I don't know if it's true for everybody, but I've been facinated by reproduced sound since I was a kid - the spark really turned into a flame when I found out that there was something in the world to play records on besides my parents Zenith console.I think maybe it's the same for most middle age white guys interested in this stuff - the reason that it seems dominated by middle aged white guys is that when we were kids we didn't have the resources to play but once we got to a certain stage in life we got to blow some of the cash we would have blown as kids if we'd had it.
I bet most of us are still mentally 17 year-olds who now have the chance to be really stupid with our money - a lot of pent-up frustration being unleashed.