"I think if we are going to keep this hobby accessible, and meaning
anything we need to get rid of the expression "high end." In particular,
lets get rid of the idea that money equals performance
"
Absolutely true and add to that some of us even get our hands dirty building things you can't buy unless you put some sweat into it.
Here is a true story of snobbish attitude and the result.
I was on my way back from Wichita on a Saturday with a load of KPT-456's. I had a guy call me up about a set of Chorus speakers I had listed and we got to talking. He was distraught because the guys on Audiogon had convinced him he could not have a real system unless he spent 80G or more. He had heard of Klipsch but never paid much attention because he had been told they were to "life like" and not tonally pure, whatever that means. (Now the idea of too life like was bizarre to me since I figured that was what you strived for. Perfect reproduction of music and not an alteration of it to some standard.) He was looking at Klipsch out of desperation. Anyway I laughed and said show up and I will prove to you that lots of money does not have to be spent for audio bliss.
I was tired but he insisted he be allowed to come over Sunday. So he shows up and I dig in the pile of speakers and get a set hooked up with crossovers and we fire them up. It was funny. Do you have any female vocalists? How about Dana Krall (or whatever her name is). He asked about the perfect examples he had been taught were the penultimate examples of pure tonal bliss or whatever the heck these guys come up with. Anyway I said no but here is this and so for the next couple of hours we played various tunes before he got a big smile on his face and he said I will take them. He was an ex drummer and I think the perfect spatial rendition of Ginger Bakers "Toad" drum solo is what did him in. You could follow the drum sticks around and it was funny to watch him as he listened.
He gets them home and calls me up after an hour or so of playing and tells me how much he likes them. An hour after that I get a panicked call that everything stopped working and is there any reason those speakers might hurt tube amps? Not that I can think of is my reply. Short time later he calls back and says the wall outlet had gone out and all was well.
The idea that those that can't afford some fru fru setup are just jealous is a novel idea held by some who think money = quality and I bet they make sure you know how much they have spent if you visit them. Lots of us know better than that though.
Oh by the way the buyer spent $1,500 on a set of used Klipsch pro gear and stated they easily beat the $80,000 B&W speakers he had been dreaming of that he could not afford. Never did ask what they were since I had a similar experience with $24,000 B&W speakers at HiFi Buys in Nashville,Tn. Went there to ask about a DAC one day and the sales guy insisted I sit in the showroom and listen to these babies sing! Well I had a set of La Scala Industrials sitting on a set of KP-480 subs and a grand total of maybe $1,400 in the set. Looking at the "Please do not touch our $1,000 Diamond Tweeters" sign as he fires these things up. He leaves the room no doubt waiting for me to be overwhelmed and returns in a short time. It was pathetic and I did not have the heart to tell him how lousy those B&W's were.
