Why Don't More People Love Audio?

They also don't see the reason to buy 7 monobloc amplifiers for $7,000 when an Onkyo receiver has 7 channels in a small box.

When you say it like that, what is the reason?

The "average Joe" walks into a Guitar Center and buys an American Fender Strat for around $1,200. The audiophile spin on this would be to tell the guy that his Strat is just okay and that he really should buy a hand made instrument from some luthier in Oregon for $20,000 and upwards (14 months wait list). You explain that it's a much better guitar and will sound better. Joe Average walks away laughing and he's laughing at you.

And to continue the guitar analogy: if he changes his mind, goes back and orders the custom made instrument it will sound very impressive only when he plays a certain style of music, and only selected pieces within the repetoire of that. The sort of music he enjoyed picking out on his first, cheap guitar will sound very ordinary, even mediocre ...

Frank

Their wives have a fixed budget for them. (no, or few budget to audio) :D

There are alot of great points on this subject. I just spent 30 minutes reading them. Now let me give you my opinion. I grew up with a father that was a musician and I was exposed to all kinds of music as a child. I had my first audio system when I was 15 years old. When I was 18 my father took me to a store that carried high-end audio. From the moment I heard that gear I was hooked. That was 32 years ago and I'm still just as hooked as when I was 18 years old. I think the reason people don't love audio is because they have never been exposed to it. If my father had not exposed me to it 32 years ago I would not be on Audiogon today. I'm not saying everyone that get's exposed to it will get hooked. But there will always be a small percentage that will be and they could possibly keep this hobby going.

I think a lot of it has to do with the degradation of our society. I've been pondering the differences in my own family lately. What I've come up with is, that it is a fact that every preceding generation becomes increasingly unaware or has no clue as to what good sound means to humanity. It "is" in fact a most basic part of who we are. In no other medium, can we expect to get so much pleasure or enjoyment.