I haven't read the whole thread but it is certainly interesting and varied. I write this from a perspective of having been once a devotee of high quality audio who set it to the side due to having two kids, a demanding profession and a wife who was not in the least going to give me the space to sit down and enjoy my system. Got rid of the wife. She gave me the kids, so more years in the wasteland without. 30 years.
Kids gone, something missing here. Oh yeah, why not.
Has NO IDEA all this existed at such a high level. Found out about BAT, VIP, Fidelity Research, Balanced cables, LOMC, Power Conditioners on and on. But I had to research, a lot of it here on Audiogon. Started looking and voila.
The take away here is that very few allow themselves the space to separate out and indulge. But I'm a music lover, live music has always been there for me. I really think if more people knew how close to the live music experience they could get with high end audio, more would be interested. Very poor marketing is a big part of it. And face it, it is an indulgence, ever how worthy it may be. People do little indulgences now and high end audio is not a small indulgence. It's just the times.
