Our Responsibility

“I think many of us who post here do not behave like "know it alls" and just have a passion and willingness to share knowledge/experiences with others.”

+1, tuberist. 

I very much enjoy John Darko’s reviews / blogs and his no-nonsense approach. 

Assuming (uh,oh) that most people on here were born between 1945 and 1960, I think the reason behind the lack of enthusiasm  for our hobby might be because we all matured and first had our own disposable income available at the time when "stack stereo" was in vogue and hi-fi was being heavily advertised as something to aspire to.

There were stores everywhere and the golden age of LPs and music in general was well underway.
The improvement in SQ compared to the radio or parents console was readily apparent so that gave us easy reasons to get on the treadmill of further SQ improvement and away we went.
We had our own rooms at home to set them up in and likely moved out of home and into our own houses or good sized apartments when real estate was affordable to all. There, we carried on because we took our gear with us.
Today? No stores, no ads, no LPs and it is very difficult to enter the real estate market.
What do they have instead? Portability and poor sound. With some education, they might work on improving the SQ from their phones but it is not the goal that it was for us.
Of my 3 boys who have all been fortunate to buy their own homes, only one has shown any interest in separate component music reproduction. His wife thinks it is a waste of time, money and space so it seems unlikely that he will stay on the treadmill.

I love music, live music in particular.  I try to get live music sound in my home system.  By and large, I have been lucky, because I trust my ears. 

Speaking of snake oil...

I have been stung a couple of times though, by Conrad Johnson in particular-- not a dealer, but the owner of the company, Jeff Fischel.  

Prior to purchasing my LP260 M SE amplifiers, Jeff and I had a conversation about these amps, and he likened them to the CJ ART amps, costing nearly twice as much.  He explained away the cost difference as the cost of the fancy metal work.  So, I bought the amps.  Then, I discovered the truth when CJ was trying to sell me new amps (direct to customer-- sorry dealers), and he told me how much better the old ART amps were than my LP260M SE's.  It was amazing, in just a year, my amps went from being directly comparable to the top of the line, and then suddenly became "mid-level" Conrad Johnson products.

I think this qualifies as snake oil, or more specifically, fraudulent representation.

Anybody else want in on a class action suit?

Oh boy, there is always someone in every crowd that wants everyone to know their feelings about religion or politics. Almost like a badge of honor or a membership to club. If the analogy didnt suck I might be inclined to allow it. Of course kosst is correct about sharing the experience but this point have been made without the soapbox.