable and enjoyable so no disrespect to them.

I think there are much better organized technical sites without the endless repetition seen here. After answering the XLR vs RCA interconnects question for the seven hundredth time it all begins to feel rather pointless. The other aspect here is the irrational way most things are presented as being exceptionally better than something else. I recall the poster who had gone through 11 DACs and, of course, the last one he had was the absolute best he had every heard and came highly recommended. Then on the next post in the same thread it turns out that same person had just SOLD that absolute best he had ever herd DAC....go figure, I mean how trustworthy is that opinion???

I'd suggest that some folks like Tvad, simply got wise and realized that any effort to help people here is a largely a waste of time, as the discussions quickly get buried and lost in a multitude of similar discussions and inevitably, next month one will see the exact same question raised again.