What stereo equipment do respected musicians listen to?


With all the debate on this piece of equipment is better than that, it got me to thinking… What setup do well respected musicians have, e.g. amps, speakers, etc.  What does Wynton Marsalis listen to, for example?  Just curious and thought it might be a fun topic. 

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Herbie has Tetra 606 in his studio and Tetra 120Us in his home theater.

Ron has Tetra 606 in his living room. And Keith goes on tour with a pair of Tetra 406s.

I'm surprised so many think musicians don't care about hi fidelity, I've was a drummer since I was 12(64 now 🙁) and have always been interested in having the best stereo system I've been able to afford. Presently have Naim Supernait 3, B&W895D3s, newest Node Streamer, Fluance T85 w/Orofom Blue & Music Hall CD... There are so many nuances you miss with average or crappy setups.. Granted many don't have audiophile home setups but you know that doesn't go for their studios, my guess is for those they leave the "serious" listening for when they're at work 😉

I am not exactly sure about who would be qualified to be respected musicians. Many musicians I personally know are respected in their local community, but none of them are world renowned nor millionaires. I guess less then 10% (or far less than than) of professional musicians (either respected or not) can afford hi-fi systems that cost over several tens of thousand USD, even though some of them own their own instruments that worth over tens of thousand dollars.

I am not a musician, and as far as I know, none of those musicians I know have audio equipment even close to what I have. They will have their jaws dropped when they listen to my systems.

Having said that, it will be interesting to know what kinds of systems are preferred/used by professional musicians who are audiophiles. I am personally interested in knowing preferred systems by orchestral conductors of classical music because they will care about the reproduction of the trueness of voices of each instruments, the full spectrum and balance of sound and imaging, even though many times the recording quality has more to do with such characteristics.

One of the reasons why I bought Gershman Grande Avant Garde speakers was that I read about that the makers effort to hear live music once a week and go on Sundays to listen to an orchestra music to make their speakers sound as accurate as possible, and have their own studios for musicians perform live and let their audience listen their speakers and hear about their opinion.

In the mid-1980's, for a brief period, I took guitar lessons from an individual who had worked as a professional musician in Los Angeles from some point in the 40's through (I believe) the 70's.  He retired up here in the Seattle area and, along with some other musicians, was operating a small music school.  He was also an avid audiophile and was active in at least one such organization in this area.  He owned Martin Logan CLS's and Quicksilver mono blocks.  I remember him saying that it was a combination of "the most transparent speakers" and "the most transparent amplifiers".

Audiophiles (and I am possibly one) usually do not get a basic truth, it's not about the equipment, it's about the music.  I have a nice HiFi but I quite often play old mono records because I like the music on them, including ones that are badly scratched.  I was once a semi-pro musician and I still know 30 or so of them.  Not one has a decent HiFi.  Do they buy speakers, decks and amps?  no, they buy guitars and keyboards and solid music stands that cost more than the usual HiFi amp.  Sorry to be so unimpressive, I have a Thorens TD135, Sansui tube amp into a pair of KLH5's.  and now I spend money, quite a lot, on old vinyl.