Mood lighting

My wife is pregnent and apparently any and all lighting has a substantially negative effect on mood. I suggest caution! =)

Cdc, my lighting is adjustable according to need. Low voltage halogen lamps are controlled by 8 separate switches, each providing a different look.

My fixtures are Lightolier but there are similar products from Halo and even Home Depot depending on the style you want and budget.

Link here: http://www.lightolier.com/

The reason I like low voltage (PAR) bulbs is because they are available in beam spreads from wide flood to very narrow spot. It's easy to direct the light to show off furniture, a vase of flowers or a piece of equipment, especially if you choose track mount or fixtures that allow aiming.

I have a 50 watt super spot directed at my turntable. Sometimes I leave off all the other lights in the room except for it. I get a super view of the tonearm and LP, making the job of cueing and track selection easy in an otherwise totally dark room.

try to find a "nixie clock"

nixies are 60's era tubes with 0-9 as independent cathodes (think digital clock before lcd/led displays). with the tubes exposed, its a great complement to my tube pre.

nice warm glow

My living room, which is dedicated to the two channel Hifi has Kovacs feather lamps (halogen) lighting throughout. I also employ a blue LED task lamp with dimmer clipped to my TT shelf support and have Aesthetix Calypso pre amp and Rhea phono amp that have blue displays when not turned off. For me that is about all the mood lighting we need. Oh, and a blue lava lamp... see a theme taking shape here?! ;^) It's quite nice. Cheers!

Two suggestions.

First, get a ''salt lamp''. They look like a a big rock - they are in effect a block of solid salt with a small 7watt bulb in it. Most people buy them for soothing effects, but the peachy color look real nice in a darkened room.

Second, get the ulitmate lighting effect - a Shanling T-100 cd player. The 3 LED's shining through the acrylic disc, plus the 4 tubes really put on a show....

Forgot the most important mood lighting source... a pair of Atma-Sphere mono blocks really set the mood. Tubes are good for more than sound. Happy Listening!

Depending on what mood I am trying to set we use different lighting schemes in our listening room.
We have incadescant "eyeball" cans in the ceiling that wash the walls behind the speakers. These are controlled by a Lutron Smart Dimmer system.
Behind the listening position we have 3 low voltage halogen heads that are aimed to spotlight the three listening chairs, for reading or casual listening and conversation.
The turntable is lit via white LEDS from Little Lite.
We also have a Japanese sohji lamp with a 15 watt incandescant bulb, and a single 20 watt low voltage halgen fixture to illuminate LP racks during listening sessions.

I am surprised that this thread has not yet been hit with condemnation of dimmers. Long ago dimmers used to create lots of noise in nearby audio systems, but I have found that new ones don't have this problem. However the bad reputation lingers on in audiophile circles.

Congratulations Distortion, I think it will be worth it. Having all S.S. need some type of glow :-).
I'm torn between the Salt lamp vs. Lava lamp vs. the wall conce. The wall sconce have a really nice effect - sort of like the buildings at night in South Beach Miami when I was there.
Thanks