Welcome aboard...as you can see by threads like this, we need more women around here. :yes:
Why don't women get it?
- Thread starter just dave
- Start date
Welcome aboard...as you can see by threads like this, we need more women around here. :yes:
fotno
Lunatic Member
I don't know of anyone who enjoys music more than the women in my family. My mom was a pianist and singer, my sisters both sing, and love to listen to all sorts of music.
My wife adores music, and can spend hours absorbed in listening. She appreciates my "stereo stuff" but for her it's all about the music. iPod, CD boom box, the radio in her car... They're just as good as anything I've put together in my listening room. Just give her the tunes and that's enough, and there's a certain purity to that. For her, music is uncluttered by trappings and specifications.
My wife adores music, and can spend hours absorbed in listening. She appreciates my "stereo stuff" but for her it's all about the music. iPod, CD boom box, the radio in her car... They're just as good as anything I've put together in my listening room. Just give her the tunes and that's enough, and there's a certain purity to that. For her, music is uncluttered by trappings and specifications.
Very similar here. My gal loves the music and could care less about the gear. However, I do remember a few years ago she was upset when I sold a pair of speakers; a pair of B&W DM602 S2. After the fact, she told me how much she adored the sound of them.
just dave
vintage rules!
Well to me it seems that women enjoy music as much as men but when it comes to our hobby there is a big difference in the ratio of men to women. And what I meant by" get it" is they don't seem to enjoy the search for ever better components or looking for that one rare piece.I could say to my wife "I want to get some new speakers" and she'll say"but you've already got speakers".I'm not dissing women I just think there should be more who get into what we do.I guess it has something to do with the way we are wired.Guys like the nuts and bolts hardware end like working on cars and power tools and constuction,and women like nice cars and homes but not necessarily building them.Umm ... maybe, just maybe you're the one that doesn't get it? Not being sarcastic, just trying turn the question around to get you to think deeper.
Why should more women get into our hobby? Or men for that matter? Why should they get it? Reminds me of those 80s touchy feely seminars where everybody gets it ... but did they really?
So you put on an "alleged" fantastic recording. Maybe your wife has better taste in music than yours?
Not being judgmental, just getting that people may have different tastes.
Some people get into the mechanics, some get into enjoying the product.
Certainly looking at the music industry, a lot of females drive the music purchases. The successful list of artists that cater to the coveted female 18-34 demographics disproves any lack of interest in music. Bet there is more exposure and new money made from the female populace at large than from the vintage LP collectors on this forum.
From some of the pundits here who point to the end of our audio hobby as we know it, maybe it is the small niche minority hobbyists who are anachronistic dinosaurs. Which reminds of an old saying, "Neanderthals who need to count to five shouldn't be pointing fingers at female sabre tooths."
It's a matter of perspective. And who's really at the center of that demographics universe.
guiller
Toscaninichus Australis
This thread repeats most of what have been said already here: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=264101 . perhaps a moderator could join both.
pete1729
Super Member
Girl walks into my apartment and notices nothing to comment on untill her eyes settle on the naked 811 horns sitting on top of my regular speakers. "Those are beautiful," she says, "what do they do?" I say "it's subtle" and flip on the MC240 that powers them (the system had been playing through the xrt-20's by themselves) "Oh I hear THAT" she says.
Women generally don't tinker much, we do.
Women generally don't tinker much, we do.
Dynacophil
I ain't Phil, I'm 'phile
oooh... I once met a chick that I thought she got it.... had a pretty nice System in her cat-hairy apptmnt sitting on the floor... after some beer and ... smokes and some records in awful condition I thought that it would sound.... mono... funny mono... she had 2 pairs of speakers stacked. after a while of deknotting the cables.... I found she had them connected crossed 
1 pair left + right, the others right on the left side... whoa... she said she had that since years and didn't even seem to understand really what was wrong...
1 pair left + right, the others right on the left side... whoa... she said she had that since years and didn't even seem to understand really what was wrong...
This was the basis for one of the old Marantz ad campaigns. Women want us to "Turn down the distortion."
TAGO MAGO
Super Member
My wife appreciates good sound, but does not really getting into the hobby part of it. She thinks it's cool I collect the stuff, although she is more into her writing and of course hair, fashion and make-up (the last of which is completely Greek to me). She was very appreciative when I assembled a stereo for her office though and I am appreciative when she buys good smelling shampoo and body wash outside of my own knowledge which goes as far as Suave and Dial.
I can say however, she does know a little bit more than her father about Hi-Fi who was addicted to the DAK catalog and was under the impression that chrome and metal tapes wore down your heads. He was a real bang for your buck guy, as in the best deal for the visually biggest audio equipment. Of course the music he usually listened to were all those Moog records issued in the late-60's and early 70's (Tomita, Walter Carlos, Dick Hyman, etc.) as well as buying those cheap DDD classical CD's played by the Kosovo Refugee Orphan Youth Symphony Orchestra because they were "all digital" unlike those crappy Toscanini, Berstein and George Szell recordings.
I can say however, she does know a little bit more than her father about Hi-Fi who was addicted to the DAK catalog and was under the impression that chrome and metal tapes wore down your heads. He was a real bang for your buck guy, as in the best deal for the visually biggest audio equipment. Of course the music he usually listened to were all those Moog records issued in the late-60's and early 70's (Tomita, Walter Carlos, Dick Hyman, etc.) as well as buying those cheap DDD classical CD's played by the Kosovo Refugee Orphan Youth Symphony Orchestra because they were "all digital" unlike those crappy Toscanini, Berstein and George Szell recordings.
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terra1
Addicted Member
ah ... imponderables ... are women saner?
Yeah, in any profession or hobby, a majority v minority presence may show up. Sometimes it may be culture or gender expectations or wiring as you mention. It may even be the inherent obsessive compulsiveness of any hobby. The need to repeat the same problem over and over again hoping for a better outcome regardless of cost - definition of a hobby? So maybe women are more practical and saner? But if explanations of wiring are assumed for on women, what about an even greater number of men who do not share our hobby? So gender is convenient target, but what about our brothers? What's their problem?
As far as I'm concerned, if people don't get our "hobby" that may be further evidence they "get it." Instead of putting money into a hobby of gear that's prone to disappointment and frustrating breakdown, instead of fishing for compliments on the size of their collection or gear --- they get that in simplest terms --- it's all about the music.
I guess I don't get why there is a desire or concern why more don't get into what we do. Maybe women are wired differently. I don't see a lot of woman challenging men why they don't do more baking or Hummel collecting. Maybe they are the fairer sex after all ...
As mentioned, there are female members and some new in the past few months. As small a minority as audio hobbyists are, it would seem the female numbers here are probably proportional to the national average.
Yeah, in any profession or hobby, a majority v minority presence may show up. Sometimes it may be culture or gender expectations or wiring as you mention. It may even be the inherent obsessive compulsiveness of any hobby. The need to repeat the same problem over and over again hoping for a better outcome regardless of cost - definition of a hobby? So maybe women are more practical and saner? But if explanations of wiring are assumed for on women, what about an even greater number of men who do not share our hobby? So gender is convenient target, but what about our brothers? What's their problem?
As far as I'm concerned, if people don't get our "hobby" that may be further evidence they "get it." Instead of putting money into a hobby of gear that's prone to disappointment and frustrating breakdown, instead of fishing for compliments on the size of their collection or gear --- they get that in simplest terms --- it's all about the music.
I guess I don't get why there is a desire or concern why more don't get into what we do. Maybe women are wired differently. I don't see a lot of woman challenging men why they don't do more baking or Hummel collecting. Maybe they are the fairer sex after all ...
Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me there are very few women that get into our hobby. In fact I think most women couldn't care less about audio.Like my wife, I could put on some fantastic recording and she'll say it sounds "nice".I thought guys were the ones who were visually oreintated.
The irony is that they have better hearing (statistically) than us males :sigh:
Bobby D.
JoeESP9
ESL's & tubes since 83
It's been my experience that women are more concerned with results than how the music is reproduced. The music always comes first for them. Someone already noted the old Marantz ad about turning the distortion down. That's something else I've found to be true. The better a system sounds the more likely they are to ask for more volume. In my experience when a female asks for more volume I know for sure my system is sounding good.
It was my first wife who introduced me to differences in the sound of cables. She complained about my system, not sounding right. This was after a cable change she was totally unaware of. I didn't thing it was important. She noticed it immediately. She helped make me a better listener by teaching me to hear what she was hearing. She's the main reason I know different wires and cables sound different.
BTW: She loved tube power amps. She became quite angry when I traded a pair of Maggy MG-3's for Acoustat 3's. She said the "stats" sounded too clinical. A switch back to tube power solved that problem.
It was my first wife who introduced me to differences in the sound of cables. She complained about my system, not sounding right. This was after a cable change she was totally unaware of. I didn't thing it was important. She noticed it immediately. She helped make me a better listener by teaching me to hear what she was hearing. She's the main reason I know different wires and cables sound different.
BTW: She loved tube power amps. She became quite angry when I traded a pair of Maggy MG-3's for Acoustat 3's. She said the "stats" sounded too clinical. A switch back to tube power solved that problem.
GlobalWarming
Super Member
And one wonders why women seldom come to AK......................:scratch2:
