Hey RICH Audiophiles

It may be that you are mistaking indifference with tolerance. Jokes aside, my wife of 20+ years enjoys my audio habit.

I prefer the 1960 Porsche 356b Abarth Carrera over any 911 ever produced. I've been fortunate to own a few 911's over the decades and I would trade them all for the 356b Carrera.

My 1st 911, a sub 20,000 mile preowned 1984 Carrera Targa. It had been owned by the chief engine builder/engineer for the Chaparral Can Am and then Indy Car race team. I was told he took the entire drivetrain apart when he took delivery new and went over every part in order to "improve". Improve he did! It was so smooth and easy all the way to redline, which was about 500rpm higher after his touch. It wailed like a Ferrari. When I moved to another town and took it to the Porsche dealer there for some routine service, the entire service team and some of the management were waiting. It was only then that I came to understand how special that car was. The Fuchs wheels has a personalize engraving the the original owner inside each rim.  It was explained to me that that particular 911 was built special and to the tightest tolerances they had ever seen.  It was a street Porsche built by their racing team.  I'll never forget that car...sold it to fund grad school...I dont recall if I met the buyer or not but it sold to the first caller full pop, then onto a trailer.

My point was, in general, the super wealthy aren’t the ones buying “exorbitantly high priced systems”. Super wealthy audiophiles who do happen to buy super high end dont typically need to tweak. They get what they want and dont fuss around.

Again, your version of rich and the real version of rich are possibly disconnected. 

@1extreme 

Your post is not accurate. You assume so much and like many times in life, the assumptions are drawn from incomplete data or incorrect assumptions. Your version of rich may not be a completely accurate picture.

Super successful people, in general, are not satisfied with mediocre anything but if it has no value or utility, then they move on without a second thought. Time to this group is precious and those I know who fall into this category are not remotely interested in a cable shootout or posting on a web forum and they will not waste their time debating what is or isn’t an audiophile, they simply buy experiences. They underwrite symphonies, opera, jazz venues, festivals, universities, cancer research and hospitals. They heli-ski rather than take a lift because the lift doesn’t go where they want to go. The money value of time is equally as important as the time value of money.

I recently was invited to dine in the home of a very successful gentleman. His setup was modest (Definitive bookshelves, a hidden away mass market amp Im sure playing satellite fed music from his cable tv provider). I kow he liked music and asked him about his setup and he said its just for background, conversational listening. He said he hadnt heard too many systems that recreated anything resembling real so he was satisfied that to hear the real thing they would just go to concerts and venues to hear live. People in his tax bracket have many homes, many systems and very little free time.

So, I guess my point is I wouldnt worry too much about why the wealthy choose what they choose. Like everyone else in the world, they are shaped by their experiences.