How "Tribal" are we?


So after several noted books about human "tribalism" have come out, identifying the tribe(s) you belong to has become all the rage, I thought it might be interesting to discuss how tribal we as self identified audiophiles have become.  Originally aimed at corporate organizations, the concept has branched out to include societal groups that either we identify with or others do it for us.  The political applications are obvious....but it got me thinking about tribalism in the audiophile world.  It wouldn't be a tough intellectual exercise for us to readily recognize the existence of the tribal mentality in our chosen hobby.

Tubes or solid state, bipolar or mosfets, stock or designer fuses, wire (wow think of all the "sub-tribes"), moving coil or moving magnet, electrostatic or moving coil speakers and lest we not mention analog or digital, to condition power or not, etcetera. 

After participating in many threads here, it does seem that many of us if not all, to some extent, identify with members of these and other tribes within audiodom.

Honestly, what made me connect tribalism to audio is the controversy? over Tekton speakers and whether or not those identifying with that tribe are real audiophiles or just pretenders because "speakers that inexpensive can't be up to our audiophile standards" (say that out loud with your best Thurston Howell III accent!)

I've never heard any Tekton model but I'm not going to exclude them from audiophilia out of hand.  I for one, would love to listen through a pair of Double Impacts to see what designer Eric Alexander has been able to bring to market at such a modest price.  If they are as good as many owners have attested to here then, as Joe Walsh would say, "Welcome to the Club"!

Back to the overarching topic:  tribalism.  Picking on myself, I would belong to the moving coil speaker tribe, the modification tribe, and moving coil cartridge tribe as well as the Vandersteen tribe.  I think there is something to be said of this communitarian identity that we humans like to adopt for ourselves and others.

One last thought;  when does a tribe remain a tribe and when does it cross the line to become a gang?


128x128hifiman5
@hifiman5 , That's some rather nice insight. Accentuate the positive and play down the negative. Life is just too short.

All the best,
Nonoise
I belong to the tape tribe, that's for sure. Type of amps, speakers, cartridges etc. is not that important to me - if it sounds good I will hear it, at the highest level my preferences might be depended on the particular kind of music played. 
How can we figure out who is nice and who is not, to put aside certain subjectivity of that for now ?
I would say everyone here is so out of a deep love of music, first and foremost. Everything else is mere details---each of us chooses equipment that provides us deeper immersion into the music, and visa versa. Music lovers are not necessarily (and in many cases are definitely not) audiophiles, but I hope the converse is not also true.
Wow this is very important i will be up for the next month thinking about this important subject. Wow!!
I have never been one to subscribe to a particular group. That includes clubs and organizations. I shun labels and prefer to keep an open mind. I don't have horn speakers but would welcome the opportunity to listen to a good system that uses them. The same with music. I try to be open to other genre's, new artists etc. Regimenting oneself to a particular "camp" or "tribe" seems pointless and too restrictive.