Sound and Music

In order to enjoy a record or CD (streaming,) one has to ignore the anomalies of sound which are inevitably there and listen to the music.  
Too many of us listen for the anamolies.

Some would consider this a cop out, but I find that a mild cannabis high does wonders for filling in the blanks. I consider cannabis to be a sort of sonic filter that nearly always agrees with me and is a part of my "system." Lots of musicians would agree.

I have 2 midfi surround systems and then my two channel system with the good gear.  I can be enjoying listening to the mid fi but always feel that sense of relief when I shift to the main listening room 

Music is not only a pulse,vibration,beat,rythm, i felt in my body, nor it is only a timbre gorgeous auditive perception but it is a set of colors also visible as a dynamics distributed  in space as in a movie.

With high attention orchestral music is so fascinating for me because it tell a story more or less abstract, as in a movie. Choral music begin to be indicibly beautiful. Jazz more visceral or more abstract or even sometimes the two at the same time. Persian music and indian music are like philosophical treatise in sounds. The emotions are highly elevated.

Bruckner Fifth  symphony for example for me is an archetypal description of a human life from beginning to end...

Cannabis only increase this state but does not create it.  Deep Attention create it.

Then sound characteristic in space , their  timbre volume and colored dynamic, their fractals are more important than just sound superficial  isolated and measurable attribute : as bass, high, dynamic, transients and superficial attributes as imaging or soundstage etc Volume of playing instrument his projection in space matter more because in the imaging process the soundstage dimension must reproduce the dimensional distance between the sound source and the listener position and envelopment.  I used acoustic, mechanical and electrical embedding devices to increase or optimize this holographic reproduction of the initial recording acoustic specificities.

Acoustic rule audio not price tags...

Not at all RV. 90 % of my listening is in the shop to 4 old Mirage speakers, Adcom electronics, streamed from the main system. The speakers are put in the only location available for them which is way off axis and there is no listening position, background music only. The tone controls were used to give me a rough approximation of what I think I should be listening to. I have never measured the system, no need. The only attribute I cared about was volume and volume it has, to run over the din of machines, to be heard with hearing protection on. 

As I have said before, Music and sound are two separate issues. You can love music and not give a hoot about sound quality. Conversely, I know audiophiles whose collection consist mostly of audiophile specials. I know one audiophile who does not even have one classical record, or one Ornette Coleman record, just audiophile specials of popular music. and he has a $150,000 system. 

I am two completely separate personalities. The shop system is caked with dust. I vacuum it off once every blue moon. The main system is meticulously cared for. I have not adjusted the shop system in decades. The only control I've touched in decades is the volume and that includes the power switch. With the main system every single Hz is looked at and massaged, totally neurotic. The music lover in me will listen to anything, while the audiophile in me is hypercritical. Think about it. I study every stylus under high magnification before it ever touches a record. How neurotic is that?