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Snobbery in Hi-Fi. Why are people so stupid and turn their noses up at gear costing much less which is just as good?

I think it's important to love the equipment you've got. There's always something out there we want. That's the Hi-fi bug but can leave us blind to the simple stuff and. My turntable ( Rega P3RS) is the best piece of equipment I own. I have a vintage Wharfdale Amp that I absolutely love and Fyne 301i speakers. I also have a perfectly decent Sony CD player. I'm not a format snob. So why was I feeling a bit short changed? Simple answer was my speaker stands were rubbish. I got really lucky and got some really heavy and rigid speaker stands for £15 plus fuel to pick them up ( nobody was going to post these beasties) . My system is transformed. I was looking at the P6RS as an upgrade which now seems ridiculous. Old adages are old because they stand the test of time. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. Hunt that out and sort it.
 
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Westsounds said:
That merc looks like a pimps car,
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Yes, because all pimps drive wagons :facepalm:

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tineared said:
Sure. Almost everyone "loves" music, but few devote time to only listening to it.
I'll spend one or two nights a week just listening to music or watching concert videos
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I play vinyl from start to finish without distractions probably 10 hours a week. Sometimes more sometimes less because life gets in the way. BTW if you're watching concert videos you aren't only listening. I love live music when I'm there and in the moment but I don't want to watch videos of stuff I hadn't been to. Live albums is a different story. Free live is amazing.
 
Groove01 said:
Yes, because all pimps drive wagons :facepalm:

View attachment 526857
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Yep. wagons are the perfect pimp mobile. A few of them are quick, fast and have enough ground clearance to get over medians and curbs. Could be modernized a touch, though.
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I forgot (for our metric friends): H/O is High Output, 455 is 7.456 Liters
The sweet spot for timing turned out to be 34 degrees, which gave a best pull of 502 horsepower (PS=509) at 5,200 rpm and 579 lb-ft (785 Nm) of torque at 3,700 rpm. But the bigger story here was how the big-block was already making 567 lb-ft (769 Nm)at 3,100 rpm, where the dyno pull started, and is still making 495 lb-ft (671 Nm) at 5,300 rpm, where the pull ended. The 500-plus lb-ft of torque everywhere would make this engine a blast. Not bad for a small-head, dual-plane engine with a conservative 224-duration cam.
 
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Squeezefan said:
I play vinyl from start to finish without distractions probably 10 hours a week. Sometimes more sometimes less because life gets in the way. BTW if you're watching concert videos you aren't only listening. I love live music when I'm there and in the moment but I don't want to watch videos of stuff I hadn't been to. Live albums is a different story. Free live is amazing.
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I suspect you would feel differently about concert videos if you had a capable 5.2 system.
When I watch Steely Dan's Two Against Nature or Beside You In Time by NIN, it's better than a live show because I'm front row center with a perfect sound system and extremely comfortable with a variety of refreshments available.
To each their own
 
This conversation is absurd. There is nothing rational about audiophilia.
Westsounds said:
I have a problem with people overspending when they don’t need to, if people do I believe it’s stupid, and I'm entitled to say so, just as you think you're entitled to say people like me are the problem. Who made you the authority on all things spending or science anyway. What's next arguing about who's got the most credentials, then what, calling each other derogatory terms which you are already alluding to. I thought this site was to educate people to make informed buying decisions. Not I know more than you do posts. I wasn’t born privileged as some, or perhaps I didn’t get the opportunities that some have had in life to waste even more money than I need to.
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"I have a problem with people overspending when they don’t need to, if people do I believe it’s stupid, and I'm entitled to say so, just as you think you're entitled to say people like me are the problem. Who made you the authority on all things spending or science anyway."
Reread those sentences.
It would be difficult to believe that a rational person wrote that. I wish you the best in your project to be a rational audiophile, like being a rational oenophile or a rational cheese expert, or rational philatelist, or rational compulsive shopper. We all consume a luxury good. You are rationalizing to imagine it is anything other than feeding your passions.
 
JeffS7444 said:
I think of dressing-up as a courtesy to those who gotta look at me :p
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My wife says that she wants to start doing my haircuts. I told her that is fine, as I do not have to look at the results, you do.
She hasn't done it yet but I think that I see her fingers twitching when she looks at me.
 
Sorry to spoil the car thread, but does anyone have any idea what people into car audio are spending?

There's kids in my neighborhood who have spend twice the car's value to build this boom-fi ™ systems they have.
 
Sokel said:
Sorry to spoil the car thread, but does anyone have any idea what people into car audio are spending?

There's kids in my neighborhood who have spend twice the car's value to build this boom-fi ™ systems they have.
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It's not cheap, and it starts with the drivers. The gap between voice coil and magnet is quite large and the suspensions are quite stiff to avoid mishaps when the car goes over a bump, which means prodigious amplifier power is required. Back in my car audio days, Class D amps were not widespread so it was the norm to have huge class AB amps in cars. I could scarcely believe that I was installing a 500W RMS amp in my car, when back home all I needed was about 50W. Then there is the install - if you DIY it's cheaper. But if you pay someone, they have to dismantle half the car, fabricate mounts and match trim, create custom subwoofer boxes, etc. It all adds up. The last time I paid to have a car stereo installed, it cost me AUD$6000.
 
EJ3 said:
I don't know about that being a whopper. For me, anyway, very few are aloud at & less into my home.
My mother, 4 of my friends and their wives are the only ones ever (since I moved in in 2019) allowed in.
And it is extremely rare to invite anyone to here.
And only 2 of those friends have a stereo or AVR.
I only know one person that seems to have a need to show off her purchases. She used to be quite poor, but she married an ex-military guy (8 years of service) guy that started & owned a business that he then patented some things, he then sold the business for millions and the business then hired him for $15,000 a month. He has never been pretentious at all. However, the women he married (whom my wife and I knew long before he did), is just an enthusiastic and fun person who is like a child going: "look what I found".
She comes across (to those that don't know her well) as being vane but she is not actually vane (at least, my wife and I do not think so).
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You can be elitist and a snob with yourself in the 1st person. :)

In fact, a shrink would probably argue it is the 1st person who is the most important audience.
 
We should probably make a distinction between "buying" and "acquiring" .
Cause, sometimes the richer you are, the less you pay (or at all) .
 
Sokel said:
We should probably make a distinction between "buying" and "acquiring" .
Cause, sometimes the richer you are, the less you pay (or at all) .
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To spend $20k on a pair of speakers is a big deal for people like me. For people sitting on $20m, just the annual return from the market on a mediocre year, is more than the annual income of 15 average incomes combined.

While we applaud the OP's concern for the well being of the snobby rich by telling them how they should spend their own money, but I'm afraid the snobby rich aren't the stupid ones.
 
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