That’s right, auto polish. It made me stop and think, which is the point of this brief essay. I recall being a salesman at Glenn Poor’s Audio Video in Champaign, Illinois in the early ‘80s. I was a poor engineering student with an audio habit. I got my daily fix at the store, but like a genuine junkie, I always wanted more. It was a complex addiction. There was the joy of experiencing music, gloriously reproduced through a high-end audio system. The tactile confirmation of quality, the soft, smooth feel of the volume control on our best preamp; the beautiful wood finish of the towering speakers. And the smell—a medley of album-cover cardboard and warm electronic circuits, as distinctive and inviting as a neighborhood coffeeshop. 

In my career in high-end audio, I have met many others who share my passion. Among the most memorable was a married couple, both postal workers, who lived in a double-wide trailer and drove a $600 car. They owned a $70,000 stereo. They loved music and placed the highest priority on their audio system. It gave them joy. They prioritized exceptional audio to make it a reality for them. They taught me that luxury is in each of us. Whatever your interests, whatever it is that speaks to the desire for something exceptional that lies within you, that is the essence of luxury. 

My passion for audio has never waned and I have been fortunate to make it my profession. For 20 years now, I have been with Classé Audio in Montréal. From the beginning, we have been developing and refining our products to broaden their appeal as models of genuine luxury. That means seeing them in their entirety as more than reproducers of great sound. We want simple, intuitive operation and the silky smoothness of a volume control that is reassuring of quality. We want the design and its finish to be beautiful, to elicit the pleasure of owning something special. Yes, this does come at a price, but the seeds of appreciation and desire for these things can live in anyone.

In my college days (before I discovered student loans), I couldn’t afford to purchase a high-end audio system of my own but I wanted one. I wanted both the listening experience and the physical things that made it possible. Luxury begins with a desire for something special, uncommon, extraordinary. Luxury is pleasure without consideration of income or wealth. Those things make it possible to consume more, to be sure, but whether you want the thrilling experience of driving a sports car and the contented pleasure of appreciating its beauty, or you want a special polish to give your ordinary car an extraordinary shine, luxury is available to you.