Has anyone had success converting friends?

Nope. I have a friend who is a major musicophiliac. He listens to more music than I do, has close to 3000 CDs, hundreds of DVDs, gets all wet over high-def TV, and yet, he's perfectly satisfied with his satellites and "bass module" audio. Go figure! When I made an offer to him to come listen to my new system, he wasn't the least bit interested. To him, it's not about quality, or perhaps, he's not truly aware of what he's not hearing or how much he's missing when he listens to music. So what's the big deal? Some people wouldn't think of driving anything less than a high performance vehicle, others don't care if their car gives up when they put the pedal to the floor. Some people would rather put frozen 'pizza' in their bodies than a fresh home-grown tomato, basil, and mozzarella di buffala.

And I'm perfectly happy projecting SD on a white wall. Go figure!

Yes, my best buddy. His competitive personality however sometimes gets the most of him. We have similar taste in gear....not so much in music though.
Since we also work together.........most of our conversations are audio related. He bought his latest system base on my recommendation (for the first time) and absolutly loves it......and it cost him about half of his previous system.
He loves that even more.

Cheers

Mariusz

No, not really. My best friend was interested in a half-hearted way when we were younger, and he didn't have kids yet. He still listens to music while he does other things, but he couldn't care less about the equipment any more. As far as other friends and aquaintances go, they think that I am a crazy spendthrift who is obsessed with this "stuff". I also find that many other people who learn of my interest think that the purpose of a high end system is to listen to music at loud volumes. I get this all of the time.

Take a non-audiophile friend who passionately loves some piece of music in to listen to your killer rig and play it for them. If the soundstage is just right, there is a moment where you will both know that they 'got it'. What happens after that is so disappointing: they might say "yeah that was great. so what". And then they go home to hear it again on their crappy Japanese reciever as if nothing ever happened. So frustrating.

Conversions are for missionaries.