Has your system changed the music you listen to?

I have had the same experience. I have always been a blues fan, but not until I got the audio bug did I really start listening to jazz. I believe, for me at least, that a lot of it has to do with the simplicity of the recordingss. My taste in jazz is almost exclusively acoustic "traditional" jazz(50s - early 60s). You had piano, drums, and bass with a trumpet and/or sax lead. The recordings were very pure and simple, just the musicians, their instruments, and the music, no overdubs, processing, or extreme editing.

Yes! When I started getting into HiFi in the mid 80’s, I was strictly a rocker. As my system has evolved, along with getting older, my taste in music has expanded to include everything from Megadeth to Mozart. My current fav is Bluegrass. Sampling music on the Internet as also helped widen my musical horizons.

I think that is a GREAT question. That's deep. I have to say that there are a lot of times that I put something on just because I want to hear what it sounds like, and I have actually discovered some good music as a result. I admit freely that I do seek out the best and multiples of my favorite stuff.
I am a subscriber to the point of view that the better the system, the easier it is to find enjoyment in more types of music. I personally find it more true with music played accoustically, there is more of the musician and less production with accoustic, and the more of the musician one can get, the more music. For me, thats jazz, man. I like jazz that gets down. It ain't elevator music like a lot of people think. We know. Down and dirty, sexy, hard core boogiein' jazz. The more you can hear of the musicians, the more you can hear them guys getten' down and BOOGIEIN'!

For background, my current system began taking shape ~3 years ago. It replaced a ten year old mid-range receiver system used to play mostly rock and jazz; in that order.

The rock albums seldom come out anymore, except on those occasional retro inspired moments. Contributing to this disinterest are the too predictable nature of many rock "stylings" and a noticeable lack of dynamic content. The latter is influenced by having a better sound system. Now it is easy, maybe too much so, to tell when a recording is highly compressed. Musically most rock reminds me of jello now vs. when I was a kid. It's still fun, it still wiggles, but it no longer provides the same satisfaction. Not all rock has this failing, but it does seem to be the earmark of the genre.

By far jazz gets the most play time in my house today. The recordings as a whole are more dynamic, better produced and more musically involving, especially the vocals. Having a system that can do them justice likely contributes to the attraction, but the swing probably comes more from the maturation of my tastes. Along with my age, of course.

Who knows, as time goes by maybe symphonies will start sounding more interesting...

So, most of ya folks "transformed" into jazz becase:

a)jazz recordings have a good quality and sound great;
b)classical large-orchestral music is too expencive to bring it to the level of pleasant reproduction or even i'd say nearly impossible;
c)rock recordings are recorded poor.

C'est La Vie!