If it is only to sell somethiing to me, I guess not me. It is kind of like people who pay $5 for a Coors Light (or other) T-Shirt. Should'nt they be paying you for wearing a billboard advertising their product. Now if someone was renting out a home theater room for a party, I might pay for that. No different then getting a private room in a restaurant. I've actually seen this sort of thing in Asia, although it is not an audiophile room. When Michael Jordon takes his family to the movies, he usually pays to rent the whole theater room and they invite their friends. It is the only way he can watch a current movie in a large theater with his family in peace. He would be mobbed by autograph seekers during the movie otherwise. |
Sugarbrie, there would be no selling of anything other than the right to listen to music. |
No. I'd rather spend the money on a live concert. Why settle for a pale imitation of the real thing, no matter how good the system? |
I'd pay to rent a house, far from civilization, with conditioned beefy A/C and a first rate sound system.
Or the same house where I could bring my own system for a week or so. Being an apartment "Dweller" puts a crimp in
your listening capabilities! |
A really good reason to pay would be to audition equipment you're interested in, but don't necessarily want to buy from that dealer. I got so sick of being ripped off by buying new equipment at retail, then having to sell it at wholesale when I wanted to upgrade, that I have stopped going to regular audio dealers and buy almost everything here on the used market. But, that means I don't get to hear new equipment as much. To avoid the bad karma of listening to a dealer's equipment without intending to buy, I would be willing to pay something. |
I would pay quite a bit actually. The refuge part sounds particularly inviting. |
I'm with seth. I would pay for a no-pressure listening session with gear I'm interested in. A corollary to this: I would pay for in-home evaluation, if a dealer wanted to offer, say, rental units. |
Several months back I wrestled with this very same idea, thinking that the majority of folks will pass through life never having heard an ultra high-end system. So why not invest in the necessary acoustical space and requisite equipment and open it to the public for a "modest" fee. One could offer different time slots from a one cd session to a full length movie. Even considered structured affairs with limo, dinner, etc. Although such an establishment may well entice a lot of one-time visitors, I suspect repeat business would be virtually nil. I surmised that the general populace, although probably impressed, would not feel the need to incorporate such an experience into their lifestyles. So I wrote it off as a somewhat deranged excuse to get my hands on the killer stuff. But you never know... |
I probably would not. We have an audiophile society and rotate through listening to each other's systems. All the systems are high end--some very high end. All the systems sound excellent, none of them sound perfect. Some do certain things better than others--it's really an education to hear the different systems and the pros and cons of each. The only way I would pay for listening is it would have to be higher end than what we typically listen to and for me to go back as a repeat customer they would have to change the equipment on a regular basis, so that I could hear the differences of really top notch systems. That said, it's unlikely it would be very affordable, because it would have to support a limited number of groups for probably $150k worth of equipment and $70k worth of room. It takes a lot of listening sessions and high prices to pay off that kind of investment. I once figured out that watching a movie in our home theater was the most expensive showing of a movie I had ever seen--$10 for seeing a movie is a bargain. |
I'd have to say that I'd probably try it once. I think the idea of watching a movie on an ultra high end video system would apply more to the general public. Movie night with a list of DVDs to choose from or say football on HDTV sounds much more interesting to me. |
...in the place where only you and no girlfriend or wife? |
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A weekend (or week) at a cabin in the mountains away from it all with a wonderful listening room? Yes. |
I would definitely try this at least once, for all the positives listed above. It would be nice if there were many different brands of equipment that one could swap in and out just to see how components match up. Ahh, but how would the pricing be structured? |
This is a good idea. Count me in. Especially if you get equipment options that can be set up for you in advance. I am also interested in music selection, a lot of you know a lot of nice sounding CD's in areas I am unfamiliar with and having those available with a short description (and what to listen for) would be cool. |
in case you haven't noticed most good concert halls have very good equipment....right from radio city hall to the kodak theater.....and we do pay money for the tickets....
Say a performance is recorded on good equipment, so good no one can tell it apart from live.
Then why wont you pay for a audio performance so good that you can't tell if it's live or not....how do you care if it's live or simulated....you listen with your ears, right?
actually...just kidding....i would not pay if they wanted me to audition a final recording...no matter how good the studio was |
No I would not. I had the "privlege" the other day at the local hi-end parlor to listen to the Linn (dig) Levinson (pre/amp) with B&W 801 and it left me scratching my head wondering why does it look so good and sound so unengaging? I stepped outside and listened to their Monarchy Audio Bronze, through Rotel and MSB dig front end and I was tapping my feet again. I honestly feel, that musicality can be had for far less than what most audiophiles are willing to spend. Go figure!
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