Are we music lovers or gear lovers?

I'll probably repeat a few points already made but strongly disagree with some comment's above....
1.As a music fan who is interested in audio reproduction only as a secondary concern-this site is quite clearly an Audio site and not a music one however it does have a certain duality and as such is open to healthy discussion on both.
Most of the posts are rightly geared towards audio.
2. I have never ever met a serious music fan who is not interested to some extent in the reproduction and recording of music,even the crappiest gear will show differences in recording quality and relate the aesthetics of any recording's production in relation to the music.
In fact it is this very difference that stops some people from spending lots of money on audio equipment not the other way around.
3.I mainly post on music because my music knowledge strongly outweighs my audio knowledge.
4.Lgregoir your girlfriend has asked a question and made an observation that struck me too, however after a little while I realised that passion and happiness wether achieved through listening to music or a quest for perfect reproduction might actually be different strains of the same disease....a healthy balance would be nice but nobody is right or wrong.
5.A lot of audiophiles have pretty conservative tastes in music,a lot of muso's have pretty blinkered views when it comes to audio reproduction and so on,nobody's perfect except Cornfedboy,I learned that here.....:-)

Excellent posts. We are both music lovers and gear heads but Audiogon is the primary place I go for the latter (so that I can better enjoy the former). There are lots of places to go for music opinions and purchases. By the way, CD Now is a pretty good music site that also lets you listen to the music before you buy. I do think it would be worthwhile to find where other audiophiles shop for music, esp. on the internet. There are so many places to go. Which are best? Which are the specialized marvels?

Ohala - there is no such thing as audiophile-taste music, and don't try to put a name on it.

I think that Pbb's credo is a good one and succinctly stated (and very similar to the way I try to operate). At Audiogon, I am always mindful that this is primarily a site devoted to the discussion and selling of audio gear. In discussions here of audio gear and even of music, some people seem to think that the purpose of recorded music is to explore and/or analyze (sometimes deconstuct) audio gear. Their main passion is their equipment. They are audio junkies.

I, and the majority of participants at audiogon, I suspect, are basically music lovers whose fascination with audio gear is driven by a desire to get closer to the music.

I also suspect that many audio junkies used to be music lovers before they got it all turned around.

Lgregoir your query reminds me of a letter sent into Stereophile years ago. The details are a bit sketchy but a purchaser looking to buy some specific used gear encounters an "audiophile" that has closets full of very expensive gear. Apparently he has a difficult time separating himself from gear once he owns it. When the visitor asks to hear some music, the audiophile pulls out a Monkee's album. It seems all he had were a few albums, mostly the Monkees.

This site is primarily dedicated towards gear and gear purchases and the exchange of ideas to put together a musically satisfying system as some of the answers above conclude. But the real answer to this question would have to be answered on an individual basis. How much music do you have relative to your total expenditure on gear? Do you buy music based on how it sounds (i.e. quality of the recording) or do you buy music for its own sake and try to get the best recording as a secondary consideration? I believe there was a thread on this a while back. Most folks on this site are both audiophiles and music lovers. My guess is that there is only a small group that are just gear heads with less interest in music than sound.

I mostly agree with Pbb on this one. Especially the new folks that are just bitten by the bug. Another thing a bit unrelated that I find irritating is the A "blows away" B mentality which feeds this continual gear changing with nary a thought to system synergy. It can be easy to lose sight of why most of us have gotten into this hobby in the first place. The gear should be nothing more a means to serve the music but in some instances it has become the focus for its own sake.