Audiophiles... Why Men? Any woman here?

Maybe they would rather listen to music than post on this Forum.

I think audio for women is a lot like street rods. They may enjoy being driven around town in a hot car but don't really enjoy tuning those dual Holley's sitting on a tunnel ram intake. Likewise, they could probably care less about the electronics and more about the music but I'm speculating. I certainly wouldn't stereotype anyone.....no pun intended. While it would be cool if my wife were impressed with the equipment she really only enjoys the music from time to time. While some talk about diamonds or clothes, I can tell you that my wife figured that since I got that big ole expensive amplifier, that gave her license to go out and buy a new and expensive mountain bike! To each his (her) own.

I'm a female music lover since childhood.  As a kid, transistor radio was good enough.  As a teenager the all-in-one record player with radio and 2 small speakers (strategically placed in a bedroom wall closet for better bass) was good enough.  Funny my husband bought our 1st higher-end (separate) components not long after we got married and later bought our 1st subwoofer.  It wasn't until the kids were out of college that I delved into this hobby.  But it was never simply for the purpose of trying new stuff (and I've tried plenty of stuff).  I was looking for a certain sound, my sound, and I'm glad to say (other than my speakers which I hope to upgrade) I'm finally happy with the sound quality of the system I have.   I'd love to have a pair of maggies to complete things but our living room is too small for those and grandchildren are too curious for comfort. I can't say I haven't had fun on this journey but there's also been some frustration and disappointment (not to mention the emptying of the pocketbook).  My husband compliments the sound of our living room system (which I bought) but is content with listening to music from his computer in the bedroom connected to an older Denon receiver (without a DAC) on a pair of speakers missing the high octaves. 

Thanks for the kind words Rushton. I was simply having fun in my earlier post. Let me get serious for a moment to articulate some of the reasons women don't get involved much in this hobby:

1. They don't understand that more expensive is always better. Nope that's not right. Let's move on.

2. They don't have the trained ear necessary for the hobby. Well I guess they do. Forget this one.

3. They would feel a need to keep up the Joneses and always have the latest and greatest products. OK maybe this isn't a good example. Next.

4. They don't grasp the intracacies of matching impedances, resistances, and capacitances. OK scratch this one; we don't either.

5. They don't realize if you don't buy the component right now it might not be available next week. Well, it probably will be so let's eliminate this one reluctantly of course.

6. They have this ridiculous notion that you don't have to spend 40% of your discretionary income on audio gear. Can you believe that? They just don't get it.

7. They need to spend a preponderance of the household budget on stuff like food, clothes for the kids, and utilities. Simply absurd. Venus and Mars you know.

8. They have much more common sense than we do. Hmmmmmmmmm
I'll get back to you on this.

"disgusted in Philly" there are all kinds of men in this world and this hobby. Consider yourself fortunate to have a lady who shares equally the love of great music and great equipment (to make music on the off days) as commented in your past threads. I get the feeling many of our A'goners are relegated to the basement (so to speak) to enjoy their hobby alone. Too bad, I find music to be a great binding matter in my relationships, so many good times and memories shared all around a music related event and loved ones. I'm just glad to have that. Cheers!

OK, now that I've got that rant off my mind, I'll join Elizabeth in her observation that many women I know very much appreciate good music. And I'll add that many women I know both appreciate excellent sound quality and are very discerning of the sonics. And, just as with men, I've met a number of women who enjoy listening to different sound systems and experiencing the difference that can be achieved with different combinations of equipment. And, I've also met just as many or more men who don't care about the sound quality or the equipment.

In my conversations with women who are interested in the sonics, I hear them say pretty regularly "sure, I hear the difference and I appreciate the difference better sounding audio systems can make, but I just don't share your fixation with constantly obsessing about the equipment. I'm ultimately interested in the equipment only to the extent it serves the music; I'm not looking to just play with the gear for it's own sake like you might." To Elizabeth's very well-stated point: "The stuff is just all "toys" once you get past a few hundred dollars in electronics."
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To the men posting on this thread I will say that, as another man, I've found many of these comments offensive and not funny. This same behavior repeats itself everytime women's participation in this hobby is raised. Are we, as men, that threatened that we need to intimidate through sarcasm and stereotyping whenever this issue comes up?

For those who posted some thoughtful comments or took a dig at ourselves as men (which is how I heard you, Wc65mustang), thank you.

Just register me "digusted in Philly" tonight, folks. Sorry.
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>>Women are shopping for cloths that rival some of the most expensive audio gear - specifically purses and shoes<<

I promise you that our clothes not "cloths" as you so nicely write, do not cost 5K and upward. Purses and shoes are a different matter. Do you have latent clothes shopping tendencies Robm321?
:-)

Women are shopping for cloths that rival some of the most expensive audio gear - specifically purses and shoes - I think the rest of the wardrobe would be like cables and power cords.

My wife has no problem at all relaxing. She enjoys reading books though, not listening to music.

I think women rather spend their money on gold and diamond instead of this black and silver stuff. haha

i think Plato has it nailed. To set down and actually relax would drive my wife nuts. every second needs to be productive. Man am i glad i don't have that problem!

Recent studies on early evolutionary developments indicate that the females of the species elected beauty, over brains because they realized that the male of the species, could "SEE" better than they could "THINK".

I constructed a pretty listenable HT system so that Mrs. Lucky can hear the dialogue in Law and Order better...other than that she plays country music off the satellite while she spends most of her time in the kitchen

Hey Pat,

C'mon, the BC Music Pumps and Purse have been around for a couple years now. You must have seen them before, no?

There is even a review out on them.

I do remember having quite a laugh the first time I saw them. I remember thinking 'why not'? LOL.

Did you get those DQ's running yet???

Cheers,
John

Jetkitty, great name! Yes, and for those of us who don't take anything seriously, especially ourselves... we crack us up too! I find too few audiophile ladies in this hobby and that's too bad because it would be a better place. Most girl friends of mine though really like to listen even if they couldn't care less to tweak or possess equipment and I guess that's just fine. It's cool to hear there are at least a few of you. Curious thing though, I believe there are more audiophile felines (no they don't tweak...well, at least not constructively but, they do listen very attentively) than females, what's that say for our lot? Cheers!

John,
You gotta be kidding !!
Seeing is believing, how did you find that link ?? !!

Some of you boys crack me up!

I know of a few whom have dropped off; notably,Angella 100.--Hey, we all got ears,huh.?? We all got money?? You want in touch with women?? This might not be the best site?? I don't think one looses any points,just because their dealer set up their amps or speakers?? I think it might be of some interest to hear from women, whose sig. other doesn't dig this stuf.--God knows we hear enough of this from the other way around.

Just think of the diamond rings, diamond earrings, and diamond necklaces all that money spent on audio gear could buy.

Women need to be doing at least 3 things at once, so to get them to focus on just music for more than 20 minutes without cleaning something or straightening something up is almost impossible. A lot of women like music only as "background noise". They keep it low while they're doing something else, and don't really pay attention.

Beyond that, they are practical and very "thrifty". I think many of them wouldn't mind if a man bought them an expensive system; but they wouldn't buy one for themselves.

Plus, they generally lack physical strength (for moving things around) and the electro-mechanical sense (for hooking components together). Also, they hate all the clutter of the wires, etc. What men see as "cool", women tend to see as "unsightly".

Add to this that the quality of the reproduction is not an attraction to most of them (sad). The difference in sound quality, unless grossly obvious, is not something the average woman would notice or care about. Whenever I insert a new piece of gear in the system I sometimes ask my wife what she thinks. Her answer is almost invariably, "It sounds about the same to me".

I realize my comments may be upsetting to some, and that there will always be a few exceptions, but by and large, that's the way it seems to me.

Elizabeth has a good point,

I find it amusing that some of the most discriminating musicians have the worst system. Whats even funnier is they use a lot of the technical jargon we do, like Tmbre, pace, rhythem, etc. Those are musical terms but when a audiophile says "this speaker has good pace" and a musician says "this work has good pace" I guess we mean two differnt things.

Thank goodness they don't embrace our hobby, how many divorces would their be to get custody of our systems !!!

All those cables and cords scare me, and those tubes might be hot! :-)

How do we expect from women to bring in and out the house 100lbs amps and 250lbs speakers and that's the normal ,some gear weight way more than that.If they could that that then they sure could slap us silly every time we raised/voiced our non appreciative opinion.No thanks I like it this way better.LOL.
George

Wc65mustang, You kill me... Hey, where is Judy426 when you need her?! I would think that anything to do with Higher Fidelity would catch their ears, even at this great expense.
Cheers!

Much too expensive. They would have to change components every season. Wait a minute we do that too. Never mind.

Too hard to get matching componants.

Actually there are a number of knowledgable and helpful ladies among the group here. I think they tend to fly below the radar since some of the men can be quite overbearing.

women are too smart for this