Has your HiFi changed your musical tastes

I agree that it has changed my tastes. When i started this hobby thirity some years ago,it was all rock...but as the years went by,the equiptment got much better,Classical and Jazz took over as my main type of music. But i think its important to say, i think more than the equiptment,it was the quality of the recordings that helped most to change my tastes..as most rock recordings are not of the high end quality of Jazz and Classical.

I don't see the point of a stereo dictating the music people listen to. I'd love to fill my hard drive and LP rack with 'audiophile recordings.' Too bad I can't stand 99% of the titles. When my stereo dictates what I listen to, I'll sell it off and bring in a ghetto-blaster.

I genuinely intend no offense to others who don't share my views. Everyone likes what they like, and shouldn't feel the need to justify why they like what they like or do what they do.

Many people on this thread make very valid points. My tastes have definitely broadened. As a younger man, I listened to, like the majority of us...... Rock. The older I got, I ventured into blues, and some jazz, now in my fifties, classical has taken a front row seat in music collection. As my equipment got better, my appreciation for different music seemed to diversify. Quite a strange occurrence, considering a few short years ago, I had zero desire to listen to classical music, let alone own approx. 100 albums today. That is not to say that the rest of my collection is now collecting dust. Dire straits, Led Zeppelin, Keb Mo, and Eric Bibb, and a host of other artists are still very regular performers in my little music room oasis. All I'm saying is it's not a bad thing to change and add to your spice of music!

03-23-11: Kbarkamian
"I don't see the point of a stereo dictating the music people listen to. I'd love to fill my hard drive and LP rack with 'audiophile recordings.' Too bad I can't stand 99% of the titles. When my stereo dictates what I listen to, I'll sell it off and bring in a ghetto-blaster."

kbark - you assume the people whose tastes have changed can't stand the music they listen to on their systems. I don't believe that's the case.

I would say that overall no, my musical tastes haven't really changed, expanded maybe as I always loved rock, jazz and classical of all types, just being brought up around music I suppose had something to do with those tastes. Interestingly enough as Elizabeth notes what has expanded my interest in jazz in particular was that series by Ken Burns. It did indeed deepen my appreciation for its development over the last century. When I visited Brazil for the first time in 1988 I really fell in love with the music of that country, really blows me away, great stuff!

My venture into the high end came about quite accidently as I was looking for a a better system than I currently had so classical would sound more natural. When I discovered all these companies I never heard of before, Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Threshold, Vandersteen, Martin Logan, Magnapan etc. a whole new world opened up to the possibilities. So what really happened is my musical tastes lead me into better audio, "high end".