Why Don't More People Love Audio?


Can anyone explain why high end audio seems to be forever stuck as a cottage industry? Why do my rich friends who absolutely have to have the BEST of everything and wouldn't be caught dead without expensive clothes, watch, car, home, furniture etc. settle for cheap mass produced components stuck away in a closet somewhere? I can hardly afford to go out to dinner, but I wouldn't dream of spending any less on audio or music.
tuckermorleyfca6
you can thank iPods and Sonos..... Personally I would rather drive a crappy car and have a killer 2 ch system. In fact I drove many crappy cars for the past 30 years..... my current preamp actually cost more than several cars I have owned.

Today's generation wants quantity and convenience over sound quality... for example, I recently bought new speakers. I asked my 15 year old if he wanted my old speakers and an amp that I wasn't using, a pair of PSB M2 Platinums which are a great speaker and an audio design associates 200w stereo amp. He declined, holding his phone up and saying "i'm all set". I would have killed for gear of that caliber when I was 15.........
Oddiofyl, very good point & you are right, I enjoyed reading your post. Case in point, my daughter thought my system sounded good but she said I don't know what to listen for. She loves music but she was content going back to her room and listen to her boombox. I think it just comes down to pleasing ourselves.
I played an old analogue recording of Joan Baez on vinyl to my wife and she said it was "good but there's too much detail"...
Then I played the DDD CD she recorded (she is a wonderful mezzo-saprano). It was fairly flat. Then I played her a 60s record of Julie Andrews. The difference was amazing. She could "see" Julie in the room, hear her lips smack, the wetness in the mouth... and was pretty impressed. Later, I overheard her on the phone telling a friend that records were much better than CDs!
more people love music than the configuration of stereo systems to attain quality of sound. its obvious why.

the natural inclination of human beings is laziness. quality is sacrificed for convenience.

moreover, sound quality , for many does not enhance the enjoyment of listening to music.

the message of the music and the emotional content can be communicated using any medium.

the reason is intrinsic to the psychology governing human behavior.