Listening Contexts and Settings

[Bella Kemp]

I'm so pleased to read this, Jayne! I too shunned 'background listening' when I was younger, imagining that music deserved my full attention - but then I reasoned that even when I was at a concert my mind would occasionally wander to whether or not I'd left the gas on at home or what I would say to mother when I called her next and did I need to speak to my son's teacher . . . So I came to understand that except for those times - blessed times - when I follow music with a score on my lap, it is all background listening. And I find I am nourished by Radio 3 on constantly in the kitchen, on in the bathroom when I pay a visit or wallow in the bath, on in the living room when hubby doesn't want to watch anything on tv; and, in the warmer months, in the greenhouse. Occasionally it is also on through the night in our bedroom. And do you know? - I don't think that by treating music as background music diminishes it in any way: I have been deeply moved and found my life bettered by a fragment of a Mahler symphony encountered whilst sitting on the lavatory. Composers, after all, did not write their works in one long ecstasy of inspiration - it's perfectly reasonable for us not to listen as though they did. This, by the way, is being tapped out to Tchaikovsky's Manfred symphony - and let no-one tell me that I am not fully appreciating it. But of course I must add the caveat that a truly great performance of a work will stop one dead in one's tracks, and then one must really pay full attention. Music means more to me than anything and, in times of terrible darkness, it has lifted me up.

[Dave2002]

I like Pastoralguy's comment further up about playing 50p charity shop CDs on a player costing £12k. I can't imagine what a player costing that much would be like, though I have a friend who has a moderately expensive model, but nowhere near that costly.

Re dedicated listening rooms - possibly a good idea, and I've been wondering whether to turn one of our two lofts into a small music/listening room - though that would present access issues. At the moment getting up to either of these is via a ladder (one at each end). It's probably not a good idea to go ahead with such a scheme as we'd have to put stairs in somewhere, which would lose floor space. I suppose a spiral staircase might work, though that would perhaps not be good, particularly as we get older. A small lift might work, now I think of it.

Another option is to turn the garage into a dedicated listening room - this is something which I know other people have done, but again it's probably too much effort.

I probably prefer to just keep things as they are, with the main living room being used for multiple purposes, and when the need arises actually to move kit in and or out to other areas.

[Joseph K]

Thanks for the replies.

[Petrushka]

I like Pet's comment further up about playing 50p charity shop CDs on a player costing £12k. I can't imagine what a player costing that much would be like, though I have a friend who has a moderately expensive model, but nowhere near that costly.

Re dedicated listening rooms - possibly a good idea, and I've been wondering whether to turn one of our two lofts into a small music/listening room - though that would present access issues. At the moment getting up to either of these is via a ladder (one at each end). It's probably not a good idea to go ahead with such a scheme as we'd have to put stairs in somewhere, which would lose floor space. I suppose a spiral staircase might work, though that would perhaps not be good, particularly as we get older. A small lift might work, now I think of it.

Another option is to turn the garage into a dedicated listening room - this is something which I know other people have done, but again it's probably too much effort.

I probably prefer to just keep things as they are, with the main living room being used for multiple purposes, and when the need arises actually to move kit in and or out to other areas.

Not me - Pastoralguy's the one! As with most electrical equipment you reach a point where cost and quality reach a limit so I'd guess that a £12k CD player won't be much better than one much, much less than that.

[Dave2002]

Not me - Pastoralguy's the one! As with most electrical equipment you reach a point where cost and quality reach a limit so I'd guess that a £12k CD player won't be much better than one much, much less than that.

Thanks. Corrected - you can delete this if you wish

I agree about the law of diminishing marginal returns.

[Pulcinella]

....
I'm still getting used to the fact that out 2019 CORSA doesn't have a CD player although I've now go half a dozen USB sticks with hours and hours of music on them. The radio is slightly odd since it's both digital and analogue which is fine except that it'll re tune itself into whatever signal is strongest at any given time. (Usually when I'm really into something!)
....

I would have thought that you could turn this feature/function off.
Useful for long journeys perhaps (ours would occasionally retune after a motorway pit stop) but I'm a bit surprised if it flips between frequencies on short trips. I don't recall ours ever doing that mid-journey (i.e., without a restart).
Maybe you gad about hither and yon on your charity shop bargain quests.

[Bryn]

I would have thought that you could turn this feature/function off.
Useful for long journeys perhaps (ours would occasionally retune after a motorway pit stop) but I'm a bit surprised if it flips between frequencies on short trips. I don't recall ours ever doing that mid-journey (i.e., without a restart).
Maybe you gad about hither and yon on your charity shop bargain quests.

As I have mentioned previously, mine switches from DAB to FM in the vicinity of mobile phone masts. Only briefly but still annoying.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

As request, the specifically Hi-Fi relevant posts have been moved to their own discrete Thread:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?21241-Listening-Gear/page3