For the past 9 years I have two realtors send me real estate listings so I can know what houses are selling for. I get 2 to 4 listings per day and not once have a seen a pair of speakers standing in a single room. What also amazes me is I also have not seen surround sound systems with large screen TV's. A $2 million house with people watch TV and listening to their TV speakers. How cheap can you get. Are people allergic to music? The audiophile community has failed to recruit people to share in this hobby. I can't imagine having people over for dinner without being able to sit down to listen to music and enjoy wine together. I think there is something wrong with our society.
How long ago did you catch the bug?
My first inkling was about 1972 when a friend mentioned such things as Dual, Thorens, AR, Scott, etc. By '74-'75 I knew about all the Japanese manufacturers (courtesy of a military PX catalog) and about McIntosh. By '76 was using a hand me down all in one Panasonic compact system. The compact system did not last long and very shortly after, '77, came a "proper" 1970's system with such names as Pioneer, Kenwood, Shure, AR, Teac.