How do you find time to enjoy your $$$ speakers and system?


Maybe this topic is more of recommendation and sharing ideas than a question. We invested in our hifi systems for years to get to a place where we appreciate what our systems sound. Now, how do you find time to enjoy listening to music if many of us work long hours and still need to take care of family, errands etc…I don’t remember when was the last time I spent more than 2 hours a week at the most to enjoy the system I spent $$$ to build. How do you find time to enjoy your system?

128x128analoguefan

It definitely helps to be retired which I am. I dedicate a few hours daily usually late afternoon or evening for critical listening and new music research. These are luxuries I could not afford while working and raising a family but I’m taking full advantage of it now.

I have my mian system in my main living area, because my goal was to have a system I can enjoy as much as possible in as many use cases as possible. And enjoy it when company is around. That has tradeoffs versus a dedicated room of course, mainly around acoustics and WAF.

 

However, I'd much rather trade those for getting to enjoy it more of the time. I probably listen on average at least 10-12 hours a week purely for music. Combined use with the AV setup, probably double that.

Since covid, I mostly work from home. I set up my home office desk directly behind my listening couch so the imaging is fairly good. I have music on whenever I'm not on the phone or in zoom meetings, so I average around 6 hours/day. 

Most of this listening is background music while I work, but it still sounds fabulous. When I need a break from the computer, I'll sit down for a serious listen to a song or two.

When I was going into the office every day, I had a nice headphone rig which I listened to, but I far prefer listening to good speakers.

the only time i listen to my reference system is when i have to audition a new piece of gear or i have to QC check a CDR i just made. the rest of the time, i listen to music on some "antique" MP3 players that have the best of my collection of roll-your-own's on them, via a decent set of relatively efficient/sensitive sennheiser cans. 

When I was still working my listening was usually done during dinner, or on Sunday afternoon. Now that I'm retired, I try to find a couple of hours in the early evening and sometimes during the dinner hour. My wife is tolerant of my listening habit and doesn't seem to mind. I would say that I listen about 20 hours/week on average.