Average age of audiophiles

Well... I'm not sure when I've started but I've started to collect "software" since I was 5 without(back then) paying attention on reproduction quality. I wasn't realy interested with children tales on vinyl neither with children songs. I mostly had a huge 78rpm collection of Folk adn Classical music that I've played on tube radiola(a combined box with turntable tuner amp and speakers). At the age of 10 I've got my first reel-to-reel recorder(that was a nice machine assembled in Russia with parts from Japan) and burned vinyls onto tapes to preserve them from scratching with the cheap cartridge.

I've always cared for my records and my first tweak to clean the records was a regular water applied in small quantities after a thorough sweeping of dust before the playback.

Paying attention to the sound quality I've started at the age of 16 when on my first earned money I've got a rig...

With more advanced hi-end technology I've got known a-bit later when I was translating manuals from English and setting up rigs for a rich guys that could afford something like McIntoch or even more costly components in Russia.

Now in US I can't say that I own 3rd of a house spent on components rather than saying that my rig during my 15-year sound addiction is still modest but great enough for nice small dedicated room where I do enjoy the music(mostly alone).

I started building my first good system at about 15 and continued to upgrade the system and my guitar collection until grad school captured my attention. Got out of grad school and motorcycle drag racing captured my wallet (you want to talk about a money pit!!) along with my continued obsession with guitars. Quit racing, and completely revamped my dated system. Now at 41 the digital is pretty much there and it's time to upgrade the vinyl again. One thing hasn't changed after all these years is the magic of a good album.

I'm 47 (would be 48 but I was sick a year:-). Started seriously when I was around 16.

Early 40s. Been at it -- s/ware & hardware -- since I was 12.

I'm 47 and have been trying to be an audiophile since age 20. However, raising two kids and paying mortgages, etc. has prevented me from being the text book "audiophile".