Posted by FredT [ 76.31.85.80 ] on March 17, 2009 at 22:24:25:
In Reply to: Re: Lone Star Audio Fest Update posted by Wayne Parham on March 17, 2009 at 19:00:23:
I'll get back with you. There's a story about this. My Houston Audio Society friends own relatively expensive systems, typcially costing $20-$40K. One member's system cost far more than $250K. We've discussed the problem of how to get friends, relatives, and neighbors into high end audio, and the problem is that most of the people we know could easily afford a $10K system, but they are psycologically unprepared to spend that much on a stereo. In spite of the fact that they may drive a Mercedes S-series car, the idea of a stereo costing more than $500 is something they can't get their mind to embrace.
Linda and I do lots of entertaining in our home, and inevitably the guys who visit want to hear the big Selah XT-8 line arrays driven by Krell amplification, and are blown away by the sound. When they ask how much a sytem like mine costs, instead of telling them the actual price, I tell them it cost a lot, but I have a system upstair that cost less than $500, and both they and their wife will like it. Then I bring them upsairs, put on a CD I know their wife will like, and sit her (not him) in the sweet spot to listen.
I'm convinced the answer is to get a correctly-set-up $500 system into their home, and after they have listened to their favorite music on it while drinking a glass of good merlot they will be back for more and better. The upstairs system includes the Parts Express BR1's, a mass market DVD player, and a $100 Best Buy Insignia stereo receiver. I've even built some low tech high mass stands for the BR1's. They're cinderblocks from Home Depot. The speaker cables are Blue Jeans bulk $0.68/ft Belden. Every non-audiophile I sit in the sweet spot to hear this system is amazed, and several have bought the BR1's and the mass market electronics I recommend.
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