Is Home Theater a high-brow hobby? (1 Viewer)

[Thik Nongyow]

Since most people on the Home Theater Forum are home theater enthusiasts, had you ever thought of your hobby as something that is respectable or in other words, high-brow? How does it compare to other hobbies like stamp collecting or collecting antiques?

 

[Max Leung]

I doubt you'd be impressing hot babes with a stamp collection, although antiques could impress if they are worth a ridiculous amount of money.

This is from the angle of impressing people, of course. If you really love your hobby, then you're comparing apples with oranges, and people's opinions don't matter one whit!

Thread fart: Of course, a mortician, coroner, or hospital that collects human body parts without express written permission from a deceased person or relative is worthy of contempt. There are no laws in North America against collecting human remains, so if you have lost a loved one, there is a good chance that his/her organs were taken without your knowledge. Scary stuff.

 

[brentl]

I think this isn't a hobby where the individual doesn't need to be in solitary to enjoy it.

Most people couldn't call stamp collecting an escape. Even Antiquing has limited appeal.

Now the entertaiment industry is routinely thrown in our face. It sure is hard to miss the beautiful men and woman, and once you do that movies follow and on and on.

Brent

 

[MickeS]

I don't understand that sentence...


HT is definitely NOT high-brow. I'd say the opposite, ANY electronics-related hobby is considered "low-brow", no matter how expensive it is.

/Mike

 

[Mark R O]

I think HT is fairly mainstream these days. Even the crappy little shelf systems at the discount stores tend to be multi-channel formats aimed at A/V use.
The "high brow" label would be more applicable to 2 channel interests and the dwindling number us passionate about stereo. It is certainly costly enough to rank as a elitist pursuit, and dedicated music systems are increasingly rare.

 

[Michael Reuben]

ANY electronics-related hobby is considered "low-brow", no matter how expensive it is.

That used to be true, but I'm not sure it still is. One more transforming effect of the digital revolution.

M.

 

[brentl]

MickeS; Sorry that was in regards to stampcollecting ... really hard to invite friends over for a beer and a 1979 QE2 stamp .... wohoo

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Hobby!?!
This is a Way of Life!!
Just kidding!

 

[Brad_V]

Home Theater, like most things, can be considered high-brow if the person acts like a snob about it. There's a few of those running around on this site, so I guess there's your answer.

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

One more transforming effect of the digital revolution.

Right on. Add in the fact that the buzzword in recent years has been interactive, I would say that HT has moved into the higher-brow realm. The home theater has kind of taken center stage in designing programs that will do any number of tasks with the push of one button. That is a feature that is still pretty futuristic to alot of people and they will shell out the money for such a system.

Bruce

 

[DanaA]

I'd define highbrow as an attempt to impress others with your sophistication or taste in activities or possessions. In that way, home theater could qualify with some, but not for most on this forum. For a lot of posters here, it is a love affair with all that makes home theater great. For some, as with any hobby, this leads to a preoccupation with owning the best possible quality and a desire to share their love with others of similar interest. With me personally, I can't describe the immense joy I feel when I pop in a DVD and its audio/visual quality bowls me over. As such, for many of us, it's more of an addiction.

 

[Luis Esp]

I don't know about high brow, but I know I can be very elitist when it comes to watching movies. I refuse to watch anything that's not in its oar, without proper surround set up, even if it's mono channel and all the lights must be off and no conversation allowed. And no phones.

I guess this is why my friends make movie night at my place.

 

[Adil M]

Ssome of YOU may watch DVD's but a true aficionado has built "s/his" own theater... mwahahaha. I have a huge tube in my side room w/, count them, three BOSE systems and my receiver has A/B speakers that I just happen to have my PC speakers working w/ two. All my stuff's in Beta and I don't have none of those black bars and in Notting Hill when I zoom in real good I can see the squares in Julia Robert's nose. And my speaker is so loud "they" have "dubs" for drivers. I have all these bells and whistles for special effect.
It is very easy to be high-brow w/ electronics. Where do you think Monster Cable originated from? Can't you hear the difference>
Edit: Here's a smile, so that small percentage can notice the sarcasm in this response considering it's after hours and I can undo the tie. Thanks, dad.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Ssome of YOU may watch DVD's but a true aficionado has built "s/his" own theater... mwahahaha. I have a huge tube in my side room w/, count them, three BOSE systems and my receiver has A/B speakers that I just happen to have my PC speakers working w/ two. All my stuff's in Beta and I don't have none of those black bars and in Notting Hill when I zoom in real good I can see the squares in Julia Robert's nose. And my speaker is so loud "they" have "dubs" for drivers. I have all these bells and whistles for special effect.

It's nice when the children feel compelled to comment

 

[Yee-Ming]

it all depends on your definition of "high-brow".

somehow I get the feeling that HT will never really be considered "high-brow", since movies are not considered "high-brow". my impression of "high-brow" is stuff like opera, ballet, maybe symphony concerts. no disrespect to those art forms, but ballet and opera bore me to death; classical music is all right but I wouldn't jump for joy at the prospect of attending.

plus, one must admit there's a certain "techo-geek" cachet attached to HT and the gear, and "techno-geek" is never "high-brow".

just my $0.02's worth. feel free to disagree (but no flamewars please!)