Hi end audio who cares

ha...ok

My wife did not give a rat's bootay about the equipment and sound quality...ok was ok. So I hatched a plan. We have a tv room so HOT reflection wise that I figured this was the place to start, so I let her pick out the "system" for that room. $800 at Best Buy got us a (please suppress the gagging and outrage) Bose 3-2-1. I supervised her hookup to our big screen Sony, she placed the 2 speakers on top of the set and the sub in the corner behind the TV and voila', a crappy boomy WEAK dvd experience, but oh was she proud. I then encouraged her to place her favorite cd in the player and let's listen. We never finished one track cause she was skipping to the next cut, not really knowing why. (everyone knows where this is going).

Fast forward to our study where I have my enjoyable, but uncomplicated setup (Cary SLI-80/Cary CD 308/ Tyler Acoustics Taylo Reference Monitors). I put her cd in, pressed play, and went to make drinks (glorious libation!). When I returned with beverages, she had her eyes closed....just listening. She is a convert.

Nonetheless, the Bose "thingy" was no big deal as I hate surround sound anyway. No flame intended, surround sound just feels shrill, i can't enjoy it.(I had a great setup once with all B&W Nautilus speakers and sold it all after about 6 months, reallocate the resources where maximum joy exists).

My point to all of this is that, like any Religion (no offense meant to the hypersensitive), you have to be shown the "way". Thank goodness for the patient out there who take the time to share their passion without the arrogance! My wife understands the difference today and so do others with whom you take the time to show them the real stuff! Additionally, don't be so hard on the infidels. Science has shown that if the human ear has an opportunity to adjust to a "blacker" background, they begin to hear the subtlties of recorded music as more obvious material. When you go to the symphony or a great jazz club, the dynamic differences are what (among MANY other things) really moves people. Studies have shown that after sitting alone in a TRULY acoustically dead room for 30 minutes your ears (or level of sound recognintion) will have adjusted and equalized to the surroundings to the point that you can hear your own heart beating. Audibly! (Kind of like when my wife asked how much my Levinson 383 in my other system cost....uhhhh, a little more than the Bose Sweetheart!). In other words, people off the street or straight out of Best Buy need time for their ears to adjust and patient conversation from all of us. We'll save a few souls and the world is always a better place when we do!

Regards...........GH

Actually (and I wonder if anyone else feels this way), I'd rather have audio ignoramuses listen to my system than most of the so-called audiophiles I encounter. I'm non-plussed by folks who say they refuse to play their systems for the great unwashed. Why would this be, except possibly that they can't live without ego reinforcement?

If someone wants to hear my system, I gladly fire it up and play what they like. If they want to hear a demo, then I choose the music. If they want to hear how loud it will play, I take it up to concert levels. If they want to hear how much bass it has, I play Saint-Saens or Cosmic Hippo. Why would I not? Unlike a bottle of fine wine, the music isn't going to run dry. What is this "my system is too fine to be wasted on shit ears like yours" nonsense? I don't get it at all.

I'd much rather have someone tell me that my Mezzo Utopias sound just like his cousin's Boses, and mean it as a compliment, than to have some self-anointed Golden Ear raise an eyebrow because my cables are not suspended on little titanium scaffolds and mean it as a sneer.

My listening group is made up mostly of very fine amateur and professional musicians with systems ranging from $3K to $300K and something in excess of 15,000 pieces of software. When we go to someone's home, we use the system at hand and listen to the music. Going on at length about one's neutron-flux-treated outlets would be considered tedious if not gauche. Discussions of gear are VERY tangential to our listening experiences, though we may debate a conductor's interpretation or a singer's intonation until four in the morning.

For us, THAT is what audio is all about.

will

I would listen with you and your group anytime, Will.

Touche' Bishopwill,Thank you for skewering the pompous audiophiles.Ego aggrandizement is the real river below the current of careing so very much about the sound...how very precious of all of you.P.S.WHERE EVER YOU LIVE PROTEST THE VILE WAR THE U.S.IS ABOUT TO EMBARK ON.