$$$ vs music enjoyment

Yes, thank you for an excellent response, Frogman.

Photon,
Please note that the idea of an empirical test to determine increased enjoyment was not mine. The post I quoted in my original post simply made me wonder whether subjectively we in fact enjoy music/sound more as we go up in the level of playback. I do not know whether you can ascertain by monitoring brain activity whether a subject is enjoying one stimulus more than another, but with the technology available today I would actually not be surprised if in fact it would be possible to do just that. Insofar as I would find such an experiment fascinating, that is not what I'm proposing. What I'm talking about is a subjective evaluation of your own audiophile experience. As I mentioned, I definitely enjoy music more through my high-end system than I did when I listened through a decent CD-based system. I expect now that my enjoyment would be increased even more if I was able to improve my listening environment, buy a better turntable, tonearm, etc., which is the opposite of what the poster quoted maintained. I'd expect it to be the majority's experience, but there are some posts in this thread that suggest otherwise. Good discussion, though. Thank you for your input.

Zd542, if you take a loser look at our respective comments I think you will note that we are, actually, in agreement. I have a strong suspicion that when you refer to musicians you are referring to musicians in the pop or rock genre; musicians who use "pro-sound" equipment as part of their arsenal. Additionally, I would define "music lover" as someone who either purchases music on a somewhat regular basis or who spends a substantial amount of time listening to the radio or attending concerts; as opposed to (as incredible as it may seem) the majority of our population for who listening to (hearing) music is something that happens only by accident at restaurants, elevators, etc., and who, at best, own a boom box or similar for their music playback. So, by that standard, the musician who uses pro-sound gear could almost be considered an audiophile. I think we can agree that most pro-sound gear is infinitely better than your typical Walmart boom box.

****I have no idea where you get that info from. I know plenty of musicians and I don't know 1 that has any idea what high end audio is****

About two hours ago I got home from a performance with a twenty six piece orchestra in an acoustic setting. To my right was a reed player who has a system comprised of BAT electronics, VPI tt, and Gallo speakers. Behind me was a trumpet player who owns Totems and Rotel, the bass player listens on Thiels driven by Levinson amps, on the other side of the stage was a cellist whose saxophone playing husband I helped to assemble a system around Magnepans, and the conductor owns Quads driven by Adcom (!) (believe me I have tried, but he won't listen to me :-). At least four other players own decent gear along the lines of Adcom, Cambridge, and B&W. The others, I have no idea; but if experience is any dictation, it is unlikely they listen on boom boxes.

Frogman,

"Additionally, I would define "music lover" as someone who either purchases music on a somewhat regular basis or who spends a substantial amount of time listening to the radio or attending concerts; as opposed to (as incredible as it may seem) the majority of our population for who listening to (hearing) music is something that happens only by accident at restaurants, elevators, etc., and who, at best, own a boom box or similar for their music playback."

I didn't mean to suggest that people listen to music by accident. I was only saying that most people get into high end audio by accident. Very few people really know what type of equipment is out there beyond popular stores like Best Buy, etc. Weather someone enjoys music is another matter entirely. I don't think thats equipment dependant.
The experience may change with the type of gear you have but the reason for listening, I believe, remains the same.

I'm not sure what to make of your 2nd paragraph. It looks like you may have a point. Is it possible that the type of musician (Classical in your example), has an effect on weather someone becomes an audiophile or not? It seems like most audiophiles do seem to enjoy listening to classical music to some degree; probably much more than the average person. Maybe thats not by chance.

Hmm and no mention of legacy Audio!

Lets be honest, at the heart of every audiophile is a gadget freak.

The fact that our love of music goes hand in hand with highly functional yet jewel-like gear is just too good to resist.