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
More would love good audio if they heard it. But, most people do not consider good audio to be a priority. Hence, most people will not hear good audio.
People DO LOVE audio ... but it's fully integrated in ways that meet lifestyle requirements OR it's available to the degree allowed by economics. Most younger gen people are near-penniless and have "socialization" interests that preclude fragmentation (ie, a distinct and separate/separately-spaced audio system). This kind of suggests that most of us are too "busy" to waste precious time on something that is in large part esoteric and questionable as a separate entity. Virtually all of my students are aware of music that I never hear or have even heard of, but their listening habits/strategies make little sense to me, nor do mine to them. They look at me as if I were a freak ... and I am the freak ... even more so because I listen to jazz ....
You really don't have to mortgage your life away to get a half way decent system on the used market. Most people are just flat out indifferent to high end audio and are more than content listening to their ipod. I do happen to think there is a small percentage out there though, if properly exposed would undoubtedly jump on the runaway audiophile bandwagon
The larger question is most likely, 'Why don't more people love music enough to make it a LARGER part of their daily lives?' For example, why don't more people become more invested in music as opposed to Television?
The other night, I was talking to a new girlfriend on the phone...we began talking about music and I suggested that we turn our computers on and go to YouTube.
We then spent, 4 hours laughing and talking, listening to music--some she'd never heard of...partly because of age, (she's 16 years younger) and partly because of my music 'habit'.
We came to the Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley songs, 'Save Your Love For Me' and 'The Masquerade Is Over'...she was really, really loving Nancy. AND she loved Cannonball's sound and solos.
Frankly, I was thinking globally, that it was a bit sad that more people are unaware of such music--music that I've known for almost half a century, she'd never known, and further thought that Nancy Wilson 'has the most spectacular voice I've ever heard.'
I think, if more people were exposed to music that could move them, they'd become more invested in 'audio', 'cause and effect'.

The other part of the evening that I liked a lot, was the notion, that there's still a lot more music out there that I too haven't heard yet, that's exciting.

Good listening,
Larry