Why do Audiophiles feel the need...

Sort of like 3rd grade soccer where the kids don't understand yet the importance of position; everyone runs toward the ball. And sort of like behavior reflective of our times with corporate media blitzes, case in point being the current swine flu epidemic. From the pop media standpoint, we're often led to believe there is nothing else happening in the world of greater importance, that we should all run toward that issue, even though tens of thousands die each year in this country from "normal, boring old Type A influenza" every year.

We want to participate in communities that are meaningful to us, Audiogon is such a community. As in life it is important to contunally separate the wheat (opinion based on direct experience) from the chaff (opinion based on wishful thinking).

"...if you ain't heard it, you don't have an opinion..."

Didn't Gizmo say that?

I don't think you necessarily have to own the gear to opine. When I was assembling my system, the dealer was using a certain brand of speakers I didn't own for demo purposes. I must have listened to them at least ten times and I would certainly feel competent to add something to a thread. With a really new piece, even a "show demo" might prove somewhat helpful, although the conditions are usually pretty bad.

Good point! I always wondered about that...also I would like to hear from the designers not the dealers in the replies...

I think a lot of us have a tendency to overgeneralize. We have owned X number of tube amps or moving coil cartridges or planar speakers , etc. For most of us this will rarely exceed a number that can be counted using our fingers. From this limited sample we make broad generalizations.
I've been spending too much time and money on music reproduction since the late 60's ( and don't regret a min. or dollar spent) - part of what is so challenging today is that even if we limit ourselves strictly to the reproduction of music - there is a incredible variety of good to great sounding gear available.Further complicating things is the reality that within a system we are seeking synergy and I gotta tell you over the years I have repeatedly made one "improvement" in my systems that totally craped on the sound.Was that component "bad" sounding or just bad when used with the rest of my equipment ?
I will say that on this or any of the unrelated forums I frequent - if you ask for first hand experience vs. philosophical opinions - you get a whole lot fewer responses - and probably a whole lot more information.