what sounds 'good' to you?

[Geordie]

I think you completely miss the point. Musical enjoyment is not related to the amount you've spent on or of the quality of the kit you own.

Not for me. I would not have bought the kit that I have unless it made me enjoy the music more. It does exactly that. I know its not about how much you spend, or what you have (to some its a status symbol of their wealth or affluence), its about fundamentally improving the quality of the music for added enjoyment.

Its like me saying for example, that I would not enjoy a film more when its played on a 43" all singing all dancing home cinema system over a 14" portable. Or that I would not enjoy driving a Lotus Elise any more than I would a Nissan Micra. That is so blatantly untrue.

Despite that, I also admit that I am a techie pervert, and there is the gadget side of it as well. I readily admit i am not as in to music as some on here, I dont have the breadth of tastes, the experience and am just not as passionate about it. I do however, know what I like, and for me to say I do not enjoy it more on my seperates than I do on a boombox would be ludicrous.

PS. Happy Christmas

 

[mikedefacto]

stickman wrote:

I think you completely miss the point. Musical enjoyment is not related to the amount you've spent on or of the quality of the kit you own.

In the grand context of the post he wasnt saying that at all though

 

[Ant]

stickman wrote:

The main system does identify a lot more on the recording and present a vastly superior soundsage, but it doesn't make me listen to music anymore.

Ah the old "It does all the hifi things, but doesn't make me listen to music more".I think you should go and listen to some of the items people say are musical.

I can recomend Living Voice Speakers, Border Patrol amps, NAS turntables, Opus 21 CDP etc.

If that doesn't make you listen to music more whilst giving you some of the hifi bits then there is no hope

 

[HoopsOnToast]

well, what sounds good to me?

most of the time, i only pick up on the obvious differences, like having too much treble or bass boom which i am very sensitive, so i would rather have a 'sound' that was tonaly accurate rather than somthing that grated my ears when playing....

i think that somthing can only sound better or worse if you have got somthing to compare it with, so at the moment at home for xmas, i am without my hifi and listening to some old car full range speakers in some Wharfedale Linton cabinets driven by an amp out of some old computer speakers and connected to my computer, and if i had that on a desert island i would be perfectley happy with it, but when i compare it to my hifi at uni (from what i can remember) it sound crap, but my point is that there is no point in saying most people dont care if they hear it through a £100 argos boombox, it is just a lot of people either have not heard anything better, dont care of dont have the money....

 

[syep2001]

surely its like watching a movie, if you watch it round your birds on her 14" portable in her bedroom and you still enjoy it, surely its the same?

 

[stickman]

Ant wrote:

stickman wrote:

The main system does identify a lot more on the recording and present a vastly superior soundsage, but it doesn't make me listen to music anymore.

...

If that doesn't make you listen to music more whilst giving you some of the hifi bits then there is no hope

That's rather ill-informed, as you have no idea how much I listen to music. And no thanks, I'm ostensibly happy with the kit I have. My reason for considering changing is to introduce a turntable, to allow me to purchase and play a lot of 2nd hand vinyl.

The point I was trying to make, but obviously failed, was that being a "hi-fi buff" and a "music buff" were not neccesarily the same thing. Some of the hifi hobby is down to the male obsession with gadgets.

IMO there is quite a large percentage of the population who listen to a lot of music, on radio, music TV channels etc. without worrying about "kit".

 

[Ant]

stickman wrote:

That's rather ill-informed, as you have no idea how much I listen to music. And no thanks, I'm ostensibly happy with the kit I have. My reason for considering changing is to introduce a turntable, to allow me to purchase and play a lot of 2nd hand vinyl.

The point I was trying to make, but obviously failed, was that being a "hi-fi buff" and a "music buff" were not neccesarily the same thing. Some of the hifi hobby is down to the male obsession with gadgets.

IMO there is quite a large percentage of the population who listen to a lot of music, on radio, music TV channels etc. without worrying about "kit".

for me the reason for having decent stereo equipment is to enhance the enjoyment that I get and make me appreciate the music more and listen for longer.I can listen to Tubby hayes on my car stereo and it's very enjoyable. On my hifi system I can listen and feel the emotion in the playing, it makes me want to snap my fingers and I can tell that he isn't just some guy off the street but has a real mastery of the instrument.

That is the difference that I have noticed with 'some' kit, it highlights the skill in the music and allows the subtlety to come through. Once you get over a couple of grand you have all the hifi-ness you need in my opinion.

 

[uzzy]

Quality does make you listen more because when you put on some music, cos you fancy listening to something or a track, you end up playing loads more cos you had forgotten the pure enjoyment.

Of course there are mad buggers like me who sometimes listen sat with the two loudspeakers behind me to relive my time playing drums in a band where the back line and fold back loudspeakers were behind and alongside me, playing air drums til my thighs get sore from behing hit by my hands. You need to invest in a good floor though to stop wearing holes from the imaginery high hat and bass drum pedals. You also need to invest in a system that sounds like you remember it when you played in the band.

That is what it is all about, losing yourself in the music and nothing from the sound you hear distracts you from it. If you listen to a cheap nasty or expensive nasty, system you do not get that emotion and involvement that holds you there, where you do not want to stop listening.

I have spent a fortune on some bits of my system and less on other parts bought second hand. I have also put together two sytems for each of my daughters of all secondhand bits (their bedroom systems being based on Pioneer A400 amplifiers) and lots of friends and relatives that have not cost a lot but give them endless hours of enjoyment.

Anyone living in the Northampton area that would like to talk and get someviews andadvice on what and how to buy second hand please send me an message.

Uzzy

 

[purplepleaser]

Radiohead, Klaxons, Osunlade, Metro Area, Sade, Roxy Music, Red Snapper, Aye, Gaelle, Shit Dicso, De Rosa, I Am Kloot, Erasure, Ed Harcourt, i could go on and on.

I can loose myself listening to music on the system, in the car or on the shit 20 quid speakers connected to the works computer.

A lot of people had a good music collection before they bought their hifi setup. Remember that its the music not the hifi thats important, your system sounds quiet without music.

So to the point what sounds 'good' to me?

Well if i am in HMV and have to go and ask whats playing, i am using the steering wheel as a drum machine or its three in the morning and i'm air guitaringaround my signal box.

I suppose i have missed the point of the thread as usual

Lee

 

[The Hifi Gallery]

what sounds good to the individual, wether it's music or kit, is totally subjective.

Take Ants system suggested above, i'd rather spend the budget on summat else, that sounds better to my subjective tastes, neither would I buy radiohead, or Kasabian, as i prefer other things, doesn't mean these bands and kit won't sound good to others, so in short everything, wether music or kit, sounds good to someone, so............ every thing sounds good!!!!!! just depends if you ask the right individual.

I'm also with Lee though, I sing along in the car, or drum the steering wheel, whilst in traffic I sometimes pump the brake pedal like it was a bass drum pedal, the music is the most important thing, it's why a lot of us got into hifi in the first place, (although I notice for some it's more about the noises, they listen to music that makes nice noiseson their system, rather than for the composition itself)

 

[Umberto]

I listen to music in the car a lot while taxiing. If it's a tune i like then i find myself tapping away on the steering wheel to the beat (unfortunatley its not that easy to dance around in a car, especially when you are driving

). My tastes in music are more for mellow stuff. My hifi is just an extension to other forms of listening to music, wether it be on the car stereo or on an AM radio. I also find it more relaxing to listen to music on my hifi as you get more of the "music" through and less of the hash.

Having said that, I remember listening to my BSR turntable with ceramic cartridge years ago enjoying the music just as much as i do today, even though it probably sounded like a wasp in a biscuit tin.

 

[Geordie]

I wouldnt debate that you can enjoy your favourite music even on less than ideal systems, but i still question why anyone would try to deny that having it played back on your favourite stereo would not add to the enjoyment of it.

This puzzles me. Does anyone actually think this? And if so, why did you bother in the first place?

 

[mikedefacto]

If you like music so much why not soend a bit of money on being able to hear it properly?

Same people who own shithouse micro systems probably also spend 1500 quid on a telly

 

[mikedefacto]

If you like music so much why not spend a bit of money on being able to hear it properly?

Same people who own shithouse micro systems probably also spend 1500 quid on a telly

 

[Umberto]

182-Geordie wrote:

I wouldnt debate that you can enjoy your favourite music even on less than ideal systems, but i still question why anyone would try to deny that having it played back on your favourite stereo would not add to the enjoyment of it.This puzzles me. Does anyone actually think this? And if so, why did you bother in the first place?

I guess years ago I didn't kinow any better and thought my music centre sounded brilliant (that didn't stop me tweaking it though

). It was whenI bought a copyof What HIFI in 1982 (when it was still a good hifi mag) that everything changed.

 

[The Strat]

Umberto Vanni wrote:

182-Geordie wrote:

I wouldnt debate that you can enjoy your favourite music even on less than ideal systems, but i still question why anyone would try to deny that having it played back on your favourite stereo would not add to the enjoyment of it.This puzzles me. Does anyone actually think this? And if so, why did you bother in the first place?

I guess years ago I didn't kinow any better and thought my music centre sounded brilliant (that didn't stop me tweaking it though

). It was whenI bought a copyof What HIFI in 1982 (when it was still a good hifi mag) that everything changed.

I guess for most of us there was a turning point. In 1979 I was about to replace my music centre for a Techniques or JVC stack system when a long time friend (sadly passed away now) of my Dad invited me to listen to his Thorens/Quad/Spendor system. Instead bought my separates and that was that.

 

[Boxer]

purplepleaser wrote:

Radiohead, Klaxons, Osunlade, Metro Area, Sade, Roxy Music, Red Snapper, Aye, Gaelle, Shit Dicso, De Rosa, I Am Kloot, Erasure, Ed Harcourt, i could go on and on.I can loose myself listening to music on the system, in the car or on the shit 20 quid speakers connected to the works computer.

A lot of people had a good music collection before they bought their hifi setup. Remember that its the music not the hifi thats important, your system sounds quiet without music.

So to the point what sounds 'good' to me?

Well if i am in HMV and have to go and ask whats playing, i am using the steering wheel as a drum machine or its three in the morning and i'm air guitaringaround my signal box.

I suppose i have missed the point of the thread as usual

Lee

Sounds like you've got the point of the thread entirely, Lee, as usual...

Boxer

 

[ClassikFan]

What sounds good to me......................is the sound of people listening to music and enjoying it. My son is delighted to have my old mini system set up in his bedroom. Its better than no system. IME kids just want to hear music and haven't started to build up a picture of how they want to hear it. Lots of adults get through life without ever thinking about what they are hearing other than just the basic music.

From an early age I realised that I wanted to try to hear every last drop of effort a musician could put into making a record. I would prefer to listen to live music all the time if that were possible. I find listening to live music of almost any type to be preferable to recordings.

My current system replaced 2 previous convenient lifestyle type systems which got hardly used. Now I play music at every oppourtunity and have had the hifi for 2 years now so I know its not just a passing fad.