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Love the gear (or listening to it) as much or more than the music? Sacrilege!

Back when I was in graduate school, an Art History doctoral student and I used to go to the art museum together. We saw some amazing paintings. But she was just as interested in their frames or their lack thereof.

In audiophile circles, in my limited experience, the drum that beats is always the same — "Remember, this is about the *music*." Or, "Too many audiophiles forget that the real goal is the enjoyment of music." Etc. There's also a variant — "Too many audiophiles are just listening to the gear, not the music." The finger only wags in one direction.

So...while no one would ever assert that it's ok to *only* love the gear (or listening to the gear, mainly), I wonder how many would be willing to admit that they love the gear as much or even more than the music? Is that something you have ever heard someone admit — or have admitted yourself? Because sometimes the music is pretty ugly and the gear is pretty beautiful.
128x128hilde45
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
Yeah, you gotta be free to do what pushes your buttons, but I'd go nuts if the only thing I cared about in audio was physical fidelity.  As seductive as sound itself may be, music is at a whole 'nother level of pleasure.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
they love the gear as much or even more than the music  


You see it all the time. Good luck getting one to admit to it though.
freediver
1,008 posts
 
I freely admit I love gear almost as much as the music BUT not at the expense OF the music.
While I've never bought any piece of gear based solely on appearance my system did end up with gear that just happens to look like a supermodel with the voice of an angel...
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,775 posts
 
Thinking about this question -- and the tension it can provoke in answering it -- I was reminded of that old book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The book meant to use the notion of "quality" to explode the false division between Romantic and Classical standpoints. One can be romantic about a motorcycle, and maintaining it -- it doesn’t have to be *just* a "machine" that has a remote ("Classical") structure to it. It was designed by someone who expressed their emotion-rooted sense of quality in it; this emerges in the active process of maintaining and repairing them. I can see the same appreciation being extended to audio gear, but it’s much harder to risk disrespecting the collective (and Romantic) love of music in the process.
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,271 posts
 
I’ll admit it.  I might love the gear as much as the music but when your setup starts getting pretty dialed in, you love the music and can get lost in it, which in turn, makes me love the gear even more.

I actually started to develop feelings for those Fritz Carrera BE’s I was reviewing.  Kind of like how people fall in love with certain cars they’ve owned.  I shed a few tears (as a grown man) when I had to sell my favorite motorcycle in order to not make my Mom cry every time I showed up to her house on it.

When I was 12 years old putting together my first system with money I earned, my best friend at the time pointed out to me that I loved the equipment more than the music; it was definitely true at that time. My first stereo was an Onkyo TX-SV515 Pro, Pioneer Laserdisc Player, Onkyo CD player, Paradigm 3se mkii speakers with paradigm center channel and paradigm atoms for the rear. Not bad for a 12 year old saving up money from mowing lawns, picking up dog poop, and then prewiring new homes for audio that my Mom had sold.
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