What do you do when you listen to music?

I will usually warm up by surfing the web for a bit on m laptop with the system playing. Then when I am relaxed and my system is warmed up I will turn down the lights and just listen with a warm cup of coffee or a nice merlot. I find that with the lights turned down, my mind can be free to imagine a 3d stage in front of me, instead of a stucco wall. Also, with the lights off I cannot see all my gear and be reminded of the ridiculous sums of money I have spent on this whacky hobby/disease. Often times, I fall asleep after an hour or so! LOL!!!

Am I the only one who falls asleep?

When I listen to my main system (living room), it has now gotten to the point where I will just put on any CD, usually one with vocals ... pass out for 40 minutes or so ... wake up ... put on the CD that I really want to listen to. I usually do some light magazine reading.

When I listen to the system in our TV & computer room, I am usually sitting at the computer and listen to satellite radio, or the other tube stereo system, or half watch TV.

Admittedly, I am more concerned with the quality and beauty of the sound and not too hung up on stereo imaging, unless the lack of it is positively distracting, like some opera recordings where it sounds like the singers are 30 rows back.

Regards, Rich

I also listen while in the Garage, at the office, in the Shower, cooking and BBQing as I installed music systems in all of those locations too. Vintage receivers and Linn Classics make great systems. My Carver receiver in the garage Rocks for about $200.00 I have a HK CD player with a dual Bur-brown converter chip that someone put it the trash It is a great unit(when they work) that can be purchased for about $50-75.00. I also hooked up the ipod to the Carver with the cable.

the only thing i try to do sometimes is focus my eyes on a spot on the wall which is "dead center" between the speakers. this enables me to aurally focus on the 1. stereo image 2. the soundstage. but after a few minutes i just "go back to" listening to the music and i am most likely no longer "sitting up straight and at attention". i am still surrounded by subtle details in the recording and paying attention to the composition and the performance, but much less to where the sound is emanating from. i used to read equipment reviews but i gave up that bad habit several years ago!

Enjoy a fine glass of Wine.