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HELP Turning off the Left Brain

Its been over 25 years since I bought my first stereo. All my friends wanted wheels, I just wanted to play my records on something other than my parents stereo console. After spending over 25 years training my ears to distinguish between the tiniest differences in and between components, cables, room acoustics et al (and yes I believe for the most part it is a learned skill), I now find it very difficult to sit down and just ENJOY THE MUSIC without always critiquing the presentation. As a matter of fact, a lot of the music that I originally enjoyed when I was among the great unwashed masses, I can't stand listening to anymore. I always thought that at some point the equipment would allow the music to transcend the medium, but regardless of the quality of the presentation, the left brain always whips out the notebook.

Has anyone found a way to stop the madness?
Ag insider logo xs@2xmusicfirst
integrativeservice
18 posts
 
I sometimes can't see the forest for the trees. A bottle of good wine helps.

Brian
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
Two things helped me in this regard:
1) Assembling a system that sounds very consistent each time I listen to it. Not fussy, in other words; and
2) Listening to as much new music as possible. I find that I'm getting into the music more than into the analysis, if that makes sense. If I stick to the same familiar stuff, or reference discs, then I'm often comparing sonic qualities as opposed to just listening to the music.

And the third recommendation is to follow your moniker. Enjoy the Musicfirst!

Howard
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
A doobie of K.B.
jayboard
301 posts
 
Can't say I've been in your position, but why don't you declare a moratorium on making any changes to your system for a year. I assume you've got quite a good system by now. Let it be. If denied the reward of getting new things to analyze, maybe your left brain will tire of the game and quiet down.

Concentrating on getting out to hear a variety of live music might inject some fresh excitement of the non-left-brain variety into your music appreciation and get you off this analytical track. If you really have it bad, put your system on blocks for a while, and only listen to live music. When you go back to your system, do it without making changes.

Sounds like you need to give up the hifi hobby, since it's not fun anymore. See if you can get yourself a new hobby, and just use your stereo for listening to music.
kana813
956 posts
 
I agree with Howard on the new music. Force yourself to buy something new every week.

To get relaxed with dulling your hearing, try some fresh brewed Kava, it's legal. Here's a link to the best:

http://www.mauigateway.com/~kava/
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