HiFi lacking social recognition?

I think it's a sign that when people buy luxury items they usually want others to be able to see it: ostentatious displays of wealth are in.

Hifi fails lamentably on this account, which makes it much more worthwhile in my opinion.

Crap! This was my only chance to get into Forbes. Oh well...

ironically, 'best buy' started life as 'the sound of music', a store specializing in mid and high end two channel. they just went with the flow.

I can't help but wonder, if MP3/Ipod and Home Theatre (or the perception of what "home theatre" really is, after all anybody can buy a HTinabox to lay claim to membership) has marginalized HiFi as some kind of obsolete past time pursued by people who are out of touch with the (current) times.
Lets face it, if one didn't know better, spending vasts amounts of money for phonographs, tube gear and analog tuners, that require a great deal of maintance (comparatively), and require one to be seated in specific isolation, limit access to the very thing they seek out (music) and require one to rummage through garage sales to find the necessary NOS tubes and LP's may not be too appealing to the new generation, that can get what they want, any time they want, where ever they want. We may be facing the crossroads of convience vs. quality.

Do we actually care what Forbes thinks of Audiophiles. I would like to stick below the publics radar, particularly if we are considered one step away from child molesters. How I spend my time and money is nowones darn business but mine and my family.
A difficult subject,but here in the UK a childrens doctor was recently harassed by neighbours who did'nt know the difference between a Paidiatrician and a Paedophile. I sometimes wonder what 12 years of public education is for. Perhaps we don't want public recognition if the public equates us with child mollesters.