How Demanding A Listener Are You?
- Thread starter musichal
- Start date
mgosdin
Super Member
My sons all refer to my two systems as "Stupid Good". I know they are far from perfect, but they do a very competent & pleasant job presenting the majority of the music I want to listen to. More money could be spent, more effort could be put into the equipment, but I'm satisfied for now and unlikely to change things much.
Mark Gosdin
Mark Gosdin
musichal
poet emeritus
Now that you've explained it, I feel I may have misused the expression in my OP. Oh, well, hope it's the worst mistake I make this year.
Appalachian American in NE TN? Where I'm from they'd say, "You know - that high-toned hillbilly, You can't understand half what he says."
If you're like me, the enjoyment depends upon the content. Sometimes, I suffer through boring stuff to hear a piece I really enjoy. You'll find Brahms and Beethoven in my library, but they don't get as much airplay as Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Copland, Holst, Ravel, Satie, Debussey, et. al. We have season tickets to a symphony in the "big city" near us which recently got a vastly improved hall. Last weekend was a special program of music from the many Star Wars movies. We were in row H and the sound was spectacular. One of my favorites from a recent movie is Rey's Theme that spans the dynamic expression and ends in a whisper. Wonderful. One of the violinists dressed as Rey!
When I first met JWC as a late teen, I joined others from the hifi shop for listening sessions at his home. He has been a long term bass singer in the ASO Chorus and had been on the Atlanta Symphony board for years. And got me a minor role in one of the Telarc recordings. What I discovered was that most of his and his friend Harry's listening was to classical. If you wanted to hear the Dayton-Wrights or the IRS, you pretty much listened to (some incredible) classical recordings. It was then that I began to appreciate that genre - although their favorites and mine tended to be late 19th/early 20th century stuff.
Opera? Tried to enjoy it, but just do not. I do, however, enjoy large scale choral from Borodin or Orff. Similarly, I really don't enjoy music/concert videos of any flavor. For me, music is an aural experience.
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SA-708
Appalachian-American
I can speak Hillbilly with the best, but I think quoting Voltaire works best in the original French.
[edit] Also, at age 50 with a teen in college, I am learning to enjoy what I have instead of wanting more.
musichal
poet emeritus
Honestly, it's all Greek to me. I had to browser-search your post, which led me to a discussion of what the quote means, and different ways of translating it, which is what I meant when I wrote that you explained it. I read Voltaire's Candide when I was very young, pre-teen; my intro to satire, which I found delightful. Couldn't put it down until I finished. That's not necessarily how all us rednecks from Mississippi roll, but I can drawl with the best.
I enjoy the music relative to the gear. I can very much enjoy a pair of Solo 103’s, for instance, as much as much larger more complex and expensive gear. I just enjoy what they or anything else does right. On another hand if something is supposed to be good and isn’t I cannot over look the faults. I had many more positive surprises than disappointments.
I am picky if whatever I am listening to is not reaching its potential (in my little pea brain) recording, equipment in the space it occupies. At that point I am non stop messing with it. But I am very easily satisfied. Currently at my daughters working on a “daddy do list”. Sitting in front of her Sansui 350a, KLH 17s with my Kindle jacked into the aux jack as I type this, sounds prefectly great. The system in my sig is probably at its limit, next move is probably trying some Hersey’s.
imral3
Enjoy the musics!!
I'm sure you put this system together for her.
grillebilly
Empty Head
It depends. When it's time to do nothing but listen, then I don't want any distractions. That means nothing but the music. No appliances, heater/ac, TV picture, etc.
I'm not one to start fiddling with tone controls. There are only so many veils to lift.
I'm not one to start fiddling with tone controls. There are only so many veils to lift.
danrclem
Super Member
I know my system quality pales when compared to what many of the people on here have but I have improved on it since I started taking sound seriously. It seems though that as my system gets better that I still want better. I'm not sure if I'll ever be completely satisfied and that's not a good thing. I played a song that I have loved since I was a kid the other night and it really disappointed me because it wasn't recorded very well. It may not sound good on any system though. I know I'll never have the best but I'm really hoping that when I'm able to get my best that it will satisfy me. Only time will tell.
KingBubba
"Too Much Stuff"
Ever since I came in contact with DCM TimeFrame and TimeWindow speakers, I have felt no more need to search for anything new. They satisfy me completely. I have three system with the TimeFrames and TimeWindows and they are a real pleasure to hear. I also have a $25 class D mini amp in the bathroom feeding a pair of DCM C-07s. What a great way to take a shower.
I am done looking for new speakers.
I am done looking for new speakers.
I'm not as demanding as some here on AK but more than others. For instance:
I don't buy new (or new to me) speakers on an itch. I do work with mine however, refurbishing some drivers and replacing others. They are 90% there now for my needs.
I won't spend more than $250 on a dac, and that will last me long after the next new thing comes to market.
I won't send a lot of money on things like cables. What I have now for speaker cable is #12 fine strand and have less than $100 in them.
If my 40 year old Kenwood 700M power amp gives up I won't spend over $1500 to replace it, probably not over $1000. I have since biamped my speakers as a test to see how it would help with active crossovers. I bought one of the cheapest amps that had good distortion specs, the Yamaha AS 301 and that thing, for 300 bucks has been stellar in the greater than 1200hz roll. Makes me think that spending thousands on an amplifier would largely be wasted on me.
I do look for tweaks that do help my music sound better. I don't stream but not because of the quality so much as the interface. I run Jriver with all my music on a NAS drive. All music is at least cd quality but I rarely download hi res that's over 24/96. Just not convinced I can hear any gains over 24/96 or even 16/44.
This is not to say others can't hear better, I'm quite certain they can and you won't catch me trying to tell them otherwise.
I just have limits on what I can spend, and I am at the point where I fully am engaged in my music for 3 or more hours every evening. To get to a more appreciable level would take a LOT more money than I have. .
I don't buy new (or new to me) speakers on an itch. I do work with mine however, refurbishing some drivers and replacing others. They are 90% there now for my needs.
I won't spend more than $250 on a dac, and that will last me long after the next new thing comes to market.
I won't send a lot of money on things like cables. What I have now for speaker cable is #12 fine strand and have less than $100 in them.
If my 40 year old Kenwood 700M power amp gives up I won't spend over $1500 to replace it, probably not over $1000. I have since biamped my speakers as a test to see how it would help with active crossovers. I bought one of the cheapest amps that had good distortion specs, the Yamaha AS 301 and that thing, for 300 bucks has been stellar in the greater than 1200hz roll. Makes me think that spending thousands on an amplifier would largely be wasted on me.
I do look for tweaks that do help my music sound better. I don't stream but not because of the quality so much as the interface. I run Jriver with all my music on a NAS drive. All music is at least cd quality but I rarely download hi res that's over 24/96. Just not convinced I can hear any gains over 24/96 or even 16/44.
This is not to say others can't hear better, I'm quite certain they can and you won't catch me trying to tell them otherwise.
I just have limits on what I can spend, and I am at the point where I fully am engaged in my music for 3 or more hours every evening. To get to a more appreciable level would take a LOT more money than I have. .
Tough question to answer. In some respects, I'm not demanding at all. I've always been able to be fully satisfied with small, low-cost speakers with somewhat limited frequency extension and sound pressure levels, but that is when driven by a reasonably good amplifier--the original Naim Nait, Linn LK1/LK2, and my current Audio by Van Alstine electronics have all sounded wonderful; Pioneer, Tandberg, and NAD equipment fell somewhat short. I have also been very happy with low-cost phono cartridges, using mostly sub $100 moving magnet designs. Again, though, that is when they have been partnered with a reasonably good turntable. I've enjoyed models from Linn, Well Tempered, and Rega, while models from Denon, Philips, and Thorens just didn't provide the same level of engaging musicality. I'm not at all into soundstage/imaging type things, being just as happy with monophonic sound as stereo; the things that hold my attention are attributes such as rhythm, tempo, melody, and dynamic shadings (that is, being able to distinguish those sometimes quite subtle differences note-to-note, even in background instruments). My experience so far is that these things are affected more by the quality of the turntable and amplifier than by the cartridge or speakers (though complex speaker designs with a multitude of drivers more often than not confuse the time-related attributes of the music, while a cheap 2-way speaker seems to get out of the way of the music and lets the performance draw me in).
judsonw
Super Member
I enjoy what I have. I have some standards but I am flexible with some things. A recent example of standards was when I was on a three hour flight last week. I got on, was ready to listen to a podcast and found I could not find my headphones. This made me panic a little because they are etymotic HF5s, which I love and are crucial for me not going crazy at work. I accepted that they were probably lost while getting on the plane and when the flight attendants came around with free ear buds, I took a set.
I knew they would be bad, I did not expect them to be this bad. I had to turn the volume all the way up on my phone, and everything sounded like it was underwater(I did take them off to make sure it was not playing through the phone speaker for some reason. Fortunately I found my etymotics. Oh, and speaking of the phone speaker, it is terrible. Terrible to the point where I was having lunch with friends, we were talking about a song that some of my younger colleagues were not familiar with (Smells like Teen Spirit). While I did have the song on my phone, I did not even offer to play it since the speakers are terrible.
That being said, my stereo set up is nowhere near top of the line, though I would venture it is better than most of my friends' systems (if they even have systems). I am happy with it, and budget constraints are the main thing that keep me from doing significant upgrades. I do have plans to save and have a small list upgrades in mind (new tubes, new cartridge, eventually new speakers... New turntable is a long ways off for now).
I knew they would be bad, I did not expect them to be this bad. I had to turn the volume all the way up on my phone, and everything sounded like it was underwater(I did take them off to make sure it was not playing through the phone speaker for some reason. Fortunately I found my etymotics. Oh, and speaking of the phone speaker, it is terrible. Terrible to the point where I was having lunch with friends, we were talking about a song that some of my younger colleagues were not familiar with (Smells like Teen Spirit). While I did have the song on my phone, I did not even offer to play it since the speakers are terrible.
That being said, my stereo set up is nowhere near top of the line, though I would venture it is better than most of my friends' systems (if they even have systems). I am happy with it, and budget constraints are the main thing that keep me from doing significant upgrades. I do have plans to save and have a small list upgrades in mind (new tubes, new cartridge, eventually new speakers... New turntable is a long ways off for now).
MannyE
Exterminate!
It really depends on the situation.
First, let's agree that there is no such thing as the perfect system. Trying to attain that is a fool's errand unless, of course, you enjoy the endless fiddling with equipment and room correction. And there's nothing wrong with that, but let's at least be frank and admit that at that point it's not about listening to music as much as it is a hobby about equipment.
I will enjoy anything from a single speaker AM radio in the dashboard of a 1950 Dodge to a multi-million dollar ultra high end setup. It just depends on the situation. The last thing I'm going to think about when riding in an old car is "boy, this radio would sound way better if it had better bracing" why? Because part of the enjoyment of an old car is going back in time and getting the feel for what it was like for the original owners to drive it.
At a party, I don't care if the highs are crisp and the soundstage is ample because as long as it's loud enough to hear, but not so loud it gets in the way of talking, I'm good.,
It's only at home, when I'm alone and I'm in the mood that I slow down and want to really just close my eyes and sit in the sweet spot and get taken to another place by the music that I get picky. The slightest "off note" be it a vibrating door panel or light fixture or (eeek) rubbing voice coil will instantly ruin everything. It's also the only time I'll spin a record.
The different listening situations are easily compared to eating out. The AM radio in the dashboard is a hot dog at the fair, the party is chicken wings at a bar but the "alone time" is like traveling to Barcelona to eat at a 3 Michelin Star restaurant. The amount of picky is going to vary with the environment.
First, let's agree that there is no such thing as the perfect system. Trying to attain that is a fool's errand unless, of course, you enjoy the endless fiddling with equipment and room correction. And there's nothing wrong with that, but let's at least be frank and admit that at that point it's not about listening to music as much as it is a hobby about equipment.
I will enjoy anything from a single speaker AM radio in the dashboard of a 1950 Dodge to a multi-million dollar ultra high end setup. It just depends on the situation. The last thing I'm going to think about when riding in an old car is "boy, this radio would sound way better if it had better bracing" why? Because part of the enjoyment of an old car is going back in time and getting the feel for what it was like for the original owners to drive it.
At a party, I don't care if the highs are crisp and the soundstage is ample because as long as it's loud enough to hear, but not so loud it gets in the way of talking, I'm good.,
It's only at home, when I'm alone and I'm in the mood that I slow down and want to really just close my eyes and sit in the sweet spot and get taken to another place by the music that I get picky. The slightest "off note" be it a vibrating door panel or light fixture or (eeek) rubbing voice coil will instantly ruin everything. It's also the only time I'll spin a record.
The different listening situations are easily compared to eating out. The AM radio in the dashboard is a hot dog at the fair, the party is chicken wings at a bar but the "alone time" is like traveling to Barcelona to eat at a 3 Michelin Star restaurant. The amount of picky is going to vary with the environment.
