Hi-Fi in Houses

My wife is constantly looking at houses we can’t afford on Right Move and one thing I have noticed is you almost never see a Hi-Fi in a house. You always see a TV and occasionally a sound bar or similar. Musical instruments are not uncommon, usually acoustic guitars or the odd keyboard/piano.
Have you ever tried to sell your house with your system in situ? Would you be encouraged to buy a house if you saw a couple of Fraim stacks sitting in the lounge?

Perhaps they sensibly make sure valuables are not prominently displayed in estate agent pictures, i know i would veto my hifi from being “advertised”

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Maybe too much of a lifestyle choice on show, could put people off.
Certainly if I was to look over a sizeable attached garage chock full of engineering parts and equipment that would put the local MOT workshop to shame, would definitely put me off.

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Unfortunately a lot of people stream from their phones or tablets and don’t care about quality.
I also have a friend who has a albeit old stack hifi. It sits under his sideboard with speakers 3 ft apart sat on the floor. Say no more!!!

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Precisely what I did. The photographer was a little baffled when I asked if he could take shots that did not emphasise the hi-fi. On reflection I was possibly a bit paranoid. After all, I doubt an opportunist burglar would have much knowledge of Naim and its value.

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Most people even those that claim to love music don’t have a Hi-Fi or what we would call a proper Hi-Fi still they seem happy. We are in a very small minority here.

Reminds me of a guy at work who like me was a prolific buyer of CDs so we had a lot in common. I mentioned that I had some Audioquest cable that he might like to try - but I needed to know what terminals he had at the back of his speakers - he came in the next day and said the wires just disappear in the back of the speakers!

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Good friends of ours in their 40’s say that we are the only people they know with a “hi-fi system”

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House shopping a couple of years back, I was inspecting this house with a nice hifi system and the owner came back just before inspection time was up. I ended up talking at length with the owner about his system and his DIY hifi unit. The estate agent was surprised when he was leaving after packing up everything, thinking we must be besties.

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Why? What does it matter what the previous owner used the garage for?

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Having expensive HiFi is a minority interest - very few people’s houses that I visit have anything resembling a proper HiFi.

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I suspect as has been said it’s a mixture of limited ownership of Hi-Fi separates and those that do have decent systems being unwilling to advertise them.

All three of my kids have some form of audio system that are a few steps up from basic, one in particular is an avid Deezer streamer with Sonos boxes all over plus a linked in AV system that drives very respectable speakers in the lounge, family room & the dining room.
There is nothing of note in my 20 house neighbourhood road (close), but in the village I know of a number of nice setups with real music enthusiasts, 2x Naim, not sure what they have now, a very nice high end all Linn system, a hybrid mix with biamped SMC40’s, and a few others.
Funnily one of my old jazz group pals who knows more about the ins & outs of southern US jazz than most encyclopaedia only has a bog standard radio.

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Some buyers could be concerned about the structural integrity of the floors.

Only if they were to be included in the sale! :joy:

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We’ve been looking at houses a lot over the last year or so, I haven’t seen one with a hifi of any note at all, the occasional silver rear speaker for the TV but that’s been about it.

What else I have found is how few lounges lend themselves to being a half decent listening room as well as a comfortable lounge. They are strange shapes, chimney breasts, doors, windows in strange places

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Strange you should say this, as a potential purchaser offered to buy the hi-fi (CD3.5/72/140
with Dynaudios at the time) on the basis the overall price of the deal remained the same, but the level of declared consideration fell below a Stamp Duty threshold.

It wasn’t a long conversation.

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I’d have asked for them to be serviced as well!

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We recently sold a flat near Tokyo. I remember, we were keen to not have our stuff on display but the estate agent was adamant that I should put off putting the hifi in storage until after the photographer had snapped the room with it in. Apparently, aspirational gear set up like I had with the cables out of sight is a real attention grabber for prospective buyers.

I admit to having a difference of opinion and only allowed snaps and showing after we had moved out so interested parties could imagine things against a blank canvas. The flat sold quickly in the middle of Covid with nothing in it.

Hmm… if you go to some ‘smart’ houses of music lovers, perhaps worked in the music industry, you will inevitably see a music room if not the main room with some tasty audio equipment… if it’s important in your life, you are going to see replay equipment.

we would be adding to the advertising :
Featuring dedicated 6mm mains supply and MK sockets in main living room !