A thought just came to me that a lot of movies show us the lives of fictional people doing the everyday things that real people do. However, we never see anyone sitting down and listening to a high end system.
The only thing that I can remember is when the billionaire played by Robert Redford put on an LP on what appeared to be a high end turntable in the movie "Indecent Proposal".
I have never seen exposed tubes on-screen, or an amp of any type for that matter. Big speakers, fuggedaboudit...it seems hifi does not fit the decor scheme of movie sets, or more realistically, audiophiles are rarer on earth than Klingons and Romulans and hollywood does not know of their existence.
It would seem that some of the well heeled actors, directors and producers would own a killer 2 channel system and periodically include one in a scene when the character has discretionary income.
We've all seen scenes with the wife complaining about the husband always watching sports, but never complaining about him pampering his hi-fi rig.
We've all seen characters with automobiles and other toys that we've envied, but never a stereo system to make you salivate.
Anyone ever see a hi-fi system onscreen worth mentioning?
In the recent Jason Statham "Mechanic" movies, he has what appears to be a Pro-Ject turntable with Ortofon cartridge and a Jolida integrated. Not sure about the speakers.
Bishop James Greenleaf on the cable TV show ’Greenleaf ’ has a set of Sonus Faber Olympica speakers and an Audio Research VSi75 integrated in his office. I did’t see a source in the office...probably a streamer is in there somewhere.
Harvey Specter has some Primaluna tube amps, VPI TT, Klipsch speakers and bunch of vinyls but he listens to them rarely...on the other hand Harry Bosch has Macintosh amp, Marantz TT and Ohm speakers and not a collector of LPs like Harvey but he listens to his system more often...
Overall, the typical L.A. person is too self-absorbed for all things Audiophile. Too bad indeed. That kind of power, money and support could be channeled in a positive way for our hobby.
In the movie Risky Business, I believe the father has a Phase Linear system. He says to Tom Cruise "Too much bass. How did the EQ get like this? Don't touch my gear while I am gone, my house - my rules."
. In "The Departed" (2006), starring Leonardo DeCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon. Matt Damon's girlfriend in the movie fires up his all McIntosh amp & preamp. No speakers are visible. .
In the movie "The Rock," Nicholas Cage's character receives an LP in the mail at his office. His colleagues mock him for buying an LP in the age of digital (movie was released in 1996). He says in response, "I buy these because they sound better!" Made me wonder if Cage himself is an audiophile.
In the 30 Rock TV show, The Tracy Jordan Character has in his dressing room what appear to me to be Revel Salon speakers that are very prominent in many shots throughout many years of the series. I think there have been shots of the electronics as well, perhaps Classe?
The new CBS series "Elementary" has a nice rig for Sherlock Holmes. I know he plays vinyl and even 78s, but the more visible parts are an array of McIntosh tube electronics and a pair of Energy CF70 floorstanders without the grills. The Energy speakers go for about $1100/pair, so they're not really commensurate with the electronics, but in reality Energy provides great bang for the buck, and the all-aluminum drivers with their phase plugs look pretty dramatic.
In the Jason Statham movie, the Mechanic, he had a prominent audio system with pretty cool-looking floorstanding speakers. I couldn't ID them offhand but I'm sure some people here could.
There must be a pair of them in some props warehouse, or perhaps they belong to a supplier who loans them out, but I see a pair of top line Meridian Digital Active floorstanders from a few years ago--the modular ones with mini-monitors sitting on top of the multi-woofer modules. They're silver in color and have a very cool curved lines. I've seen these so many times in TV shows and some movies; I can't think of which ones in particular used them.
Floor standing speakers and McIntosh make their way into quite a few films and shows. Now doesn't someone involved with a production get to keep that stuff that was supplied by the manufacture?
Speaking of uncovered tube, the financial commercials featuring Jimmy Fallon and the little girl in the high chair has had open tube amp and various other electronics on a shelf in the background.
When threads get this long I'm too lazy to read every post so bear with me if I'm repeating something already said. When the high-end starts advertising in a range of magazines other than audioporn rags things might change. Bose has had the sense to advertise in interior decoration and fashion magazines with great success. ( No, I.m not suggesting Bose is anything other than the audio equivalent of a strangled pig fart) There's always been something absurdly elitist about the high-end and the tendency to portray it all audiophile pursuits as a hobby rather than part of everyday enjoyment had been a long, slow form of commercial suicide.
. Just watched the movie 'Looper' last night. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) plays a Michell Gyro SE turntable in a scene his loft. The turntable is seen playing again when he moves to a new apartment. However, no amp, preamp or speakers are present in either scene. The movie is set in the future (2074), so it must be a wireless model .
The movie 'Limitless' has a scene where Brad Cooper goes to a classy apartment to score some of those designer smart drugs.
The drug dealer has a full Meridian system. Meridian electronics and the Meridian active speakers, which then are strewn all over the place after the apartment is smashed up.
In the HK movie 'Infernal Affair's' (which was remade in Hollywood as 'The Departed'), the main actor works in a Hong Kong high end audio shop, the bad guy visits and they both sit down and audition a system and they become lost for words. He then buys an expensive power cable.
You can't get much more hard core audiophile than that.
btw the original Infernal Affairs was such a good movie, that Scorsese literally just copied it scene for scene without changing that much of the original story.
Netflix streaming had a british comedy show by Steve Coogan called "Saxondale" He plays a retired roadie of the big 70's rock bands that has hard time with coming to terms that the good times are over (so to speak)
To make a long story short there is a funny scene where he walks into a british Hifi shop and tests the shop guys skills.
QUOTE: 07-24-11: Barruch86 In "The Mechanic"(remake)Jason Statham plays a pro-ject rpm 9.2 and a tube amp, not sure what it was though.
That was funnier than hell! At this point Statham was really tolerant of the immaturity of his understudy. The kid walks up to the Turntable and starts to play with the tonearm. Statham grabs him and snaps, Dont EVER touch that! Priceless LOL
House does have a sota turntable in his office behind his desk;it's in a different wood this year as it is darker and it looks like a sumiko ft3 tonearm is on it;as for his speakers I have never been able to figure out what they are;Hugh Laurie is a talented actor as well as musician.
House lists Sota at the end of the program. I don't watch it, but love Castle and that apartment is great. Haven't seen stereo in it yet, but the last two shows have shown a very big flat screen up on the wall. Covert Affairs shows a nice rig in the living room of the guy who plays the blind computer whiz.
IT is my understanding the actor KEANU REEVES has a very elaborate system featuring PBN AUDIO gear (thier SIERRA electonics, and thier best speaker, the MASTER REFERENCE along with an ORACLE turntable.
it is either Castle or Hawaii 5-0, but the end credits list 'Sota Turntables'. And this is throwaway commercial TV! Maybe it is Castle since the character is a wealthy writer of crime novels. His NYC apartment is pretty huge. He may have a nice stereo buried somewhere in it.
Hey Slappy, I have seen pleanty of MTV CRIBS for rock/rap/music stars that have killer in home recording studios, with PRO audio gear that us mortals can't even buy - so no need for dinky tweeky high end audio!
In Friends the Sitcom...you can see a small pair of martin Logal Sequals in the background even though i never ever watched the ssssstupid show i was channel surfing one evening and noticed them
One of the Tomb Raider movies shows a brief glimpse of a Judy Spothiem turntable and Showtimes Californication often shows a Avid Turntable in the main characters apt.
Not really High end but the Italian Job shows and makes reference to a NAD receiver.
In Vanilla Sky, Tom Cruise had what must have been a state-of-the-art (even in the future) system that holographically projected Coltrane playing at his party. That's the only instance of hi fi I can recall from Hollywood, although the TV show House credits Sota turntables.
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