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.
sunnyjim

Showing 2 responses by kennythekey

I'm an Only Child, so of course I listen alone. Seriously...Alone. Why?

Well,
One of my friends used to sell stereos back in the eighties and when he came over to listen, all he could muster was that it sounds "different," but I couldn't get him to say better.

Another friend is part of a broadcast crew and did some audio recording work including some with Bob Katz (Chesky). He thinks we're all nut-jobs and unless you run a cable over 100 feet you can use piano wire and it won't make a difference.

A third friend only owns a boom box...so, end of story.

My wife goes upstairs and watches TV when I turn on the system.

I listen alone and I'm damn proud of it!!!
Thank you, Itsalldark! I realized I'm not alone, after all, because my black lab, Joey, always sits next to me when I start listening, and he never asks for the sweet spot.