I think it can be both...and probably is for everybody..I buy a lot of music,like to experiment with what I buy but I do endlessly tweak at times too listening to the same piece(s) over and over and enjoying the upgrades/tweaks that work...whatever makes people happy that's what's important...I have an opinion that some Audiogon members maybe have an imbalance in the music/gear see-saw but they sure as hell ain't doing me any harm and probably enjoying their Hell Freezes Over CD every bit as much as my latest Japanese ambient CD...wouldn't it be nice though if we could be opinionated and passionate without being personal and abusive.....there's room for everybody Regards, Ben
Love of MUSIC or love of GEAR
I think the appeal of audio gear is more complicated than simply a love of music. In my experience I have not seen much of a correlation between the love of music and the pursuit of high-end gear. That is not to say that audiophiles do not necessarily love music – I think that they do (or they at least have some kind of aural fetish)– or the gear would not make sense to them. But if the full appreciation of music was dependant on hearing it played through the best gear, then musicians, composers, CBC FM radio hosts (yes, I am Canadian) – would all be audiophiles. As it stands, this is not the rule but the exception. (I would bet that there are more architects than musicians that have high-end systems.) I propose that the pursuit of high-end audio has something to do with an obsession with the POTENTIAL of gear to produce music. Wrapped up in this ‘potential’ are the aesthetics and physical appearance of the gear, its smell, feel, ergonomics, size and mass, technological innovation, myths associated with it, etc. The pursuit of gear in this context is its potential to offer a doorway to a world of music as expansive and rich as we can imagine, that we can open at will - by ourselves or with others who are willing to listen.