No Audiophiles in Hollywood


A thought just came to me that a lot of movies show us the lives of fictional people doing the everyday things that real people do. However, we never see anyone sitting down and listening to a high end system.

The only thing that I can remember is when the billionaire played by Robert Redford put on an LP on what appeared to be a high end turntable in the movie "Indecent Proposal".

I have never seen exposed tubes on-screen, or an amp of any type for that matter. Big speakers, fuggedaboudit...it seems hifi does not fit the decor scheme of movie sets, or more realistically, audiophiles are rarer on earth than Klingons and Romulans and hollywood does not know of their existence.

It would seem that some of the well heeled actors, directors and producers would own a killer 2 channel system and periodically include one in a scene when the character has discretionary income.

We've all seen scenes with the wife complaining about the husband always watching sports, but never complaining about him pampering his hi-fi rig.

We've all seen characters with automobiles and other toys that we've envied, but never a stereo system to make you salivate.

Anyone ever see a hi-fi system onscreen worth mentioning?

Just a thought.
128x128mitch4t
I remember a photo shoot of Fabio with all top-shelf Krell amps and subwoofer.....that was several years ago.
This may be slightly off topic but your post makes me think of the MTV show "cribs". I've seen quite a few episodes of the camera crew going through the homes of hollywood types, sports stars, and music stars. Almost all of them had sony, pioneer, and i've seen one have denon. NO audiophile equipment that I could tell.
Makes me wanna say, Cheap A@#!ses
Hi Mitch,

As I recall, Fabio had a bunch of Krell gear that TWO sets of Infinity IRS Series V speakers! I presume one set was for front channels and the other set was for the rear channels. Unfortunately, the room that the system was in seemed to have very hard, reflective surfaces and no acoustic control treatment was evident. Chances are the system would not be the most "laid back" sounding in the world!

Best,

Barry Kohan
I read in an interview once that the Krell gear that Fabio owns is personally tweaked/modded/upgraded for him by Krell before he even buys it.
The drivers for audiophile in HW film is as follows:

1) Does the screenwriter deem it an integral part of a character's profile? If so, show it. If not, it's irrelevant, expensive, and a waste of space.

2) Does the production designer deem it an integral part of the setting? If so, show it. If not, it's irrelevant, expansive, and a waste of space.

3) Does the director deem the music and image an integral part of the story? If so, show it. If not....

4) Finally, does the producer want some free gear?