Sometimes the sparring and jesting is hilarious, sometimes thought provoking but sometimes just plain redundant and boring. You be the judge. Back to the original topic. I'll leave vinyl and oils out of it. My desire to get better gear as others here have said is to be able to hear things in a passage of music that we've never heard before no matter how familiar we are with it. I want to share that with others. If I do have someone over which is rare and they have the time I don't really talk about the system, I play music. I let them decide what they want to hear because it will be familiar for them and they'll be able to hear things they've never heard before. One time I had to do a hard pass on Quiet Riot. Nothing against them but not exactly dynamic. Then if they are able to listen for longer than a perfunctory period I'll break out some other things they might not be familiar with. My favs for this are from Pink Floyd especially their early work. When I listen to Grandchester Meadow I see the reflection of the vocals in the water flowing by and I am lying on my back on grass with a blade in my mouth. It tells how a seemingly quiet place is fraught with danger while relaxing you at the same time. Strange. I put on Caress of Steel by Rush and from the Necromancer on I am taken on a journey. Geddy Lee's voice on this while raw is extremely expressive imparting on me every emotion he is dealing with in each phrasing of Neil Peart's lyrics. Doom, fear, jubilation, frustration, wonder, anger, angst, love and adventure are lain bare. I'll put on some Steely Dan to get in a groove and chuckle and wonder at their absurd lyrics while at the same time knowing no other words would be right. I'll try to introduce people to The Flaming Lips, a group that while I am not crazy about everything they do they are definitely different from anything and have some material that is sonically amazing. When I listen to music sometimes I feel as if I can sense electrons firing in certain regions of my brain, I can feel the skin tighten across my face in different areas during different passages and I can watch a movie behind my eyelids. That's the secret magic I want to share.
What Audio Religion have you converted others to successfully?
We all have certain audio proclivities, some we expose to the world, some we hide even from our priests and psychotherapists. We believe, strongly, there's a certain way to achieve magic. A state of enlightenment which raises our awareness almost instantly to resonate with the sacred muses, and may actually transcend music and audio to reach the divine (as opposed to Divine).
In most cases, we share something with a loved one and they're like "um, ok, are still on for fishing this weekend?" but rarely, ever so rarely, the go home, they don't talk to their spouses, their children think there is something wrong, and they call you late at night. "You know that thing you did, with the cables and the vinyl and stuff? How can I do that too? Does my spouse need to know? Can I keep things at your place?"
So, my fellow audiophiles, what proclivities do you find yourself championing, and what do you think is an easy vs. a hard sell? Vinyl? Room acoustics? Rubbing Portuguese safflower oil on your cables before listening?
In most cases, we share something with a loved one and they're like "um, ok, are still on for fishing this weekend?" but rarely, ever so rarely, the go home, they don't talk to their spouses, their children think there is something wrong, and they call you late at night. "You know that thing you did, with the cables and the vinyl and stuff? How can I do that too? Does my spouse need to know? Can I keep things at your place?"
So, my fellow audiophiles, what proclivities do you find yourself championing, and what do you think is an easy vs. a hard sell? Vinyl? Room acoustics? Rubbing Portuguese safflower oil on your cables before listening?