Hi end audio who cares

Actually (and I wonder if anyone else feels this way), I'd rather have audio ignoramuses listen to my system than most of the so-called audiophiles I encounter. I'm non-plussed by folks who say they refuse to play their systems for the great unwashed. Why would this be, except possibly that they can't live without ego reinforcement?

If someone wants to hear my system, I gladly fire it up and play what they like. If they want to hear a demo, then I choose the music. If they want to hear how loud it will play, I take it up to concert levels. If they want to hear how much bass it has, I play Saint-Saens or Cosmic Hippo. Why would I not? Unlike a bottle of fine wine, the music isn't going to run dry. What is this "my system is too fine to be wasted on shit ears like yours" nonsense? I don't get it at all.

I'd much rather have someone tell me that my Mezzo Utopias sound just like his cousin's Boses, and mean it as a compliment, than to have some self-anointed Golden Ear raise an eyebrow because my cables are not suspended on little titanium scaffolds and mean it as a sneer.

My listening group is made up mostly of very fine amateur and professional musicians with systems ranging from $3K to $300K and something in excess of 15,000 pieces of software. When we go to someone's home, we use the system at hand and listen to the music. Going on at length about one's neutron-flux-treated outlets would be considered tedious if not gauche. Discussions of gear are VERY tangential to our listening experiences, though we may debate a conductor's interpretation or a singer's intonation until four in the morning.

For us, THAT is what audio is all about.

will

I would listen with you and your group anytime, Will.

Touche' Bishopwill,Thank you for skewering the pompous audiophiles.Ego aggrandizement is the real river below the current of careing so very much about the sound...how very precious of all of you.P.S.WHERE EVER YOU LIVE PROTEST THE VILE WAR THE U.S.IS ABOUT TO EMBARK ON.

The point of all of this is the MUSIC.

Although I haven't read all of the responses here, there seems to be a common thread throughout the ones I have read. Audiophiles seem to often be preoccupied with the equipment and be less focused on the music except as it works to demonstrate the equipment.

Within the human animal there is an incredibly wide range of reaction and interaction with MUSIC. It is an emotional thing that isn't easily described, understood or controlled. I just know what feels good.... for me. I have no idea what feels good for someone else other than by their reaction to the MUSIC.

People use the audio reproduction device that makes them feel good. My mother-in-law is extremely happy to be able to listen to the music she loves on a $50 cassette player. It just wouldn't matter to her if I played it on my audio system. She would enjoy it just as much but certainly no more.

For most, the quality of audio reproduction simply doesn't matter. They don't want to work that hard to learn about something new and deal with all the decisions that must be made with high-end audio. They just want to listen to music.

My system isn't anything close to what I read about here, but it isn't bad and most importantly, I enjoy way it accurately reproduces MUSIC. It makes me feel good. And when I have visistors, I share the MUSIC I like and the MUSIC I think they will like.

And most of the time, people are OK with having the MUSIC on, but would just as soon you turn it down so they can talk. Music is simply organized background noise for them. But this is OK because the MUSIC is still playing.

Music is an incredibly important part of my life and my system is one means for ME to enjoy it. If I was unable to afford the system I have, I would still be listening to MUSIC even if it had to be with used cassettes on a third-hand boom box.

Music is what this is all about.