Why Don't More People Love Audio?

Joekras, got to love'ya. Short, to the point. The undoing of this hobby lies in its very goal! As someone once put it, audiophiles upgrade their hardware until they can prove that all software is excrement. At least you have Tubular Bells. Maybe another thread could be started, something like: "How many recordings do you have that still remain enjoyable after your last upgrade". Whoever can honestly answer 0, should win the "Great Golden Ear Award" and retire to Arizona. Why so few people becoming audiophiles? Most people have lives to live and don't really enjoy obssessing over trivialities.

Will,
You hit the nail on the head. Audiophiles should do less overt projection of their sound systems and more subdued nuturing and education. My experience is to let my system do all the work. When my non-audiophile friends and family come over, I ask them to bring any new music they have purchased so I can experience their musical taste. This also broadens my musical exposure since I seldom listen to the radio. I'm a Jazz & Blues type of guy.

I don't talk about the cost or the time it took to get my system to its current state. What I do is ask them what exactly it is they like about the sound and then find out if they are interested in changing what they have. I ask their forcasted budget and then look for a good initial start-up system to match their current musical interest. A system that I could enjoy listening to when I visited them. Over the past 20+ years I have converted a couple of dozen Bose-slanted people to much better system (my % is about 80%).

Some of those people have gone on to the perverbial quest for "that perfect sound" and the others have been content with what I helped them purhase initially. One of my Uncles still has the Ohm F/Phase Linear 400/Conrad Johnson Pre/Denon TT & MMC we picked up many years ago and when I visit him it still sounds fantastic.

What I have learned to do is softly persuade those people who have asked for assistence towards the highend gear. Oh by the way, one of my nephews has surpassed me in the system he currently has. Oh to be young, single and wealthy.

I think that sometimes people are also intimidated by the good systems they hear / see. They recognize the quality of what they're listening to, but believe that to get much better sound that the boom box they have, they're going to fall prey to spending thousands more than they want to. I find myself constantly reassuring my friends who are kind of interested that they don't have to spend what I spent or become as fascinated by it as I have to get much better sound. I was out looking at big-screen TVs with one such friend and went into the speaker demo room. They had selectable CDs and speakers to choose from, so I put on Diana Krall's latest over some inexpensive speakers - it still blew him away, but it seemed achievable so I think it's more likely to stick. We moved down a couple rooms (up in price) and played the same song and he heard an even (much) better rendition, so I think he began to see that you don't have to spend a fortune, but that the more you spend, the better it gets. The key is to demonstrate that you can get a lot better sound for an amount of money that pales in comparison to what people spend on many other things, and that it can be simpler than the huge stacks many of us have built.

I find it amazing, too, how many people don't find music to be an important component in their life. Many were fanatics when they were young and have lost all zeal - I don't understand why. -Kirk

Good points, KT. When I have fairly naive (aka Bose or boom box) listeners over, I usually play music through my HT system (Paradigm/Parasound) rather than my music system (JMLab Utopia/Belles/Rega). I do this for two reasons. First, the warmish, somewhat colored sound of the HT system is more inviting and friendly to the inexperienced listener whereas their initial experience of the music system may be that it is cool and analytical. Which it is, of course; that's why I chose it. Also, the price of the HT system seems much more do-able than the price of the music system which, while not very high by High End standards, seems totally absurd to beginners.

By all means play the music THEY like, not the music YOU like. Volunteer to go with them to shops, not just to help with the listening but to ease the interface with arrogant, know-it-all salespersons....

And for goodness sake, show them that this hobby is supposed to be FUN. I.e. keep them away from your audio-is-my-whole-life friends until they have built up some antibodies.

Will

I believe three reasons (at least):

1. Some people don't really love music (as much as they even think they might).

2. It does take a while to gain a critical ear.

3....and most important...I have many people who work for me in a demanding capacity with which some very talented people float to the top ("the cream") in many an attribute. Perhaps coincidence, but after some years of intimate dinner parties (I'm NOT rich by the way!) or holiday parties, ironically I find that the ones who are very talented also appreciate my system much more than others. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're not kiss asses either..)
So pat yourselves on the back! You are the chosen ones! (yes I jest, but I have in fact observed this phenomenon...)