Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler
In addition to the jewellery and conspicuous wealth aspects there is also the religion of high end audio.
The wealthy looking to display their wealth aren't going to bother with the technobabble justifications of why cones made with fibres from unicorn hides sound better. They just want the bling.
But there is a group wanting this sort of equipment precisely because they've bought the explanations. Hifi magazine reviews might as well be carved on tablets of stone. This market segment show all the defining signs of a religion: Strongly held beliefs as an act of faith. Strong opposition to anyone who believes otherwise. Personal sacrifices.
I often joke that high-end people should set themselves up as a religion. Religions get charitable status, tax breaks and relaxations of planning requirements. Reduced tax on high end prices would be a fair amount of money. This may detract from the conspicuous consumption aspect, though. Easier planning for building a new listening room (provided it has a spire or bell-tower, though) could be attractive to the very wealthy.
We're the lucky people, we can choose amongst a lot of nice classical gear on the second-hand market, We have the skills to fix stuff. We aren't limited by extremist beliefs and as long as we can avoid a fatal dose of the pokemon syndrome (gotta gettem all) we can survive happily.
Losing a job prospect through laughing at the magic cables I can understand. I count getting asked to leave a certain shop in Edinburgh as an accolade. It must be terribly difficult serving the true believers when the guy who only bought a turntable belt is looking around and trying to contain an explosion of sniggers.
Our two main weapons are: a sense of proportion, a sense of humour and a fanatical devotion to.... oh b***er!
David
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As a follow up to my comment regarding not getting the job, and this was some ten years ago, I have now discovered that the 'Bling' phenomena has escalated. The shop still exists, but I daren't go in.
A near neighbour, ( I live totally out in the sticks) across a couple of fields away (I look down on him!) has effectively filled the position, working from home.
He proudly informed me that he makes up custom-built mains filters for the said Hi-fi shop. He uses gold-plated 13A plug-tops, & IEC leads.
Apparently the audio sounds much better using these...