Are HiFi products luxury items?

[chebby]

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 s horrid little flat ...

I am not disputing anyone's 'need' for music.

I am just saying I think that using a hi-fi system to meet that need is a luxury.

 

[The_Lhc]

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 s horrid little flat ...

I am not disputing anyone's 'need' for music.

Ok, I will then. If someone tells you you can't listen to music for three months, are you going to die? No.

Now try the same question with food.

 

[ID.]

Thanks to the democratization of luxury, I believe that it definitely does classify as a luxury.

 

[knaithrover]

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 s horrid little flat ...

I am not disputing anyone's 'need' for music.

Ok, I will then. If someone tells you you can't listen to music for three months, are you going to die? No.

Now try the same question with food.

I may die without music!!!! i wouldnt like to put it to the test tbh

I could last weeks without food the flipping size of me ha

 

[andrew_cawood]

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 s horrid little flat ...

I am not disputing anyone's 'need' for music.

Ok, I will then. If someone tells you you can't listen to music for three months, are you going to die? No.

Now try the same question with food.

I don't disagree with you about music - but I think whether you die or not is not a valid definition in today's society. Taking your food example, would you consider a fridge a luxury? What about an oven? What about utilities - water on tap? Electricity at the flick of a switch? Would you honestly say these are luxuries, given that you can feasibly survive without them all?

 

[Ajani]

Listening to music is a must for me,..believe it contributes to my well being.. So do i see it as a luxury no i dnt..

Let's say that we all accept that listening to music is a need (which I know we all don't), that still doesn't make HiFi a need.

Many persons listen to music on their laptops, TVs, cellphones etc...

It's like saying that I "need" to know the time, hence having a nice watch is a necessity... Nope, lots of persons no longer own watches, since their cellphones tell them the time.

 

[The_Lhc]

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 s horrid little flat ...

I am not disputing anyone's 'need' for music.

Ok, I will then. If someone tells you you can't listen to music for three months, are you going to die? No.

Now try the same question with food.

I don't disagree with you about music - but I think whether you die or not is not a valid definition in today's society. Taking your food example, would you consider a fridge a luxury? What about an oven? What about utilities - water on tap? Electricity at the flick of a switch? Would you honestly say these are luxuries, given that you can feasibly survive without them all?

Dunno, go and ask someone who doesn't have them, there are plenty of them around.

 

[andrew_cawood]

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 s horrid little flat ...

I am not disputing anyone's 'need' for music.

Ok, I will then. If someone tells you you can't listen to music for three months, are you going to die? No.

Now try the same question with food.

I don't disagree with you about music - but I think whether you die or not is not a valid definition in today's society. Taking your food example, would you consider a fridge a luxury? What about an oven? What about utilities - water on tap? Electricity at the flick of a switch? Would you honestly say these are luxuries, given that you can feasibly survive without them all?

Dunno, go and ask someone who doesn't have them, there are plenty of them around.

So it depends on who you ask then?

 

[BigH]

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 s horrid little flat ...

I am not disputing anyone's 'need' for music.

Ok, I will then. If someone tells you you can't listen to music for three months, are you going to die? No.

Now try the same question with food.

I don't disagree with you about music - but I think whether you die or not is not a valid definition in today's society. Taking your food example, would you consider a fridge a luxury? What about an oven? What about utilities - water on tap? Electricity at the flick of a switch? Would you honestly say these are luxuries, given that you can feasibly survive without them all?

No I would not say they are luxuries, people need a certain amount of heating and keeping the food safe to eat etc. As most people don't have hifis I would say its a luxury. As for people needing music I disagree its a want not a need.

 

[DandyCobalt]

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.

Same vintage as most of the music listened to on this forum

 

[CnoEvil]

It could be argued that what constitutes "a luxury" has changed over the last 100 years, as the standard of living has risen.

In the world we now live in, a modest system to play music (say £1000 -1600) is not a luxury (imo). I suppose it depends how you define "luxury"......which imo, isn't anything that is over and above an absolute necessity.

If a product is sumptuous, it is almost certainly a luxury.

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

It could be argued that what constitutes "a luxury" has changed over the last 100 years, as the standard of living has risen.

In the world we now live in, a modest system to play music (say £1000 -1600) is not a luxury (imo). I suppose it depends how you define "luxury"......which imo, isn't anything that is over and above an absolute necessity.

If a product is sumptuous, it is almost certainly a luxury.

where you've been...? :twisted: :wave:

 

[hone_u2]

We end up needing things you want, we don't even need clothes, however, the social rules impose that we must wear them.

I would say a luxury product would be something for which you are paying more than the utility it delivers...

A lot of people think that the production of HiFi really doesn't have a high cost price... But that's not completely true...

If you're buying something like the 800 Diamonds with Classé, a lot of people will se that as luxury, but the purpose it's built for and what it delivers if in your opinion is substantial, in my opinion that's quite well justified!

 

[chebby]

It could be argued that what constitutes "a luxury" has changed over the last 100 years, as the standard of living has risen.

In the world we now live in, a modest system to play music (say £1000 -1600) is not a luxury (imo). I suppose it depends how you define "luxury"......which imo, isn't anything that is over and above an absolute necessity.

If a product is sumptuous, it is almost certainly a luxury.

where you've been...? :twisted: :wave:

Not in the real world evidently.

Here is what most people would recognise as a modest system...

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-value-bb-211ep-boombox-black/215-7828.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=215-7828

 

[BigH]

Chebby you don't need a hifi system you can buy something like a Marantz 603

As you have found out.

 

[pauln]

One only has to look up the word luxury in a dictionary for it to be clear that hifi at any level is a luxury. Some may claim that what constitutes a luxury has changed over time or varies throughout the world but I don't agree; it is clear to me that a "luxury" is defined as something that is "desirable but not essential". What has changed is our perception of what is essential.

 

[Superaintit]

I consider hifi a luxury and tv even more so. Don't need them, but enjoy them when they're there.

Living near a forest or nature I can enjoy I would consider more of a necessity than hifi or tv.

Guess it's mostly subjective. There are lots who can't seperate from their phones...

 

[andrew_cawood]

One only has to look up the word luxury in a dictionary for it to be clear that hifi at any level is a luxury. Some may claim that what constitutes a luxury has changed over time or varies throughout the world but I don't agree; it is clear to me that a "luxury" is defined as something that is "desirable but not essential". What has changed is our perception of what is essential.

If the perception of what is essential has changed, then surely it follows that our perception of what a luxury is, has also changed.

 

[pauln]

One only has to look up the word luxury in a dictionary for it to be clear that hifi at any level is a luxury. Some may claim that what constitutes a luxury has changed over time or varies throughout the world but I don't agree; it is clear to me that a "luxury" is defined as something that is "desirable but not essential". What has changed is our perception of what is essential.

If the perception of what is essential has changed, then surely it follows that our perception of what a luxury is, has also changed.

OK. I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at.

It's just going to become an argument about semantics now isn't it.

 

[professorhat]

Surely that wouldn't happen...

 

[CnoEvil]

Not in the real world evidently.

Here is what most people would recognise as a modest system...

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-value-bb-211ep-boombox-black/215-7828.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=215-7828

That's like saying a Hobby Horse would suffice as a modest Showjumper. :shifty:

 

[CnoEvil]

It's just going to become an argument about semantics now isn't it.

The nature of the question means it is always going to be fairly subjective and about semantics.

At the start of the 20th century, electricity in homes was a luxury.....I'm not sure that it would be considered so now. For people in isolated areas, a car could be argued to be essential, but would have been a luxury 90 years ago.

Would an indoor toilet and hot and cold running water be considered a luxury?

What about soft toilet paper, which was a luxury in the 1940s, but would hardly be considered so now?

Surely the definition of what constitutes a luxury must have changed over time?

 

[pauln]

It's just going to become an argument about semantics now isn't it.

The nature of the question means it is always going to be fairly subjective and about semantics.

At the start of the 20th century, electricity in homes was a luxury.....I'm not sure that it would be considered so now. For people in isolated areas, a car could be argued to be essential, but would have been a luxury 90 years ago.

Would an indoor toilet and hot and cold running water be considered a luxury?

What about soft toilet paper, which was a luxury in the 1940s, but would hardly be considered so now?

Surely the definition of what constitutes as a luxury must have changed over time?

I would argue that none of those things are essential so must be considered to be luxuries. One could argue that we in the Western World live a life of constant and unbridled luxury because so many non-essential things have become common-place. How could I manage without my freshly ground coffee in the morning?

One only has to get on a plane for a mere 7 hours and fly to, for instance, Qatar to see how luxurious our lives are when compared to the lives of the Bengali workers who are being paid £3 a day to build the stadiums for the 2022 football world cup and there is obviously a lot worse to see in other places.

Should the definition of luxury change from place to place in an arbitrary fashion or should it be fixed so as to apply equally the world over? Or do we need another word?

 

[matt49]

It's just going to become an argument about semantics now isn't it.

The nature of the question means it is always going to be fairly subjective and about semantics.

Very true.

I suppose we'd all agree that some hi-fi products are luxuries, not matter how you define the word (e.g. a certain Naim product). But quite where the line is between luxury hi-fi and what practitioners of the dismal science call 'normal' or 'inferior' products is so fraught with social and ideological complexities as to be practically undecidable.

:cheers:

Matt

 

[JamesMellor]

"Surely the definition of what constitutes as a luxury must have changed over time? "

It must have , even the free time of some in a society to create art , muisc and literature is a luxury , the fact that they are not engaged in endless labour for survial .

Someone mentioned fridges , most people would agree thats essential now but go back not too many decades and it was a cold shelf in the celler to keep your food , and a trip to the shop's every other day . The free time not involed in that treck is luxury time ?

Typing this on a Macbook alot of people here have Mac's of one sort or another they cost maybe 2 or 4 times what an acer with the same guts would . Thats a luxury , or do you say the amount of time I spend on it with its better display / keyboard / track pad make it if not essential at least justified.

I would say the same for your Hi-Fi , the amount of time you spend listening to it in ratio to the amount of time you need to work to pay for it , the pleasure it brings means that it is justified. Like when Ugg was painting cavewalls instead of hunting there was a benifit that outwieghed the cost.

James