You have us at a disadvantage, since you actually have to go into strangers' homes and witness them squandering their opportunities. Money is certainly no guarantee of excellence or appreciation. At its worst, it can mask a multitude of sins. It's easy to forget that good eyes and ears require dedication, work, and practice. The ability to recognize quality is not god-given, but once learned, it often spreads across boundaries; it's contagious and self-validating. Our culture stresses speed and convenience, neither of which is conducive to the kind of attention that it takes to listen and see well, especially since the baseline of acceptability is generally good enough in a paint by numbers society. Besides, someone is usually available to do what we can't or won't do, if we pay them enough, and appearances can pass for reality at a distance. A long-standing traditon in this culture is to relegate aesthetics to the idle and impractical. But those of us who have any sense of enthusiasm know just how much practical knowledge participates in matters of sensibility. One cannot exist adequately without the other. Personally, I think that serious hobbies like audio/video are signs that people are looking for something to capture their full faculties and elevate them out of the mundane. People will always be able to obtain wonderful things but not have any idea of how to take proper advantage of them. So much the worse for them; that's their misfortune. In a complex world, not everyone can be expected to have the same interests. Nevertheless, anything worth doing is worth doing well. People wasting their home theaters are the least of our worries, but they may well be a sign of a kind of mediocrity that gets a lot of encouragement. Celebrate those who can learn, teach, and enjoy without restraint. Thankfully, we all have a chance to be among them.

Ed