WAM Census 2021 Results - Age & Gender

DomT

Food and coffee and rock n roll
Wammer Plus
Jul 23, 2019
10,315
9,583
198
Village near Nottingham.
AKA
Dom
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Women have different tastes from men and they don't seem to get sound quality.  
You haven’t met my wife. Plenty of women who get it but also tend to often have different priorities about what to spend money on. My sister would have a better system but has never had the budget for it. She is a piano teacher. 

 

MartinC

Wammer
Wammer
Jul 29, 2005
9,828
6,148
158
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I think I bought my first 'seperates' HiFi components when I was a 19 year old univiersity student in 1996, and I knew quite a few other students with their own systems. I first started reading and posting on HiFi forums some time in my mid-twenties I'd guess, so I've grown older whilst posting rather than having hit middle-age and then suddenly had a burning desire to track down sites like this  :) .

How much I've tended to read or post has though related to how much time and money I might be prepared to spend on possibly improving the sound of my own system. One major factor that increased both for me was buying a detached house about 4 years ago which finally meant I could enjoy music at proper volume whenever I wished. No longer constantly thinking of the need to save up to be able to buy a house also made me more willing to consider discretionary spending on things like HIFi but for me I'd say no longer worrying about disturbing neighbours was the bigger factor than the disposible income.

 
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Klassik

Well-Known Wammer
Wammer
Sep 21, 2018
1,576
1,972
133
Houston
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Women have different tastes from men and they don't seem to get sound quality.  
¿Qué?

Klassik knows a woman who would love to own a Bösendorfer.  Klassik knows others who dream of owning a Stradivarius or something similar.  Some women do own those things...or at least have the rights to use one from someone that does own one. 

It's probably safe to say that most women have little interest in obsessing about something inherently flawed and inferior such as audio reproduction.  It's also safe to say that most men don't give a London about the obsession either. 

One thing Klassik does miss from the days prior to the late 1990s was seeing audio equipment and other electronics at department stores and other similar type stores.  Oh, sure, the stuff sold at such stores wasn't always great, but the good department stores at least had some decent stuff.  It was always neat going there and seeing the newest items.  Even department stores here in the US had listening rooms where one could hear the different speakers, amplifiers, CD players, and so forth.  The employees didn't really care if one played around with the stuff.  If one got dragged out to the mall so somebody else could shop for shoes or whatever, one could stop at these department stores and play around while one waited for the shoe shopping or whatever to be completed. 

The department stores got rid of this stuff during a time when audio equipment was still selling (most home theater stuff and CD changers), but the profit margins where razor thin and most people were buying audio equipment for big box electronics store chains or specialty stores.  Thus, the audio equipment was done away with.  :/   Of course, many people don't shop at department stores these days anyway and it's harder for people to get excited about this stuff when it's only online or in high-end specialty stores. 

 

ziggy

Wammer
Wammer
Mar 11, 2017
659
615
98
Cardiff
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I think I bought my first 'seperates' HiFi components when I was a 19 year old univiersity student in 1996, and I knew quite a few other students with their own systems. I first started reading and posting on HiFi forums some time in my mid-twenties I'd guess, so I've grown older whilst posting rather than having hit middle-age and then suddenly had a burning desire to track down sites like this  :) .

How much I've tended to read or post has though related to how much time and money I might be prepared to spend on possibly improving the sound of my own system. One major factor that increased both for me was buying a detached house about 4 years ago which finally meant I could enjoy music at proper volume whenever I wished. No longer constantly thinking of the need to save up to be able to buy a house also made me more willing to consider discretionary spending on things like HIFi but for me I'd say no longer worrying about disturbing neighbours was the bigger factor than the disposible income.
This to a large extent mirrors my experience.  I bought my first system as a uni student in 1979.  This was the decade of classic rock and many other students who were into the same music did likewise. There was far less in the way of technological entertainment alternatives in those days. There was a joke going round about hifi systems being likened to penes extensions as status symbols.😀

When we down sized house six years ago a detached was a major consideration as I knew it would significantly increase my enjoyment of music in the home.  It certainly has and since retiring four years ago I have had a lot more time to listen.  It is only since being in a detached house with no volume restrictions that I have considered it worthwhile to invest in what can be considered high end equipment.  The components have been carefully chosen based on advice from people whose opinions I respect on forums prior to home trials.  I have gone down the streaming path as I dont think it can be bettered for SQ as well as VFM.  My Qobuz subscription is pittance to what I used to spend on CDs and SQ is excellent, better than my ripped CDs on most occasions because of superior remastering.

 

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