Hi end audio who cares

I think Europe and Asia is different?! Even in impoverished and war torn (former) Yugoslavia where i come from many audio dealers stock some of the best stuff found in Europe. Some of my friend, even though they couldn't afford cars invest good chunk into their hi-end separates. I saw more Rotel, B@W's,in two weeks i spent over there than i've seen here in US last 17 years.

I don't know,,, I have been told that I'm nuts for spending so much money,,,, BUT, everyone who see's and hears my system,,,, they can't help but pick their jaws up off the ground. They ALL get floored when they hear it.. Even the ones who could care less between owning a boom box or clock radio. I have a few friends who don't care the least about owning a decent stereo,,,, but they all can't help noticing how good it sounds.. They all freeze and their mouth drops open and eyes open wide... I even hear some systems over others audiophiles houses that sound more impressive.. How could your guest not comment on how good it sounded??? People outside who can't even see the system comment on how good it sounds... You had some very strange guest if they didn't at least comment on the sound,,,, or maybe it just wasn't that impressive sounding??? and was a waste to them.!!!! It's almost like having a real band playing in the room... I hope the system had you guest dancing anyway?? Even my mother who could care less about a stereo starts to dance when she comes over to visit and the stereo is playing.. It was so good she brought over her own cassette,,, I said Oh Ma,,, I don't use a cassette player... Happy New Year,,,,

I am happy that my wife will often come up and listen to music with me (I may have to fix her a martini). She is the only one that I want to impress. She does not bitch when I spend money on "records and wires".

Yeah I've found that the majority of people just don't care! I mean they like music, and the quality level of the playback system means very little to most. Unless they're into it. It's nothing they couldn't live without.
I've come to accept the fact that hi-end means more to me than it does to the VAST MAJORITY of "the rest of the world" in general. I mean, after all, it's all vanity in the end. I've had friends over on many occasions to listen to my system. Most of them say that sounds really good, and they could care less 2 minutes later...that's a fact.
I guess my excitement level is personal for this stuff, and maybe always will be. I also notice that a lot of people like myself, who have a passion for HIGHER FIDELITY sound, tend to be "loners" and like to have time to themselves to "escape" or "dissapear" from it all. Hummmm...maybe hi-fi is somewhat of an "anti-social" thing. Maybe if I want to be more of a party guy, I should dump my "hi-end" and get some Cerwin Vegas and be done with it...
Oh well....probably not.

To these people I draw an analogy between our "hobby" and wine...while I can appreciate in a limited way the difference between a modest table wine and something better, I would never spend over $30 on a bottle of wine. But show me some shiny tungsten-carbide ball bearings...well, the checkbook comes out!