When someone listens to your system for the first time.


 I recently had  a 30 something friend of mine, I'm 64, stop in for a bit and sit in my listening chair.  He is a musician and had never heard my system.  Decided to play him Sultans of Swing on my turntable. He was awe struck. Look of amazement on his face. he said he had heard the song countless times, but now knew he had never really heard it. He talked about the clarity, how wonderful the cymbals sounded, how awesome the bass was (thanks to the new subwoofers I bought). I played him a few more things, some Tony Rice, to hear some acoustic instruments.  He couldn't get over the soundstage and imaging. He said he knew why I sat in that chair.  He said he wants to come back, there are tons of songs he wants to now hear on my system.  I listen to music just about every night.  I enjoy my system, but sometimes get caught up in listening to the gear, wondering if I should change something.  Nature of the hobby. So nice to get a new perspective.  Reminder to stop over thinking and enjoy the music. 
limbonner
I’ve put together a system to present acoustic music at its best, and I like it. But when my brother came over and wanted to hear The Rolling Stones, I knew he was about to be underwhelmed. “I want to feel a punch in my chest,” he says, something my Magnepan .7s just don’t do. To each his own. I want the timbre to be just right on orchestral instruments, what I hear at live performances. 
My best friend always says "Everything sounds so clear"......Yeah, I answer I'm working on improving it all the time....
First time Forums poster here. Hello everyone!
The shared knowledge here at Agon is incredible and hopefully I can offer something useful to its vast knowledge base. As far as different equipment speak goes I'm not very knowledgeable having a limited budget and experience.
This thread really gave me a good chuckle with some of you posting about friends not believing you were only running two speakers. I've had the same response regarding my center imaging running only two channel. I've also gotten similar responses when people hear the image width of certain CD's go beyond the outside of the speakers. Getting the "How is that possible!?!?" comments along with the sense of disappearing speakers.

As far as people not caring, there's the better half who can hear the differences, but has no interest in the hobby itself. When I started in it about 20 years back I couldn't distinguish much either, but thanks to experienced listeners I was instructed and taught exactly what to listen for. Thankfully with a lot of listening and comparing efforts it did pay off for me. When I first heard my best friend, a non-hobbyist, say "You really have the best sounding system I've ever heard" it gave me a lot of satisfaction knowing my efforts were not going unnoticed.
Currently running...
Classé DR-6 pre-amp
Perreaux PMF 1150b (waiting on its big brother the PMF 2150b)
Sony SCD-1 CD/SACD player
Unity Audio CLA 1 Fountainhead Signature speakers changed to custom maple cabinetry with slightly larger dimensions for better bass response
Grover Huffman Empress IC's and speaker cable
Black Sand Silver Reference Mark IV power cord (from Richard Gray RGPC 400S Mark II line conditioner to wall)
Black Sand Statement One power cord (from SCD-1 to Richard Gray)
Also have a Nakamichi BX-300 that requires some maintenance work before being apart of the chain
I've seen all over the spectrum.  some are like wow and just sit and listen and begin to understand why.  some seem to enjoy it, but start singing and become too busy singing to actually listen.  some could care less, but they generally don't listen to music.  

I had one friend who ask why i never listen to music in my truck - after listening to my system - understand why i don't bother unless it can sound like this.