Renting out your audio room

Kelton this would make you the World's First HI-FI Pimp. I love your hourly rates suggestion! Nothing like a quicky listening session, much less fatiguing. Would you really wan't strangers fondling your equipment? Oops, I meant your Gear, not your Equipment. You know this could snowball..... Next you'll want to rent out your girlfriend/wife to poor slobs that can't get a date?

Yes I did, quite a while ago. I envisioned the highest of the high-end for hire. I don't think it would be economically viable though for all sorts of reasons, chief among them being that it would require a change in people's attitude. Most people don’t think that reproduced music is worth the detour. What I find strange though is that no B & B or resort operator seems to offer a real high-end sound room as a way of attracting business. I would rather sit down and listen to great recordings than to huff and puff on a treadmill...

I'd like to know why no one offers a mail-order high-end audio for rent business, comparable to the Cable Company's treatment of audio cables. It would be great to pay a deposit 5% of the cost of a component towards an eventual purchase in order to try out a number, say, of preamps. Perhaps the economics rule this out (as well as exclusive dealer networks, trust, wear and tear) but it would surely eliminate a great deal of guesswork from the consumer end, particularly if one's not lucky enough to live near a major city with a wide variety of audio stores.

I once started a post here where I asked whether people would pay to listen to ultra high end systems. Everyone said no. Not sure if the thread is still in the archives.

I think they have something similar already. It's called Karaoke.

I dreamed about making mini home theaters similar to what you are talking about...then I woke up when I realized that it was a total pipedream. And Pbb...i think that the reason that no B&B's or resorts offer high end listening rooms is that...
A: they have never thought about high end audio themselves...they probably think they are doing you a favor putting a bigscreen tv & a dvd in a commons room

and

B:..if it were to happen...there would probably be more people battling over the use of the listening room than the treadmills...hahahahaha after all...how often do you see people using the hotel gyms? If there was a high end listening room...I have a funny feeling that I would end up sleeping in there rather than my room LOL

Ellery

Actually, I do rent out my audio room. I have a couple of recording studios that use it to proof their master CDs before going to print. In almost every case, they have found something wrong with their CD that they did not hear on their own setup.

The whole trick is making sure your system (room, speakers, amps, cables, etc.) is much better than what they have. It is actually not too hard finding better speakers or amps than most of the recording studios but it often is extremely hard making sure your room is better than theirs. For me to reproduce my room somewhere else (like in an office space), my estimate is that it would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $60k (that is strictly for the room remodeling and acoustical treatment, not the stuff that goes in it like speakers, amps, etc.). The start-up cost makes it totally impractical for most people but works in my special case.

Julian

I think they have something similar already. It's called being a dealer. (Hi Viggen ;^)

What about leasing hipriced audio?I thought about this much think it would work some of the stuff is priced as hi as a car anyway and most folks keep there gear well.