Impress Your Friends and Seduce Women!

I too have noticed the 'lower decibel' phenomena. I also notice that when people are over, most of them gravitate to the stereo and like to hang around it listening to music. Maybe it's my personality. You can tell the music lover's right away. It's a real treat to have such wonderful music in the house. Expensive yes, but I think my money is much better spent than on an expensive car sitting in the driveway.

Most people hear the difference, those that dont never will. Play music you love. Hearing classical, jazz, or bluegrass on a really good system can open up a whole new world of music for someone who has never heard them live. As for output level, I think a lot of people use the Volume knob trying to compensate for shortcomings in the system. When "somethings missing" in the music, turn it up! Some kinds of music are meant to be cranked, but others can be just as involving at lower levels. That Lyle Lovett track will show off your system and I was at one time addicted to "Wheels on Gravel Road", both worth having for the song writing alone. Just to get someones attention I sometimes start out with "Funupmanship"by Bob Florence. A live jazz recording that starts out like background music and suddenly wakes the dead with two horn blasts, adjust volume first! Dynamics impress, but you still have to play music you love.

Ikarus, I think most of us would like to "impress" on our friends the joy of (well reproduced) music. I find music so rejuvenating that I have a hard time believing everyone couldn't benefit from it. (Of course not all that many folks are willing to turn off the TV long enough to develop an "ear.") Guess they always have VH1. Charlie

Redkiwi's above post touches on what to me is a really significant aspect of enjoying music, and that is simply "state of mind". Sometimes no matter what I listen to, it doesn't sound good, and I just have to quit. Other times music will "calm the savage beast", and then there are those "magic moments" where state of mind and music quality come together to actually produce a sort of euphoria. I can't explain it-- too subjective (as many things audio are); but state of mind during a listening session sure is important to me. I would also say that audiophiles seldom either recognize this, or maybe just don't want to admit it? Or talk about it? Example; the other night I had a tense verbal "disagreement" with Dogface's woman (a neighbor), and later no music sounded good-- finally said to hell with it and went to bed. Craig.

Presumably not with Dogface's woman.