Hi Fi Spending Smarter Than Car Spending?

[thefsb]

But as stupid as hi fi prices can be, compared to luxury cars:

Less pollution.
Less dangerous to the public.
Music is an enjoyable thing while driving, I find, usually is not, it's just stressful.

 

[thefsb]

You can very safely say diesel cars do kill people. Older diesels particularly.

So do electric and gasoline and all the other cars. Cars are dangerous.

 

[JJB70]

Is there anything life that isn't hazardous and a risk to life in the right (or perhaps, wrong) circumstances?

Electricity is certainly a killer is not contained properly, even clean potable water is a safety hazard in the right (wrong) circumstances. Life is a long series of risks which we just have to manage.

I remember years ago being lectured by my boss at the time (the chief engineer of the ship I was on) that I was putting my own life and his at risk by making a cell call home in port one day, I'd have taken his concerns more seriously if he hadn't been putting his own life anf mine at far greater risk by smoking a cigarette as he was giving me this lecture on safety. The irony was genuinely lost on him.

 

[watchnerd]

(some 4x4 SUVs on all season tyres are awful in snow).

Yes to winter tires.

4 x 0 (traction) = 0

 

[thefsb]

Is there anything life that isn't hazardous and a risk to life in the right (or perhaps, wrong) circumstances?

Quantitative analysis is the stuff of ASR. Differences of magnitude matter. I don't know the stats for fatalities caused by people using a stereo but those for pedestrians in the USA are available.

 

[JJB70]

Quantitative analysis is the stuff of ASR. Differences of magnitude matter. I don't know the stats for fatalities caused by people using a stereo but those for pedestrians in the USA are available.

Having seen the consequences of electric shock, and having seen several products reviewed on ASR which have had defective (or non-existant) earthing/grounding I wouldn't be especially complacent about audio equipment safety.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Quantitative analysis is the stuff of ASR. Differences of magnitude matter. I don't know the stats for fatalities caused by people using a stereo but those for pedestrians in the USA are available.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drowning

360,000 people die worldwide in drowning incidents. Almost as many people drown in the USA as those killed as pedestrians.

Okay, great we have some quantities, but that alone isn't terribly useful about anything.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Motorcycles were left off the chart because it distorted it too much. The rate for motorcycles was 237. Most info for bicycles lists it around the same as automobiles or slightly higher. So maybe my New Year's resolution for 2020 will be to never go anywhere away from home unless I can fly.

I don't know the number, but death falling down stairs is probably dramatically worse per mile than motorcycles. About 12,000 in the USA die that way annually.

 

[JJB70]

I know this is anecdotal and we need to be careful about extrapolating personal experiences, but just about everyone I know (myself included) Is putting themselves at greater risk as a result of their own behaviours and lifestyle choice (including, inter alia, diet, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol consumption etc). I've never smoked and am teetotal and enjoy cycling (now there is a question, does the exercise benefit outweigh the greater risk of being injured/killed in a road incident? I'd say yes, but cyclists die in accidents quite regularly) but my dietary choices are terrible.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I know this is anecdotal and we need to be careful about extrapolating personal experiences, but just about everyone I know (myself included) Is putting themselves at greater risk as a result of their own behaviours and lifestyle choice (including, inter alia, diet, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol consumption etc). I've never smoked and am teetotal and enjoy cycling (now there is a question, does the exercise benefit outweigh the greater risk of being injured/killed in a road incident? I'd say yes, but cyclists die in accidents quite regularly) but my dietary choices are terrible.

Your signature denotes an unsafe choice. Flying is safer than busing.

 

[pozz]

So while a car will kill you, a hifi will leech, but not drain, your retirement savings.

I'm going spend the rest of the weekend budgeting the right average allocation between my monthly bills and my upgradeitis

 

[JJB70]

Your signature denotes an unsafe choice. Flying is safer than busing.

I stopped flying when the industry went to monoplanes, two wings are better than one. Those old Sopwith's sure were sturdy.

 

[pozz]

I stopped flying when the industry went to monoplanes, two wings are better than one. Those old Sopwith's sure were sturdy.

I miss stereoplanes, too.

 

[pozz]

View attachment 41839

Motorcycles were left off the chart because it distorted it too much. The rate for motorcycles was 237. Most info for bicycles lists it around the same as automobiles or slightly higher. So maybe my New Year's resolution for 2020 will be to never go anywhere away from home unless I can fly.

I don't know the number, but death falling down stairs is probably dramatically worse per mile than motorcycles. About 12,000 in the USA die that way annually.

I've known a few people who've been in horrific car accidents, including my parents. But even more on motorcycles. Not that my experience is statistically significant and so on but it's something I think about once in a while.

 

[Blumlein 88]

You can judge instead by deaths per billion hours. After all life is measured in hours and not miles. Motorcycles are still awful. But look at the space shuttle. Walking is almost twice as dangerous as cars.

http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_5_No_7_1_July_2015/15.pdf

 

[thefsb]

Having seen the consequences of electric shock, and having seen several products reviewed on ASR which have had defective (or non-existant) earthing/grounding I wouldn't be especially complacent about audio equipment safety.

Me neither. I have survived electrocution and am not at all complacent about it. But I don't understand how this relates to the quantitative safety comarison of cars and stereos.

 

[watchnerd]

You guys are grim.

ASR now apparently stands for:

Actuarial Science Review

 

[RayDunzl]

I still think scheduled air travel on a "western" airline is still the safest way to die.

 

[RayDunzl]

Actuarial Science Review

According to the Social Security Administration you won't exceed a 50/50 chance of dying in the next year until you are 108.

However, that assumes you made it to age 107.

 

[DKT88]

we should avoid music on this list to be safe (Records to Die for): https://www.stereophile.com/content/records-die-2019