Average age of audiophiles

Like a lot of you I had my first system while in high school-1971 at age 16. I also had the great fortune of running sound for a band in the late 70's. Talk about the ultimate stereo-it sounded like live musicians on stage. Oh yeah, it was.

I just finished a 2 1/2 year upgrade path that took me from a 9 year old system through home theater & back to 2 channel only. In putting together this latest combination I managed to put together a system for my boy who'll be 15 this year.

Now I'm getting into DIY. Never a dull moment around here.

Hmmm,
Allways loved the gear. Got into middle of the road gear around 12. First true high end sound when I was 18. stereo budget has exceeded car budget since. I'm now 35 and boat budget has begun to exceed audio.
(But I still drive that 91 Camry.....whats wrong??)

Actually, what are the definitions we are talking about here?

What is an audiophile?

Started in Grammar school buying 45s.i was 10.....I'm now 68.I don't  buy 45s but still buy lps,cds,cassettes, amps,speakers, TT ,carts,etc ...

18 years older than when this thread started. 🤔

I was still living at home with Mom and Dad. Started at seventeen and now at 67, this hobby still excites me.

First concert at age 9.My mom & her hippy sister loaded us kids up in the VW Microbus & dragged us off to some damn farmers field in upstate N.Y.for a week..I only remember rain,mud & being pissed at her for taking my summer of SCUBA & fishing away from me..Over 2000 concerts worldwide in 50+years...
 First system age 14,a Rat Shack receiver & 2way 8" speakers...
Now age 60 & putting together the last system I'll likely ever put together...

29 3/4 average.

ebm, that's the average perceived I.Q. of audiophiles.

I started out going to junk yards with my parents picking up old raw speakers.
I had them placed all around the basement, installed switches to turn various ones on/off. Didn’t know much about impedance back then.
Later at age 17 I worked as a salesman at Radio Shack, then became Store Manager for then Allied Radio Shack. Boy, did I think I had the world on a string.
I am now 67 years old but I do look back at those days and remember how much fun it was.

ozzy

Nothing like freshing up a 20yr old thread!

I will have my 69 years behind me in one month....

I dont feel old.... I like to be old tough....

When i was young (18 years old) my dream was to buy a motorcycle, i never bought one, all my money go for books....

Then at 24 my dream was to create my Hi-Fi experience.... i never can, you must guess that all my money was going to buy books and after 34 years old to buy food for my 2 sons...

7 years ago i decided to create my own audio heaven; many headphones later, many speakers later, many amplifiers later, many dacs later, i have succeed to buy a good amplifier a good dac and good speakers for peanuts...

But i was not there already in my own sound heaven....i was unsatisfied by my good gear very carefully choosen after at least one thousand hours of reading ....( it is easy to count multiply at least 1 hour each day for 5 years) And trust me my gear was very good and for peanuts price....

2 years ago i discover that even if someone buy the right electronic components, the Hi-Fi experience is not necessarily there...My 3 main electronic components were good and i decide to keep them anyway....

I then made my discovery slowly in the last 2 years, by homemade creation with very low cost materials and listening experiments...

The KEY to audio heaven is : controls of the 3 embeddings, mechanical, electrical and acoustical... (upgrade is an illusion most of the times if someone buy the basic good gear first)

The same audio system go from good to extraordinarily good only by controlling the 3 embeddings...

"Voilà" it is my history, my dream comes true, at 69 years old....I thank God for my lack of money 7 years ago and the possibility that was given to me to be creative....

Money dont buy necessarily paradise, but some ears/brain working do...... :)

Then be creative and dont trust anyone except your ears.....They will teach you what is the signification of all audio experiments....They are 2 costfree masters.... :)