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How "Tribal" are we?

So after several noted books about human "tribalism" have come out, identifying the tribe(s) you belong to has become all the rage, I thought it might be interesting to discuss how tribal we as self identified audiophiles have become.  Originally aimed at corporate organizations, the concept has branched out to include societal groups that either we identify with or others do it for us.  The political applications are obvious....but it got me thinking about tribalism in the audiophile world.  It wouldn't be a tough intellectual exercise for us to readily recognize the existence of the tribal mentality in our chosen hobby.

Tubes or solid state, bipolar or mosfets, stock or designer fuses, wire (wow think of all the "sub-tribes"), moving coil or moving magnet, electrostatic or moving coil speakers and lest we not mention analog or digital, to condition power or not, etcetera. 

After participating in many threads here, it does seem that many of us if not all, to some extent, identify with members of these and other tribes within audiodom.

Honestly, what made me connect tribalism to audio is the controversy? over Tekton speakers and whether or not those identifying with that tribe are real audiophiles or just pretenders because "speakers that inexpensive can't be up to our audiophile standards" (say that out loud with your best Thurston Howell III accent!)

I've never heard any Tekton model but I'm not going to exclude them from audiophilia out of hand.  I for one, would love to listen through a pair of Double Impacts to see what designer Eric Alexander has been able to bring to market at such a modest price.  If they are as good as many owners have attested to here then, as Joe Walsh would say, "Welcome to the Club"!

Back to the overarching topic:  tribalism.  Picking on myself, I would belong to the moving coil speaker tribe, the modification tribe, and moving coil cartridge tribe as well as the Vandersteen tribe.  I think there is something to be said of this communitarian identity that we humans like to adopt for ourselves and others.

One last thought;  when does a tribe remain a tribe and when does it cross the line to become a gang?


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Showing 1 response by whart

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whart
2,976 posts
 
Ironically, I think ’we’ have more in common than the average person who has no deep interest in music or gear. At a certain point, you can keep slicing and dicing the differences- tubes, no only SET, but in the end, it’s still about producing something satisfying. I used to be much more vinyl only, but have gradually accepted digital as a means to access more music. In the long run, what’s the difference between the various sub factions? ("Tribal," to me, connotes ethnographic, geographic and cultural aspects that may not be shared, whereas we choose our positions in things audio and music, though I suppose if you were talking strictly about music, the ethno/geo/cultural aspects would play a role).
History has a way of paving over most of the details and if there is anything else we might also share, it is trying to preserve some of the history- both of the hobby as well as the music. None of this stuff is as enduring as we think it is; stuff is lost, forgotten or just buried under the crush of time.
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