# Why are audiophiles so nuts about their hobby? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-audiophiles-so-nuts-about-their-hobby/513130 "2009-10-09T00:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-audiophiles-so-nuts-about-their-hobby/513130/61 "2009-10-12T16:41:31Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Some funny trivia about high end stereo gear - Mark Levinson founded a company that makes amps that cost $50k, he was married to Kim Cattrall for 6 years. They wrote a book about sex and orgasms. I met him at a Consumer Electronics Show, at the Cello suite. He is a consummate douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-audiophiles-so-nuts-about-their-hobby/513130/62 "2009-10-12T17:09:10Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Some funny trivia about high end stereo gear - Mark Levinson founded a company that makes amps that cost $50k, he was married to Kim Cattrall for 6 years. They wrote a book about sex and orgasms. Did she ever straddle their speakers, like the Howard Stern fan in Private Parts? ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-audiophiles-so-nuts-about-their-hobby/513130/63 "2009-10-12T17:11:29Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > While you are correct about guys buying expensive guitars to play at home (some folks derisively nickname the Paul Reed Smith (PRS) brand as “lawyer guitars”) you forget a key point: a guitar for gigging is different vs. a guitar for home. You want relatively inexpensive, durable, versatile guitars - subtleties are lost in an arena. They go for basic Fenders, as you say, because they are good for the road. That same player may have very expensive guitars at home. With all due respect, this is just wrong. Touring pros use whatever guitars they want to get the tones they want on stage. Gibson, PRS, Fender, Rickenbacker and even more expensive vintage or custom made instruments. The difference between the pros and non-pros is usually the non-pros are more gear obsessed and love to discuss the intricacies of this piece of gear or that. They also tend to be more brand snobbish. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-audiophiles-so-nuts-about-their-hobby/513130/64 "2009-10-12T17:58:06Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > With all due respect, this is just wrong. > > Touring pros use whatever guitars they want to get the tones they want on stage. Gibson, PRS, Fender, Rickenbacker and even more expensive vintage or custom made instruments. > > The difference between the pros and non-pros is usually the non-pros are more gear obsessed and love to discuss the intricacies of this piece of gear or that. They also tend to be more brand snobbish. The problem is that a valuable “vintage” instrument is just too valuable to take on the road. Todd Rundgren used to own Eric Clapton’s old guitar from his Cream days, [“The Fool”](http://www.pscelebrities.com/whitelightblacklight/2008/04/playing-fool.htm). It was in his regular touring collection but he eventually got into a tax squeeze and sold it - after having two copies made. He’s been playing one of the copies on his most recent tour, which is a performance of his classic album _A Wizard/A True Star_. But his main one these days is a P-Project Strat copy built in 1991. It’s just silly to carry around something worth a quarter of a million dollars. Much less famous is my friend Reverend Payton. He plays a couple of old [National resonators](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt1s5Tp3gIo) and a [reproduction '29 Gibson](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMMbFQ3K0Vc). He’s love to have a real '29 Gibson, but most of the real ones couldn’t take being played every single day. As it is, the Nationals are in danger of falling apart - his luthier has warned him that he can only rebuild them so much. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-audiophiles-so-nuts-about-their-hobby/513130/65 "2009-10-13T12:45:29Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > With all due respect, this is just wrong. > > Touring pros use whatever guitars they want to get the tones they want on stage. Gibson, PRS, Fender, Rickenbacker and even more expensive vintage or custom made instruments. > > The difference between the pros and non-pros is usually the non-pros are more gear obsessed and love to discuss the intricacies of this piece of gear or that. They also tend to be more brand snobbish. Do you play? Or hang out with touring musicians? I do. There are no absolutes and if the band has enough money to afford the security or it is a special gig, then yeah, they’ll use the expensive stuff. But even Billy Gibbons rarely brings out Pearly Gates anymore. Big gigs are more about showmanship and switching between songs correctly, not replicating that special tone you get in an intimate setting in a room full of thousands. And please note that when I say “they’ll use touring guitars” - those can still be expensive Custom-Shop built - but those are a few thousand $$ vs. some vintage which are tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in value… And \*\*Sam Stone \*\*- yeah, room prep is key - with my story about the HP exec, that room had been fully prepped; he commented about how it was acoustically set up and the bazillions of small speakers arrayed around the room were designed to match it… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-audiophiles-so-nuts-about-their-hobby/513130.md?page=3)