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I Was at a Funeral of An Audiophile...

the other day, and the visitors were subjected to 70's rock music not only in the atrium but also in the chapel up until the moment the service began. The obituary read that the deceased was an audiophile and had a "state of the art" system. I had seen that rig; it was a "Brick and Mortar Special", with a Denon 7.1 surround receiver, nondescript front end and Klipsch lower end, package deal speakers. The surrounds were not placed well, solidly Mid-Fi.

But... the man loved his gear and the music. Completely deluded in terms of where he stood in the hobby, but had a passion for it. I'm guessing he bought the line, along with the equipment, from some salesman that he was getting a "state of the art" rig, and was very proud of it.

I have thought about having my Christian music favorites played at my funeral; I would want people to hear music which speaks of transcendent values. I would want them to hear the beauty in the message and the music, even if played on a wretched building PA system.

When the family found out that I also am an audiophile and understood terms like "calibration" of the system - the deceased calibrated his system often to get perfect sound - they were amazed that there are others in the world like him. I smiled and said I could relate to his desire for beautiful music, an attempt at capturing a feeling, experiencing perfection, if you will.

It's sort of like how we love our cars, and it won't make a bit of difference when we're gone how wonderful our ride was. We may observe another person's rig and wonder how it sounds, and we see some people with modest systems and others with outrageous rigs. There's no telling if that owner is truly satisfied and enjoying their time with it.

One thing came through at the funeral, however, and was very positive. As much as the family marveled at how much he loved his stereo, they knew he loved them much more. His rig brought him happiness, but he kept family as priority. You could say he died a fulfilled audiophile.
douglas_schroeder

Showing 4 responses by macrojack

macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Judge not that thee be not judged. Too late for that, Douglas. Your tone is trite and catty in this post.

Didn't MLK say something about being judged by the content of your character rather than the color of your skin -- or the price of your sound system?

There is a subtext here concerning the attainment of audiophilehood. Has the deceased made the grade? Is he just a crass pretender? Doesn't his stupid family understand that he is not a real audiophile like me? I mean, for crissakes, he didn't buy the right stuff at the right price from the right sources. He probably didn't read the right mags.
And yet these simpletons think he's a bona fide audiophile. More's the pity. R.I.P.
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Move upstream, y'all and consider why Doug saw fit to comment in the first place. Have any of you attended a funeral that you felt inclined to write about on Audiogon? Were you concerned about the audiophile credentials of the deceased? Did his surviving relatives accord him some status that rightfully applied to you instead? Were you maybe just a little bit jealous? Well I never........... did you see his system? That stuff is barely mid-fi and his speaker placement plainly indicates that he was a phony, a pretend audiophile.
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Paul,

You are correct - I know who I am. Thanks for that acknowledgment. You have kindly pointed out to everyone why I don't participate in medieval superstitions. However, I feel pretty sure none of us care about my personal beliefs or your supercilious attempts to read them into my unrelated comments about the offending funeral.

No one, no matter how ignorant or arrogant, knows where we go when we die. Those who insist they do, are delusional.
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Schroeder - I've seen your name occasionally for years now in these forums but I never really took notice of who you are. Now I have - and I will disregard your observations henceforth. Silly putty.
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