A post on Steve Guttenberg's The Audiophiliac caught my attention the other day. In  "What's Wrong with High-End Audio?" Guttenberg, audio reviewer and record producer, puts forth a theory, and then asks for feedback. The problem, as he sees it, is that high-end audio is a well-kept secret. He writes, "Unlike high-end cars, watches, clothing, etc., 99 percent of potential high-end audio buyers are completely unaware of its existence."

Guttenberg points out that "car magazines regularly plaster shots of cars that only a miniscule number of readers could ever buy, apparently because guys who drive Dodge Caravans love to read about Ferraris... High-end audio magazines and Web sites are only read by folks already in the game; the Audiophiliac's primary mission is bringing awareness of the better stuff to the wider world."

(That's the mission of Crutchfield's Hi-Fi 2.0 initiative, too.)

As Guttenberg says, "Sure, a lot of high-end audio is silly expensive, but there's a lot of good stuff that's fairly affordable... When you factor in just how long a great set of speakers or electronics can last, it's easier to swallow the investment. If you really love music, don't you want to hear it sound as good as it can?"

Again, he's right on the mark with what we've been saying with Hi-Fi 2.0 — you don't have to spend a lot of money to get better sound.

Guttenberg invites a response, by asking readers to take his poll.

"Would you ever buy a high-end audio system?"

I took it, and was surprised by the results. Will you?