One of my favourite things. One recent guest was heard to remark, after listening to “Clair de Lune” that she “thought there was a piano in the room”… 
Presumably with a pianist!
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You sure it wasn’t a snide remark about how much space the speakers and hifi take up?
Seriously though, in my experience, the uninitiated rarely care about hifi even after hearing it. If they were music obsessed before, then maybe. But if not. guests generally couldn’t be less interested in the hifi if they tried. They might make polite compliments on the sound but I can read between the lines - which normally says “I have zero interest in this”.
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Most commonly if anything I get “that sounds nice”, but no interest as such. Something that used to be common, but I haven’t heard for years, was “Ooh, those are big speakers: I bet they go loud!”.
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My brother commented on my power supplies and number of boxes. He was quite interested in them when I explained the reasoning for them. He is a computer software engineer, so he sought of got it.
or “I bet they have loads of bass”!
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And then you told him the price!
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When we moved to the U.S our new neighbour was very impressed with the Naim hifi until i told him the price. But i can buy a boat, jetskis, snowmobiles or even a plot of land for that sort of money. And of course he was right, they had a lot of choices over there for their disposable income.
As did/do we in Britain!
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That’s my experience.
Even friends whom I consider to be real music enthusiasts are not necessarily interested in high quality playback and will quite happily listen to radio / or Spotify on earbuds or small speakers.
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When I first treated my room with GIK acoustic panels, I had 3 friends ask if they [the panels] were all speakers !
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Normally I just don’t bother with discussing it with others other than the music, after all with my golfing friends I might discuss the progress of Rory Mccilroy but don’t normally discuss their No 9 iron. That said the other day my Daughter’s partner asked if he could hear Hotel California again on vinyl “because it’s just superb”. Nice moment that.
Regards,
Lindsay
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That’s a nice comment, particularly as piano is hard to get sounding right on a stereo. The ‘that sounds nice’ comment that IB mentioned is more common. An expensive stereo is something most can neither afford nor, more importantly, actually want. Friends of ours have an Aston Martin and while it’s a nice car it’s the last thing I’d want. I tend not to comment at all on things people have unless they ask.
By the way - your profile mentions you being in a tribute band to your original band. Which band was it?
IME people aren’t that interested. A good friend came round speifically to see the system, as a return-the-compliment following an enjoyable trip round the lanes in his neat sports car. Black boxes are pretty dull tho and once he’d made the correct noises it was the music that engaged us, with choice rather than absolute sound quality the driving factor.
There was the occasion one weekend when I took the whole system lock stock & barrel to a house that I look after ocasionally, a few siblings and other family members showed up before I left so I demoed it. The main question was how loud can it go? The consensus was that it was ‘quite good’ but I’d never even hint at the cost. To ears that don’t latch on to the reasons why we buy this stuff the idea of trying to justify an outlay of 10-20 times what something that would be ‘good enough’ would cost is a non-starter.
It’s the same in all walks of life. When I first had electronic gears (Di2) on the bike the only people to show interest were fellow cyclists. Non-cyclists who did notice either shrugged or - much like audio gear - wondered what the point was. And I’ve known people who are deeply into tropical fish, with all the right gear. Or coffee enthusiasts. Happy to peer at fish and sample your awful coffee-coloured fluid thanks, but spare me the detailed run down on the minutiae of your interesting hobby. Thanks. 
The Sound.
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Thanks. I bought Jeopardy when it was first released in 1980. It’s a great album and I remember it fondly. I can’t remember if I bought From the Lions Mouth as I sold my vinyl a while ago.
I would be really pleased if somebody/anybody said “that’s nice could you play something else?” Still waiting I’m afraid. The world of Hi-Fi is a closed book to most people. Just not interested even if they hear music you think sounds great and performed really well.
Comment A. Too loud. They have never heard an orchestra in full flight.
Comment B. You are very lucky to have a wife who would put up with those boxes each side of the fireplace. B&W 802s. Wife’s sister who spent two weeks over last Christmas with us but did not ask to hear any music.
Comment C. Nice tone and then starts talking. Why bother?
Comment D. Just what are those things by the fireplace? See above.
I could go on.
Comment E. A ray of hope! Nurse Practitioner calls to see my wife. As he walks into the Living Room he eyes my 552 Pre-amp and says " expensive stuff there". I ask him how he knows. “A friend of my wife is involved with recording the Vienna Philharmnic Orchestra”. 'Nuff said".
After all that, all I can say is they don’t know what they are missing. They really don’t.
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The rest of my family are entirely the same. No interest in hifi at all and all tone deaf. They like the convenience of my Nova and the album art provides a momentary interest but no one has made the slightest comment on the huge improvement in sound over my Nait 5i.
Probably a good job because if they knew how much it was I’d probably never be able to listen to my hifi again because of the ear-bashing I’d get.
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So true, while they are Impressed at something they have never heard, They will go home to their Own hobby and forget all about it.
Scott
The last comment I got was “what a comfy chair” 