“Civilian” reaction to your gear?

I  had to be careful not to play my system too loud when my brother was home in the next room watching TV. I was using KLH Nine full-range ESL's. They could play quite loud on music peaks.

some are blown away, some experience the lead vocals hanging in the air a foot above their head and react accordingly. most say im hearing things ive never heard before.  some just hear music that sounds good and cant perceive anything special. a friend,after listening to a particularly holographic setup, said "so what am i listening for again? other than it sounds really good?" 

its similar to the results i get from folks in teh recording studio. many just cant tell if somethings off, out of rhythm, of key, out of pitch or doesnt sound good. often they come to know it much later, but in the moment they cant tell. most can tell when a take FEELS great. 

My system is off in a side room so most guests never see or hear it. The son of my frequent contractor, who works with him, appreciates my taste in music but is blasée about the equipment. He’s a 20 something that usually uses his “recording” equipment for listening.

My two channel system is in a listening room upstairs and guests usually don’t see it.  Our living room has a mid-Fi surround system , used primarily for video ( front speakers are bookshelf sized) that is largely out of site.  The rear speakers are in walls and the system resides in a built in wall unit with doors concealing the equipment rack.  However when the doors to built in are open, revealing the AVR, DVR, streamer, Apple TV, Oppo 205,   and Panamax surge protector, it inspires comments about what a sophisticated system I have and how expensive it must be.  Since the tenor of these comments are disapproving I try not to mention the two channel system up stairs.

A work colleague who was an active live performance attendee but a Bluetooth speaker listener came over to pick me up to go on a work trip. The HiFi demo lasted 2 hours as he kept asking to hear tracks.