Do You Tell Others How Much You Have Invested in Your System?

No need to tell, those who are fellow audiophiles know those who aren’t don’t care.

I once had a customer that put a $5k system in layaway.  Each payday he would pay a little more on it.  When the balance got down to about $2k he was there to pick it up, accompanied by the lady of the house.  I was instructed to let HIM do all the talking about the price, and keep quiet.  I quickly walked thru the system with both of them giving "a short pitch" on the system components.  When I was finished, he looked over at his wife and said: "See honey, that's A LOT of stereo equipment for $2,000, huh? "  She nodded along with him.  I took his $2,000 and loaded up the system.  And, yes, kept my mouth shut.

i don’t even bring up my hobby to ’civilians’, but some friends know about it, some fellow workers know about it, and my family knows. but few have been in my room which is in a separate building from my house.

if they ask me about the investment part, i just say it’s like a sailboat, or summer home, and leave it at that. it’s up to them to relate that to dollars.

audiophile visitors mostly know, and rarely ask. it comes up sometimes but i never get too into that subject. in on line forums price is a huge thing of course, and clouds communications. people cannot get past it many times. but face to face people are civil and respectful (this difference is so amusing to me).

for my part, i have not done the math myself. obviously my wife knows all about it and it’s understandably a little bit of an issue. she is more understanding than supportive. we have been married for almost 49 years.....

@northman 

I don't even tell myself how much I spent on my system.

If I was to add up all of the expenditure I've put into this hobby...nah, let's not even go there!