Women and High End Audio

[caesar]

Whereas in the rest of society women have frequently surpassed men in recent years, women in high end audio seem to be peddling cables. I think there are at least 3 cable companies run by women. Now I am not a cable denier, but I don't see cables adding more than 10-15% to the system. And when you have reached the top of the mountain in the audio hobby, you are like the guy in the desert who is valuing that glass of water very highly and willing to pay big bucks for it. But only cables? Surely women could do better! Are there women who design amps or speakers?

The only exception I can think of is Manley, who married into the industry and had a chance to learn how the business runs from the ground up.

Does anyone know of any other women who contribute significantly to our hobby?

And why are women so disinterested in our hobby, anyways?

 

[JackD201]

Jennifer Crock (Jena Labs) albeit more known for her cables, designs power conditioners and used to design loudspeakers. She also did Mods. IIRC she was some kind of NASA scientist or something along those lines.

 

[Bruce B]

Kara Chaffee at deHavilland

 

[opus111]

Are there women who design amps or speakers?

Susan Parker's done amp design : http://www.susan-parker.co.uk/

 

[amirm]

And why are women so disinterested in our hobby, anyways?

Why are men so disinterested in sewing and quilting?

 

[NorthStar]

Touche!

 

[Whatmore]

And why are women so disinterested in our hobby, anyways?

I think women are very interested in music. I suspect they are less obsessed with the gear side of things

 

[NorthStar]

I think women are very interested in music. I suspect they are less obsessed with the gear side of things

You got it; they are most interested with the essence, the content; without all the complications of setting a turntable.

And men prefer to buy his clothes pret-a-porter, instead of making them; going for simplicity, over complicated manual hand-made hard work.

What a balanced life!

 

[mep]

Why are men so disinterested in sewing and quilting?

Touche.

 

[Bill Hart]

Enid Lumley- some of her views on equipment isolation and AC polarity were considerred tin foil hat stuff back in the 80's but today are generally accepted, at least by the 'subjectivist' camp.

 

[puroagave]

Enid Lumley- some of her views on equipment isolation and AC polarity were considerred tin foil hat stuff back in the 80's but today are generally accepted, at least by the 'subjectivist' camp.

The same Enid that inspired the character "Pat" on SNL?

there are woman in high audio and the hot ones stand outside rooms at shows to herd in the nerds. but seriously, i was surprised at how many spouses/significant others i saw with their man at the newport show, making buying decisions and gererally looking as serious at their mate in evaluating systems.

my spouse is the least bit interested in audio hardware let alone audio shows and thats perfectly fine with me

 

[mep]

there are woman in high audio and the hot ones stand outside rooms at shows to herd in the nerds.

I have seen that too. One guy is using his 20-something daughter to stand outside the room in order to attract the guys to come inside. Smart thinking. Reminds me of the last time a carload of Jehovah Witness people sent a young semi-cute girl to my door to see if I was gonna bite on hearing a religious spiel before they would all come piling out of the car. I didn't fall for it though.

but seriously, i was surprised at how many spouses/significant others i saw with their man at the newport show, making buying decisions and gererally looking as serious at their mate in evaluating systems.

I saw the same thing at Axpona 2013. There were way more women there than I have seen in two years of attending RMAF which is truly a geek/geezer fest.

my spouse is the least bit interested in audio hardware let alone audio shows and thats perfectly fine with me

Me too.

 

[Mike]

I went to Axpona with my girlfriend. She loved it. I think that she hadn't really believed how much better music could sound than what she had heard prior to the show. She was pretty chatty with the people demoing their equipment. She really liked the Sonus Farber speakers. I think that she might still be there.

 

[taters]

Whereas in the rest of society women have frequently surpassed men in recent years, women in high end audio seem to be peddling cables. I think there are at least 3 cable companies run by women. Now I am not a cable denier, but I don't see cables adding more than 10-15% to the system. And when you have reached the top of the mountain in the audio hobby, you are like the guy in the desert who is valuing that glass of water very highly and willing to pay big bucks for it. But only cables? Surely women could do better! Are there women who design amps or speakers?

The only exception I can think of is Manley, who married into the industry and had a chance to learn how the business runs from the ground up.

Does anyone know of any other women who contribute significantly to our hobby?

And why are women so disinterested in our hobby, anyways?

I'm glad women aren't Interested in audio! Who needs the drama.

 

[NorthStar]

You guys are truly funny. :b

 

[carolkoh]

You guys are truly funny. :b

Agreed!

 

[NorthStar]

Agreed!

Her ya go Carolyn!

 

[cjfrbw]

I do remember that there was a female audio critic who was writing for a German audio magazine scrutinizing with great intensity the upscale Magico rig at California Audio Show. She was listening, writing notes, listening, writing notes etc. Reminded me of the women in my professional school class who were manic note takers in class, a front row of copious annotators. I would just listen and write an occasional sentence to jog my memory.

 

[Groucho]

My missus isn't the least bit interested in how the audio gets to the speakers, and she does tend to listen to the TV rather quietly for my tastes. However, if anything is going to make her cry in a film, it is the music and the extra level of immersion that you get from good sound. We have quite reasonable TV surround sound, and I notice that if I turn the volume up in a film, the eyes will begin to moisten pretty quickly! However, she would never make that connection herself, I think.

If ever I am being harangued into embarking on major structural changes to the house, I focus on what sort of system and speakers I could fit into the new layout, and that provides me with the necessary incentive to take the pain and expense. If it was down to her the room would be finished before she finally got round to sticking a colour portable and small ghetto-blaster type thing in the corner.

 

[cpp]

Why, because women have more important things to do like taking care of our sorry asses and keeping our heads below 10,000 feet than to worry about audio.