Do you listen alone or with guest s


I am curious about the social element of listening to an audiophile system. Do you listen alone?? with wife, ladyfriend, buddy or guests?? For myself, I prefer to listen alone and for a few important reasons. I like to listen to the performance of the system I have put together or have made changes to. I listen to judge the performance of the musicians in terms of innnovations,and new revelations about the music's structure. I listen to "just" listen, to get that emotional fix that only music can provide. I occasionally ask my wife to listen with me or to a particular cut, but after about six minutes she loses interest. In the past, with lesser systems, I tried to point out things to friends in the music that I was hearing. After a short while, I realized I was making others uncomfortable, and also myself. Listening alone over the years became a ritual. I never regretted following this path, and was/am surely open to other listeners in the room....Maybe this is smug attitude to have; I think it comes with the territory of high-end audio. It often annoys me when I see people switch on a stereo and listen for just background music, or incidental music. I feel it denigrates the music and the musicians (excluding hip-hop, Daughtry,and Lady Gaga) I realize and am grateful there is no "golden rule book" for listening to music. The audiophile who drops thousand of dollars on his system cares about sound and music---science in the service of art.
sunnyjim
Ninety seven percent of the time I listen alone. I only wish the wife and kids would like to take advantage of my primary system. The benefit of doing shift work at times however is being able to listen alone. It is a double edged sword in fostering a good relationship with the wife. As I find myself spending too much away time. Best to shrike a balance. Keeps all happy. And happy listening to all, even if it is all by yourself.
Alone, whenever I try to share with someone they won't shut up! They don't appreciate quality playback. Which is fine I don't like golf. Bad experience was taking a girlfreind speaker shopping, no matter how good the speaker was, it couldn't drown her out! One sweet spot, one D.J., one critic, one man smiling, I like it that way.
12-03-10: Tvad
Harvey has an open invitation at our house. He sometimes joins me.

Isn't that right, Harvey?

Harvey says yes.
I'll bet that Harvey helped you to improve the transparency of your system.

Best regards,
Al :-)
Ironically, I often don't sit in the sweet spot even when listening along because my couch only reclines on the ends and the absolute best listening spot is in the middle. I do tend to lean a bit towards the middle. It's amazing how different things sound from the other end of the couch.

Right now my wife is reading a book on the other end of the couch and the dog is sleeping on his bed in front of us.
While the majority of my listening is done alone, I also often listen with my wife and with friends. And I would also disagree with the comment that it is only possibly to listen critically when alone. Being a professional musician, most of my friends are as well, or they are people who truly appreciate music, so they are all listening at least somewhat critically as well. The communal experience of listening to great music can be a very powerful thing, and while the concert hall is the best place for this, it can also be done in the home. While we musicians can be very critical listeners, we are also the most appreciative listeners as well - I have had some incredible experiences listening to music with friends, though it is not quite the same as playing it.