Were you an audiophile in the 1980s and 1990s?

**** HP's absolute sound is effectively meaningless for most listeners. ****
 

Sadly, probably true.  Most audio enthusiasts seek little, if any, exposure to that sound.  They attend few, if any, performances of unamplified music.  Moreover, the more that technology becomes part of the fabric of music media as is the trend, the less that they will.  This unfortunate reality does not invalidate the concept which is still invaluable for some.

@bdp24  , interesting your experience of Sound Systems in Palo Alto - my experience was the opposite. I heard the Magnepan Tympani 1a's there in '73, but lived in LA at that time, so they would not sell to me. Which was highly ethical of them.

They referred me to Jonas Miller in Beverly Hills, and that too was the beginning of a wonderful experience.

@terry9: I understand your praising of Sound Systems (the owner’s name was Mike something) for not selling ARC to you, but the truth of the matter is: if Mike wanted to remain an ARC dealer he was prohibited from doing any differently. The ARC dealers were given territories, so as to protect other ARC dealers.

In 1972 I auditioned the Tympani T-I’s (and the ARC electronics) at both Sound Systems in Palo Alto and at Audio Arts in Livermore, and as I lived in San Jose (roughly equidistant from both) could have bought from either. During a conversation between Bill Johnson and one of his dealers I overheard Johnson make some unflattering comments about how Sound Systems had poorly positioned the Tympani’s in their not-so-hot listening room (lots of glass windows, hard floors, etc.), indicating to me their lack of a deep understanding of acoustics and the interaction of a pair of loudspeakers with the room in which they are placed.

Walter Davies at Audio Arts had built a dedicated listening room within his shop, with a sound proof door. Generous dimensions, no windows, carpeted floor, etc. It remains one of the best rooms I’ve heard reproduced music in. And then there was the fact that Walter was obviously an unusually intelligent (and as I came to learn highly educated) man, with a very non-pushy approach to selling hi-fi. The two guys at Sound Systems were just hi-fi salesmen. I of course bought my ARC/Tympani system from Walter, who assembled (the Thorens TD-125 Mk.2/Decca International tonearm/Decca Blue pickup), delivered, and installed it. I was happy with it for two years, until I heard the Fulton Model J loudspeakers, which had the fantastic RTR ESL-6 tweeter array and transmissionline-loaded dynamic woofers. Bye bye Tympani’s, hello Model J’s ;-) .

Years later I visited a new-to-me hi-fi shop in Santa Monica, just around the corner from where Randy Cooley would soon open his Optimal Enchantment shop (now THERE’S a great hi-fi dealer!). The shop was an apartment in an apartment building, with a terrible listening room (again, lots of glass windows). And whose shop was it? The "second banana" employee at Sound Systems! As years earlier, he was a jerk. A real smart ass, very unpleasant to be around for any length of time. See ya!

I wish I was an audiophile back then. But in the 80s and 90s I was too busy earning a living running my own businesses. Fortunately it paid off, so now I can be one. Been a music lover since the 60s, had to wait for retirement to focus into sound.

Hard to say. Do you call yourself an audiophile when you can recognize good equipment that delivers the sound. You truly enjoy a great band with excellent produced recording. But you can’t afford to buy a system that passes the mustard? I would say I always have been but now have the income to live the dream. Nice part is old music on new system is like hearing for the first time.