This thread made me reflect on the generation gap. When I was in high school and college in the 1970's, music and audio was the focal point of a lot of social interaction. My friends and I spent countless hours listening to the latest albums by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, etc., smoking joints, talking to friends while listening . . . We always gravitated to the friend who had the best listening room and stereo. When I could afford some "good" equipment, which I recall were Phase Linear 3000 separates and Epicure Trilogy speakers, my place in college was a social center. Picking albums to listen to was part of the social "scene." HEA was something I started to chase. Music as a relaxing time out has been with me for 50 years. I strive to get the sound that reproduces being "there."
My stepson is 28. His age group was raised on iPhones and iPods and the isolation that focusing on one's phone 24/7 brings. He likes coming over and getting turned on to the "old school" rock in my music room. He and his buddies still listen to music when they are together (I guess EDM counts as music), but they are perfectly content to use a bluetooth speaker and play their mixes off of their iPhones. Techno, dubstep, EDM does not seem to engender the appreciation of "being there," perhaps because you are never "there." It is manufactured electronically and played back through a laptop or DJ electronic setup. Do they really look forward to getting together and listening to the latest track by Steve Aoki?
I try to instill in him an appreciation for sound quality, and just gave him his first somewhat real sound system, a 5.1 setup by KEF. We'll see where that leads. Since the early days, AudioGon always allowed me to reach equipment well beyond my pay grade, even as my pay grade adjusted upwards. Perhaps the lack of demand for "silly" priced equipment is due to the lack of new blood and insufficient demand for it by those that know or think they know the difference between one $8,000 preamp and another. Or perhaps there is some recognition that paying $5K for a set of interconnects doesn't sound $4500 better than $500 interconnects. The law of diminishing returns certainly makes me think twice about blowing big bucks for a 10% (or less) improvement.
But it is sad to think that HEA is a dying hobby, that is dying with us.
My stepson is 28. His age group was raised on iPhones and iPods and the isolation that focusing on one's phone 24/7 brings. He likes coming over and getting turned on to the "old school" rock in my music room. He and his buddies still listen to music when they are together (I guess EDM counts as music), but they are perfectly content to use a bluetooth speaker and play their mixes off of their iPhones. Techno, dubstep, EDM does not seem to engender the appreciation of "being there," perhaps because you are never "there." It is manufactured electronically and played back through a laptop or DJ electronic setup. Do they really look forward to getting together and listening to the latest track by Steve Aoki?
I try to instill in him an appreciation for sound quality, and just gave him his first somewhat real sound system, a 5.1 setup by KEF. We'll see where that leads. Since the early days, AudioGon always allowed me to reach equipment well beyond my pay grade, even as my pay grade adjusted upwards. Perhaps the lack of demand for "silly" priced equipment is due to the lack of new blood and insufficient demand for it by those that know or think they know the difference between one $8,000 preamp and another. Or perhaps there is some recognition that paying $5K for a set of interconnects doesn't sound $4500 better than $500 interconnects. The law of diminishing returns certainly makes me think twice about blowing big bucks for a 10% (or less) improvement.
But it is sad to think that HEA is a dying hobby, that is dying with us.