How Many Audiophiles Have Do You Know?


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How many audiophiles have you ever met? The people that you've met here on Audiogon and at audio shows don't count. I'm trying to find out if audiophiles ever meet each other by happenstance. I have never been in a casual conversation when someone ever mentioned a hifi hobby.

The only time I've ever met an audiophile was when I was making a sales call in Denver, CO. I was in the lobby of a big real estate broker's office when the owner had his secretary bring me into his private office. As soon as I walked into his office I saw an unmistakably recognizable pair of Talon speakers with a pair of Krell monlblocs, Audio Research Ref2 Mk2 preamp and a Wadia cd player. I complemented him on his system. He was thrilled that I recognized his components...he was even more thrilled that I asked him to fire it up. I looked through his cd's and chose a few selections that I was familiar with. We talked audio for 30-45 minutes before we finally got down to business. Needless to say, I got the account. I was selling an excellent service, but I'm sure that my familiarity with audio sealed the deal.
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128x128mitch4t

Showing 1 response by paladin

In almost 50 years of this hobby - I may have met about 100 people that I would consider a audiophile.
Starting with my father when I was about 10 years of age.
He loved his classical music & played 2 albums almost every night after work & all day long on Sunday.
In my early teens I went out & bought my own first system (KLH model 20).
Since I do not consider myself a audiophile - Just a hobbiest & a true lover of music reproduction & collecting Lp's - I think that most people like myself only consider others as audiophiles.
To me a audiophile is someone with a passion for music & spends too much of their time & money tweaking his/her system to get optimum sound or audio Nirvana.
I have only met but a very few people that I also consider to be audiophiles in that have a modest system, but are also just as passionate & truely enjoy what they have to the limit.
All in all in almost 50 years to meet only about 100 audiophiles equals about 2 per year.
And to consider that the majority of them came in the past 7 years of buying & selling here on the gon leads me to believe that either very few audiophiles consider themselves as such or they just refuse to admit what they are.
On the other hand - I have spoken to quite a few schmucks & wannabees that profess to be a true audiophile. I think that many of us have had the pleasure of that one & just laugh it off.
To me a true audiophile is someone that:
Has the ear - Not just for his system, but for others & will offer knowledgeable advice.
Has a decent to fantastic system & knows how & what to listen to - THE MUSIC!
Has a minimum of 1K albums LP's/CD's.
Wont tell you what his system cost & wont admit to any of the above.