That’s the key. Growing up my Dad worked in a factory. He saw everything in how many hours he had to work for it. We had to eat everything on our plates because he had to work x number of hours to pay for that food. When he had to buy us new shoes he reminded us of how many hours he had to work for them. His way of making sure we appreciated them and cared for them. That had an impact on me in my early adult life. Once I became an Engineering Manager earning and investing made that calculation irrelevant. Working for dollars per hour is additive while salary, bonus and investing become multiplicative. Therefore, desire and value become different calculations. One person can enjoy a great steak and savor the moment eating it while another person cannot get past the cost of that great steak and settles for something from Ponderosa. Teenagers are willing to spend a small fortune for a night at a Taylor Swift concert. In 1983 we saw Michael Jackson in concert at the Gator Bowl. The ticket prices were very high but my wife didn’t care about the cost. The experience was worth everything to her. It was a great show but all I thought about at first was how many record albums I could have bought. I love watching movies and the movie theater experience. But the cost today to see a movie at the theater has exceeded my value limit. Sure, I can afford it but my willingness to pay it is a different matter. I’ll wait a few months to stream it these days. Now, if a Star Wars movie similar to the ones in the old days came out- that’s a different matter.
Art is amazing to me- how or why are people willing to spend thousands to millions on a piece of canvas, paint and frame? I appreciate art but how is that value? Same could be said for Audio. Some see an amplifier as a box with transistors, capacitors and wires with a bill of materials that costs x amount. What they don’t see- or hear is what that box of parts can do for music. They don’t get what that box of parts can do to our soul in recreating music. Some get caught up in how close does the music sound to the real thing? How close does a painting look to the real thing? Yes, I have often looked at a painting and thought, a photograph would look a lot better. Did I miss the point?. Absolutely. And I know that. Do some people miss the point about audio? Absolutely. The reproduced music will never exactly sound like the real thing. It just has to stir me, transport me away, and move me. Who wouldn’t give away their kingdom for that? Some are willing to for just a hit of powerful opiates. Some for a Rembrandt.
People value things differently. For some, the gold coin is the goal. They work for it, earn it and once they obtain that gold coin they do not ever want to let go of it. For others that gold coin is a means to an end- be it for selfish reasons, power, altruistic or simply to eat and live better.
Audio is much more than a collection of boxes full of parts that costs xx amount. It is a form of art that causes us to respond viscerally and emotionally. And don’t forget that audio is a means- the artists- ie the musicians, producers and engineers are all part of the chain to produce music that we enjoy and want to hear. Our interpretation of that music through our self designed and built systems is a very personal thing. So of course people get defensive very quickly when someone claims our interpretation is wrong.
Today I have a stereo system that amazes me every time I hear it. It cost many time more than my first house that I bought in 1983. I try not to think about that. From a value standpoint I cannot claim that it is proportionately better than an $800 blue tooth amp. But I can claim that the sound, the music gives me immense satisfaction every time I hear it. A few decades or so ago this system would have cost me everything I had. Can I say that I should have gone for it back then? Absolutely not. Keep things in perspective, appreciate what you have and don’t worry about those who can afford more.
Trickle down works in our favor for us all. The money spent on R&D benefits the most wealthy at first but eventually it benefits us all. Wealthy people can take rides in rocket ships today. Only the wealthy could afford to fly in airplanes a hundred years ago.
The MJ concert was in 1984.
