What an appropriate thread to start for audiophiles and enthusiasts. It's a great question. I listen alone 99% of the time. No one in my home enjoys Hard Bop which is most of what I play. My 7 year old only notices if I play the Beatles or some other occasional music he likes and then he pays attention for a bit. My wife would love to see me get rid of my setup. It's a very solitary thing, listening to an audiophile system, at least for me. Although, I now regularly get questioned by guests, "what's those things sticking up?" I say, "those are vacuum tubes." Sometimes that leads to a brief conversation.
Do you listen alone or with guest s
I am curious about the social element of listening to an audiophile system. Do you listen alone?? with wife, ladyfriend, buddy or guests?? For myself, I prefer to listen alone and for a few important reasons. I like to listen to the performance of the system I have put together or have made changes to. I listen to judge the performance of the musicians in terms of innnovations,and new revelations about the music's structure. I listen to "just" listen, to get that emotional fix that only music can provide. I occasionally ask my wife to listen with me or to a particular cut, but after about six minutes she loses interest. In the past, with lesser systems, I tried to point out things to friends in the music that I was hearing. After a short while, I realized I was making others uncomfortable, and also myself. Listening alone over the years became a ritual. I never regretted following this path, and was/am surely open to other listeners in the room....Maybe this is smug attitude to have; I think it comes with the territory of high-end audio. It often annoys me when I see people switch on a stereo and listen for just background music, or incidental music. I feel it denigrates the music and the musicians (excluding hip-hop, Daughtry,and Lady Gaga) I realize and am grateful there is no "golden rule book" for listening to music. The audiophile who drops thousand of dollars on his system cares about sound and music---science in the service of art.