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
I listen alone. My wife is a T.V. junkie and my friends don't get it and don't care.
Alone 99.99% of the time. An occasional friend drops by and gets to sit in the sweet spot and I do love the jaw-dropping reactions... but other than that, it's my personal time which is deeply appreciated as an escape from the outside world. Unfortunately my wife feels she's in direct competition with it for my time (I have a dedicated room away from the main part of the house) so sometimes stealing away time isn't as relaxing as it could be when I have to pay attention to my watch... but I do have stints of opportunities and it's pure rejuvenating bliss.
Great thread. PS I'm usually listening in very dim/low lighting too... it helps soothe the spirit...