Are HiFi products luxury items?

Ajani

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Are HiFi products luxury items?

I had a similar discussion some years ago on a US forum and found it interesting how few persons consider HiFi products as luxury items. Most who did, tended to label pretty much anything above what they are willing to spend to be luxury.

IMO, HiFi really isn’t much different from watches, wines, cars etc... There are tons of reasons why a $10K watch costs more than a basic $25 watch. Whether those reasons are in anyway relevant to you or even justifiable is a whole other issue. Likewise in HiFi, the differences in pricing are substantial, while the differences in quality are hotly debated.

I think just about all the gear we consider entry level, right up to obscenely expensive are luxury items. Nothing wrong with buying luxury, and frankly if you consider HiFi as luxury then your perception of the market and prices somewhat changes. Suddenly concerns about aesthetics and convenience stop being bad words in HiFi and simply become reasonable consumer expectations. You stop being offended that a manufacturer had the audacity to produce a $200K amplifier, simply because you recognize that such a product is not about practicality or the common man’s needs - It is just a statement. Luxury items range wildly in prices, aesthetics and practicality. It’s really all about choice and variety. I see HiFi the same way. You can spend as much or as little as you want and still have a wealth of options to choose from.

So what’s your opinion, luxury - yay or nay?
 

Ajani

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chebby said:
If you don't need it then it's a luxury.

No-one needs a hi-fi.

Agreed... It seems that simple to me also, but I'm interested to know if others here have different view points...
 

simonlewis

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I think it's a luxury, when i play music on my computer and have the tv on the upstairs neighbours complain, so i have to have it so quiet i can't hear it thats why i prefer to listen to music in my car. (i live in a flat btw).
 

Freddy58

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I think the term "luxury" is relative. To some, it would be a luxury to have a roof over your head. Maybe we should all live in tents? Sure, we can do without certain luxuries, but to my mind, we need luxuries, relatively speaking. Something to look forward to apart from the mundane.
 

simonlewis

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In the late 1990's i went camping in scotland, i must have talked in my sleep or snored really loudly be cause the guy in the next tent was in a right mood and shouted at other campers.
 

HDNumpty

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Well it's all relative to the country you live in and living standards in that country, isn't it? But I would say from talking to most people that it is a luxury item. If I tell them I have a £2k stereo to a £4-5k entertainment system I usually get 'wow' or similar.

growing up my folks had a 'radiogram' which I inherited, later they had a Fidelity 'music centre' which I also inherited...these days many people just buy either a small 'system' (CD, DAB maybe and an MP3 input) or a Bose/Bluetooth/Airplay speaker as their 'hi-fi'.

ergo, hifi separates or high-end all-in-ones like the Naim Unity will always be a 'luxury item'
 

Freddy58

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Well, one could define a 'luxury' as something one deosn't need. One doesn't need any more than 2,000 calories a day, irrespective of where one lives. One doesn't need a solid roof. One doesn't need a car...I could go on. The point being, we all need something to look forward to, be it 2,200 calories, or that holiday in Barbados. It's all relative...

Having said that, hapiness is another issue :)
 

HDNumpty

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This is very true. My system brings me much enjoyment so it's a justifiable luxury, whereas I consider a £50k 4x4 a total waste of money!
 

namefail

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chebby said:
If you don't need it then it's a luxury.

No-one needs a hi-fi.

Can't say I'm onside with this view chebby, I need music in my life just as I need love and food. However my outlay in total on hifi since I was 16 is less than some here have spent on a single component.

If music be the food of love, play on. :)
 

namefail

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chebby said:
namefail said:
chebby said:
If you don't need it then it's a luxury.

No-one needs a hi-fi.

Can't say I'm onside with this view chebby, I need music in my life...

You don't need a hi-fi for that.

True, I have a few guitars and can sing but I do like to listen to music. Try going a month without your hifi, I doubt you’ll be very happy about it.

(I’d like to add as things have been getting a bit heavy on some threads round here that I respect your view as much as my own.)
 

chebby

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namefail said:
chebby said:
namefail said:
chebby said:
If you don't need it then it's a luxury.

No-one needs a hi-fi.

Can't say I'm onside with this view chebby, I need music in my life...

You don't need a hi-fi for that.

True, I have a few guitars and can sing but I do like to listen to music. Try going a month without your hifi, I doubt you’ll be very happy about it.

(I’d like to add as things have been getting a bit heavy on some threads round here that I respect your view as much as my own.)

Hi-fi is not the only way to listen to music. (Plenty manage to listen to music without one.)

I am just answering the question in the title. And I think hi-fi is a luxury.

My happiness (or yours) is irrelevant.
 

The_Lhc

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namefail said:
chebby said:
namefail said:
chebby said:
If you don't need it then it's a luxury.

No-one needs a hi-fi.

Can't say I'm onside with this view chebby, I need music in my life...

You don't need a hi-fi for that.

True, I have a few guitars and can sing but I do like to listen to music. Try going a month without your hifi, I doubt you’ll be very happy about it.

Happiness isn't the point, survival is the point, if you don't need it to survive (and you don't) then it's a luxury. It's amazing how far away from the reality of survival that some people have become.
 

relocated

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simonlewis said:
And my freind who i was with told me to sleep in a different tent, i alway's wondered why.

Perhaps you were "snoring" out of the other end, Simon. A tent won't shut out noise but...................
 

DandyCobalt

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We lived for three months in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank, had to get up at 6am in the morning, clean the newspaper, work 16 hours a day down t' mill, week in week out, for sixpence a week and when we got home our dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt.

Luxury !
 

chebby

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DandyCobalt said:
We lived for three months in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank, had to get up at 6am in the morning, clean the newspaper, work 16 hours a day down t' mill, week in week out, for sixpence a week and when we got home our dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt.

Luxury !

It would be a 'luxury' for me to never have to hear, see (or read) tired old Monty Python sketches ever again.
 

knaithrover

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chebby said:
DandyCobalt said:
We lived for three months in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank, had to get up at 6am in the morning, clean the newspaper, work 16 hours a day down t' mill, week in week out, for sixpence a week and when we got home our dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt.

Luxury !

It would be a 'luxury' for me to never have to hear, see (or read) tired old Monty Python sketches ever again.

What have tired old Monty Python sketches ever done for us?
 

knaithrover

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i need music every day it moves me, makes me happy and feeds my soul. It did that when i was on the dole in the 80's when all i had was a walkman half a dozen tapes some headphones and lived in a horrid little flat - it still does now and i am significantly better off have a big (detached) house can play my music as loud as i like when i like on a variety of systems, nothing has changed except my circumstances. We buy what we can (and choose) to afford and i personally cut my cloth accordingly. I don't view things i need to be luxuries. It's all a matter of opinion though, one man's meat is another man's mustard
 

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