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Do people look at you funny - when you tell them how much you spend on hifi???

linntroika

linntroika

pfm Member
Hello All

Was reminiscing today with one of my friends about how much i spent on a linntroika cartridge in 1990 (£798) - being a hifi buff he can totally understand - but i remember telling joe public and their facial expression was one of "ive lost the plot"

Even today when my partner asks how much were my new speakers - i tell her about 20% of what i really paid for them

Do you think we spend too much on our hobby ?
 
To be honest I try to avoid mentioning anything to do with hi-fi until I get to know someone pretty well. They tend to have heard my system and noted the decent sound before asking the cost. I suppose being professionally involved with it somewhat excuses high financial investment though.
 
No, we don't spend too much.

We only live once. Listen to good stuff while we can still hear and while we are still alive :D
 
Most everyone I've ever met (and their friends, and their friends, etc) have hobbies or interests that cost more than a candy bar but less than an aircraft carrier.

No one I've met cares...I can't imagine why anyone would since it's not their responsibilty in life to judge or tell others how they can or can't spend the money they earn.
 
Yes and no.

Yes, if they sincerely inquire, they are surprised. However, I feel like I've found a good sweet spot of diminishing returns, so it sounds more like the cost of a high end tv instead of the cost of a new low end car.

Don't get me wrong...I want the low end car set up, but my very nice bicycle priced stereo makes a good argument for itself.
 
A few years back I was having a conversation with several friends over dinner. The topic of stereos/ht was brought up by a friend of a friend.

His job had temporarily relocated him halfway across the country (US) - rented him an apartment, paid for him to fly home on the weekends, etc. We were having friendly conversation about what he's doing with the place, now that he's away from his wife and kids 5 days a week. He said it's his dream bachelor pad - huge tv, surround sound, furniture his wife hates, and so on.

A good friend of mine mentioned I'm into music and stereos, and that opened up a stereo conversation. The gentleman started talking about his Bose system and basically repeated all the technological superiority of it you hear in their commercials verbatim. When he asked what I had, I simply said 'I think 2 great speakers set up properly will sound far better than a bunch of speakers and a sub placed improperly.'

Then we got into costs. I told them I paid $1k for my CD player (Rega Apollo at the time), and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Why buy a CD player when you can get a DVD player? Why spend so much money? My response - we've all got something stupid we spend way too much on that doesn't make any sense to anyone else. Some people buy a bunch of bicycles (my father), others buy sports memorabilia, others but a boat, etc. I spent more for a stereo than most people would, but that's what makes me happy. Everyone had that look of agreement of they too spend money on things others couldn't justify.

Funny thing was, I spent less on my total system than he spent on his Bose system and DVD player. He's since been over and heard the system. He was genuinely very impressed. I didn't rub it in that he spent way too much for the crap system he has. He's happy and so am I. Live and let live.
 
In my country (Singapore), most people recogise Bose as a high end product. Most of them even believe that Bose is the highest end of hifi. This show how well Bose market their products :)

They do not even know the existence of brand like Naim and Linn. So even if they see a Naim or Linn product, they will think that it is a cheap hifi product. As such, they will not even ask the price :D
 
everything at home costs $99.... if my wife asks how much again, I say $50 ... again $9 ... no point trying to explain value in something other people can't understand ... I for one can't think why I would spend $4k on a bag or $3k on a pair of uncomfortable shoes... each to their own .....
 
Of course they do....but then doesn't everyone with other peoples hobbies luxuries?

A few guys here in the office have more than one Panerai, Rolex, Bell&Ross watch.
The girls have umpteen handbags that cost more than my CD player

The list is extensive, original paintings, golf club memberships, antique furniture, russian hookers......each to his own.

You earn the money so spend it on whatever tickles your fancy, if that happens to be a kettle lead that costs 2000 pounds then that's perfectly ok. That is what hobbies and expedable income is all about!!!

For me it's hi-fi, and carbon fibre bicycles.....
 
Good thing about a $10k watch is that you can carry it whole day long. You get to check the time, and enjoy it all the time.

Bad thing about a $10k amplifier is that it must stay at home, unless you want to carry it around :)

So a $10k watch make more sense :D
 
I don't spend too much because I don't buy hifi brands.

I stick to pro audio gear(klein and hummel, forssell, prism, etc) , where good engineering , solid science, and performance aren't paid for by ridiculous markups.

Hifi , in many cases, you are paying many times more for objectively *much* worse engineering. my Klein and Hummels 0300D were the most expensive purchase....and that amount for a speaker that performs superbly.
 
I normally decrease the price when talking to the mrs and most friends think that its just me. the hifi is a major consideration when buying a house and I simply will not have a house with plasterboard walls etc for that reason.
Rgds
Stuart
 
SWMBO knows the price of all the HiFi we have, doesn't mind,and doesn't insist on a quid pro quo

Friends and family just don't believe anything could sound better than the £100 5.1 'system' they bought on the high street, and just don't want to listen anyway. As long as the bass rattles the windows and it sounds like how they imagine a alien eating a armoured car should sound, then they are happy.
 
My missus knows what I spend but she once said that "at least you have a visible hobby" . Asking her what she meant, it was, that if my hobby was surfing (too fat for that, shes after something ? ) where a large amount of cost is invisible ie. running to the surf spots and the costs associated.
Where as hifi costs minimal amounts of invisible ie. electricity maybe occasional service.
 
Yes. When I started talking about my Stax headphones people thought I was either mental or at best a fabulist. How could a pair of headphones cost so much?!
 
Yes, although I had assumed the looks were due to wearing a rather revealing housecoat.
 
Teddy Ray said:
I don't spend too much because I don't buy hifi brands.

I stick to pro audio gear(klein and hummel, forssell, prism, etc) , where good engineering , solid science, and performance aren't paid for by ridiculous markups.

Hifi , in many cases, you are paying many times more for objectively *much* worse engineering. my Klein and Hummels 0300D were the most expensive purchase....and that amount for a speaker that performs superbly.
Click to expand...

In fairness though, most people would still gasp at and say "Three grand for speakers - are you mental?"*

*Yes, I know they include the amps, but the point still stands I feel.
 
I don't think it's a good idea to tell anyone that isn't into hifi.
I was burgled once where the thieves went past the hifi and took the video recorder and the TV. Let it stay that way. Don't broadcast it. Good hifi doesn't look anything much.

As far as actual cost is concerned, when you add it up (I am not a serial upgrader - my secondhand CB & olive Naim gear has been with me 8-10 years and ain't going nowhere) and divide it by the years it remains with you, then you can compare it to the cost of going to the cinema 3 times a month or something. Cost has to be related to the time-span that it serves.
 
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