Interesting thought


Was reading a post on older men only enjoying the hobby of hifi audio and had a thought. I think part of the reason may be younger people have little to no exposure to hi end audio. So my thought is what if it was introduced to a bar setting. I’m not talking an extreme 2 channel system but a bar that advertises a higher end music system. I’m thinking it may attract some younger men and may stimulate an interest in the products. 

I think with technology today a great sound system could be installed with room treatments to provide a pleasant audio experience. 
Maybe this will be the birth of the hifi bar. Interest if any bar owners have a comment.

Maybe with a nice choice of bourbon. 
schmitty1
One way NOT to encourage people about audio is to send them over to millercarbons house!  lighten up Francis!!
I really appreciate the OPs spirit of wanting to introduce young people to great sound, and putting out an idea to consider.

My Insta-Tik Tok loving teenage daughter and her friends are fascinated by my record player. Whenever she has friends over I make it a point to put something on they’ll like, and CRANK it. Dr. Crankenstein!

A couple weeks ago my daughter asked for a turntable for her birthday, and her friends are bugging their parents for turntables. Yes they like the retro cool thing, but they LOVE the sound. You should see these girls drop their cell phones and sit perfectly still for 30 minutes, unprompted, listening to DSOTM, D2D Vivaldi Four Seasons, Arcade Fire, and weird Afro Beat stuff. It’s a joy.

On the bar idea, what comes to mind is Dim making farting noises at the woman in the Korova Milk Bar after her pure moment of the old Ludwig Van. I can imagine endless variations of that scene if someone tried to make a general-use bar into a high end listening space. And we all know how that turned out!

A dedicated listening bar could work but might be very tough to market and draw a crowd. And, if I’m going somewhere to explicitly listen, then I (and I think most people) would prefer to hear live music. Otherwise I’d think in a general use bar setting the music is more about atmosphere and maybe dancing, and isn’t really the main focus of the whole bar experience.

I mean, what’s not to love about a massive Peavey PA amp and some rockin QSC monitors?!
In  Cambridge in the UK the Mill pub last year always had a 60s/ 70s stereograph (?) (didn't recognise the make but the SQ was very good and I think it had an Audio Technica cart) playing vinyl all day- there was a stack in the unit and the staff would keep it fed- great choice of tunes as well- I don't think many people appreciated it for me sitting there with a beautifully kept pint sitting next to it looking out over the river was close to perfection.
Perhaps it is the technology and the vast choices that are competing for their leisure time. Photography is suffering much the same fate with iphones replacing cameras and preset replace postprocessing.Times they are ah changing er ah have changed. 
Music bars seriously not here no way unless you set them up in pot smoking lounges now your talking stoners and music pass the bong and turn up Santana.
 
FWIW, I think audiophiles obsess too much about the lack of new young blood in our hobby. Think about your own audiophile history. How old were you when you first subscribed to TAS or Stereophile? How old were you when you bought your first piece of genuine high end gear or speakers? In my case, all I knew was Stereo Review and mid fi gear until I was in my 30s. My first real speakers were purchased when I was 40. By then, I had a little more time and money, and the ability to learn about the hobby from the internet.

While the internet isn’t new to millennials, they are marrying later, buying their first homes later, and having kids later than my generation. So maybe it’s a wash. But when a person’s lifestyle changes from running around all the time to relaxing at home, they might begin to ask themselves, as I did when I hit 40, why not start to build a good system?

I saw some people like that when I worked briefly at a large audio and camera store in NYC. They were usually not that young and were clearly buying a home stereo system for the first time. I had little to offer beyond mid-fi, but they wanted something to listen to besides headphones. It made me think that our hobby will always be mainly for middle aged and older, mostly male, folk.