Today's New York Times

I just think it's pretty cool that the NY Times devoted so much space to an article about our hobby. Yeah,..... a $450 Music Hall table may not be your idea of "high end," but at least millions of the newspaper's readers now know that high end audio exists. As I see it, anything in the main stream media that talks about our hobby in a positive fashion is a good thing !

Okay... so then how are we going to introduce the "twenty and thirty somethings" into our hobby ? There needs to be a way of reaching out through the main stream media and trying to get the young folks interested. Mitch, you're poking fun at the guy's B&O speakers,..... Wolf, you're saying it's lightweight fluff,.....and Iso, you're agreeing with Wolf. I think you guys are looking at things the wrong way. I've already had four neighbors who know I have "a real high end system" call me after reading the article and asking if they can come over and listen to music. Maybe one of them will then spend a grand on some nice NAD (or similar) electronics and PSB (or similar) speakers and put together a nice entry-level system. That's how more folks will get into our hobby and maybe eventually buy the kind of gear we now adore.

So, think about it.. I think we should applaud the NY Times for this article, and hope that our hobby starts, once again, to attract the younger generation. I remember when I was in my teens and early twenties, and I would go to Tech Hi-Fi (remember them ?) and drool over the sound of music that was being played through their many systems. Well, these stores are now few and far between. Kids can't just go and hang out and listen anymore. Maybe we need more articles like this to spread the word.

Okay,..... I'm done preaching for now. Time to open a nice bottle of Shiraz and listen to some music. Hmmmmm, maybe some Joni Mitchell, Dave Brubeck, and Steely Dan tonight ! Happy Listening to all my fellow Audiogoners !

I'm glad that my thread has initiated some really good discussion.
Erniek ..... your experiences (and age) mimic my beginnings in our hobby exactly. I spent countless hours "just hanging out" in local hi-fi shops listening to music and picking the brains of the shops' owners and sales staff. I was always welcomed with open arms and found that the folks who worked in the shops were eager to teach me and allow me to spend as much time as I wanted simply listening to music with a big fat grin on my face. After four or five years of "I'm just looking and listening," I finally bought my first "high end" system ..... Mission 717 speakers with a B&O Beogram 3404 table and a Yamaha receiver. Boy oh boy, that was a great system, and although I've been through a lot of gear over the years and am now very happy with what I have, there was something very special about my first kit. And I owe it all to all the great hi-fi shop folks who allowed me into their shops knowing I wasn't ready to buy anything and even encouraged me to just hang out and listen.