Anyone under 30?

Well, I'm 40, but I'm certainly glad that there are a lot of people under 30 who are into music and audio equipment. I had a nice stereo when I was in my 20's, but couldn't afford to really pursue high-end. Still, music was my constant companion at home, and I had several friends who really enjoyed just hanging out listening to music, with the passion for the music being the main point but also having an appreciation for the sound quality. Now I don't have a single friend who is what I would describe as "really into" music, and nobody save a single acquaintance who would go beyond buying a basic A/V receiver with modest speakers to play it on. Then there's the problem of musical taste - everyone either is stuck listening to the same music they've listened to for 30 years, or they've sunk into ambient music that would be hard to passionate about under any circumstances. A great many people over 30 who are passionate about music are into genres that I'm not as excited about - I still like musical styles I liked in my 20's.

Life is ironic this way - when you really have the time and energy to pursue something like music, the gear is way out of your budget and you have to watch how much you spend on CDs etc. You get older and you can afford the nice stuff and you can afford to buy CDs by the handfull if you so choose, but so many have lost interest. Maybe they weren't all that interested in the first place.

In any case, I'm glad to have the sub-30 crowd around and hope they don't unilaterally reject the old fogeys on the board :-) -Kirk

C'mon Tim - I didn't say YOU would lose interest, just everyone you know will lose interest and you'll be left enjoying those Eidolon's alone! Your wife won't want them in the "main" room and, even if you win that battle, you'll have to "watch the volume". Of course, you won't really care because you'll be so darned tired from dealing with the little ones. But, ultimately, you'll come out the other side and buy a house where you make a dedicated listening room a priority and, since it doesn't come at the expense of the living room, the great room or the family room, you'll get it while maintaining marital peace. Your kids will be teenagers and won't be physically demanding - in fact, they'll probably just as soon you leave them alone and go listen to your system. By this time, money won't be so tight and you'll have been upgrading for 15 years or more, so the system will be awesome. Your music collection will be huge enough that you'll constantly find "new" music on your racks. You'll buy new music whenever you feel like it because it'll be a small expense compared to your mortgage, your college bills and the beemer in your garage. Still being passionate about music, you'll still have varied tastes and enjoy current music as well as music from the past.

It seems like a fairly common trait of people as they age that they never regain their music enjoyment legs - that's why people splurge to buy their $1000 Bose system and never look back. Not everyone, of course, but plenty of people who seem to have memories of music deep and wide from when they were younger couldn't tell you anything about music that appeals to a younger generation currently. As time goes by and your own system continues to improve and the music collection adds another 1000 or 5000 CDs, it just opens the gap that much more

None of this is meant to be depressing - I was serious when I called it ironic. Without sounding too materialistic, I enjoy buying a dozen CDs and listening to them over the next week, or dropping a few hundred bucks on a pair of excellent seats to a U2 concert and seeing a fabulous show and not having to worry about it. I would have done it in heartbeat in my 20's if I could have, but I couldn't. Now I can. I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm enjoying the experience, just like I enjoyed the experience of having a lot more time to spend listening to music when I was younger.

The fact that I don't know many people who are really into audio and have zero close friends or relatives who would come over for an evening of listening doesn't detract from my enjoyment of audio or music, and definitely doesn't stop me from dreaming about the next upgrade. So hang onto that gear - I don't think you'll ever stop enjoying it :-) Kirk

I realize it's all in good fun, Tim - I really can't imagine anyone who's regularly on this site selling their gear. Once you've had good music in your life, you don't ever want to go back. And despite whatever my weak attempts at humor conveyed, I agree with cfb - it definitely gets better. I wouldn't go back in time even if I could. -Kirk