What do you listen to your music on?

[6bg6ga 272]

Do you have vintage equipment? Do you listen to Bose no highs no lows? Transistor radio?

[rmaynard 15,514]

When I was younger, the more equipment you had, and the bigger the speakers the better. With today's technology, I listen to Pandora on my Smartphone through wireless (Bluetooth) headphones. The old stuff can't even come close. 

[WHX?? 48,833]

Surprising results on the on the vintage tube gear... must be because we like vintage tractors!?!?

[EricF 589]

Most of my music collection has been, or is in the process of being copied onto my computer. But the computer's audio is patched into some 1990's era stereo gear -- an Adcom pre-amp and an AudioSource amplifier, and a set of Infinity bookshelf speakers. Most of the time, though, it's through the pre-amp and a set of AKG studio headphones from the late 80s. Nice, but not overly expensive stuff, from before most A/V gear became just commodity stuff at any price. Also a good bit easier to get into and service, if you understand electronics.

 

I do still have a fair bit of vinyl, and for that I have an original Technics SL-1200MK2 turntable. While most people know of them as iconic live-DJ turntables, when properly set up and equipped with a good cartridge for music listening they're equal to or better than many (expensive, or overpriced?) modern ones.

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

The Mother Of All worksite radios, the Bosch Cube. I called it a boom box on the poll. It has a decent tuner and antenna for radio and it does a good job of playing the iPOD . Reviewers say the bluetooth is not up to par with the rest of the unit, but i would not know about that. i ran a Milwaukee worksite radio for years and part of it is being used as a Headlite grill on a MTD Husky lawn tractor  Weird piccs are here 

 

We got a good deal on the thing by buying a Lowes Gift card from Kroger at 4 times the fuel points to purchase the radio, and we asked if Lowes had any other discounts and out of the blue, they gave us another 10%

 

The thing weighs about 15 pounds.  No way I can do earphones in the shop or on the job, so that is the best setup for me

[6bg6ga 272]

20 hours ago, WHX11 said:

Surprising results on the on the vintage tube gear... must be because we like vintage tractors!?!?

 

Absolutely!

 

Tube gear sounds clearer analog rules!   Vintage tractors, tube gear, vinyl records, and A&W Drive Inns.

 

I guess I should have been  a bit more specific in my question as asked with gear do you use for serious listening?

 

Job sites.... I wish they would ban the 20 different sources of noise all competing at once. Safety should be the consideration not rap played at 100db.

[Ken B 3,164]

I have an older Realistic receiver and an older 6 CD changer in my garage but the most interesting thing is the speakers... 2 older Kenwood 6x9's and two run of the mill speakers I removed from my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I mounted the speakers in the lids of 5 gallon buckets and screwed them to the wall. Not to toot my own horn for coming up with this idea ( maybe some one else has done it? ) but they sound pretty bad Azz... Even my 22 yr. old son was impressed and he has done the same with some speakers he had layin around... I can jam to Waylon Jennings and Johny Cash all day long...

[6bg6ga 272]

If you obtain the Thiele Small parameters for your speakers you can successfully design and port the speaker boxes to obtain maximum results.  

Thiele/Small parameters. Thiele/Small parameters (commonly abbreviated T/S) are a set of electromechanical parameters that define the specified low frequency performance of a loudspeaker driver.

[6bg6ga 272]

My home built Klipsch Cornwall Clones. One set for the TV downstairs and the stereo also downstairs.  Having borrowed test equipment from work I can tell you their response is flatter than the original Klipsch. They actually sound better and are more efficient also. The mistake I made was not having another dozen low frequency drivers made. No, still no grills which drives the wife nuts. The fabric changes  the sound even acoustical fabric.  Efficiency is in excess of 104db 1 watt 1 meter.

[EricF 589]

That must be a quartz clock with an electronic chime, if any, in the top pic. Sitting on top of a speaker cabinet, even a well-deadened one, would play havoc with a mechanical clock!

 

When I worked in recording studios, we generally left the speaker grilles off for the same reason you state. It's surprising how much of an effect even the thinnest material can have on how your ear perceives subtle sounds when you're listening critically.

[6bg6ga 272]

Nope, not a quartz clock. Its a 7 day mechanical which I forget to wind.  Done plenty of studio work and repair work.

[Stigian 1,234]

I use a mixture of old and new in my workshop..

These old-ish Kef C Series speakers have really amazing sound for their size, I was really suprised at the amount of bass the produce!

 

 

 

To power them I use this A&R Cambridge amp of matching vintage.

The new bit is my old Samsung smart phone that's plugged into the amp..   It's very good for listening to internet radio or MP3's.

 

 

 

When I get the computer installed in the workshop all the sounds will be played through that, I can even "stream" the vast amount of music I have on my home computer

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

Main system

 

 

Second system in shop

[6bg6ga 272]

You've just restored my faith........thanks.

 

Nothing better than good gear. Tube gear is on the top of my list. Nothing beats the clarity of tube gear.  Scott  receiver running a pair of 6L6GT's per channel?

[formariz 11,987]

5 hours ago, 6bg6ga said:

You've just restored my faith........thanks.

 

Nothing better than good gear. Tube gear is on the top of my list. Nothing beats the clarity of tube gear.  Scott  receiver running a pair of 6L6GT's per channel?

 

Unfortunately most people never had the opportunity  to listen to music in really good gear and with the advent of home theater systems and digital technology most will never do.They may be modern, cool looking, compact and convenient but good and faithful music reproducers they are not. All of these new developments were in a way the demise of good quality audio. Luckily a great number of people have finally come to their senses and good gear is on the way back for many, specially tube gear. Everyone that likes music should have the opportunity to listen to it. The result will be undeniable.

 

The Scott runs a quad of 7591s, at this point new production Electro Harmonix switching on occasion to NOS Westinghouse. It has been totally recapped and runs at least four to six hours every day. It is addictive, sweet and with a sound stage that it absolutely impressive. Everyone always wants to see what is playing music in the shop, and when I open the cabinet door they just cannot believe that it is coming from a 54 year old receiver and and a 42 year old turntable.

Now I understand your name choice 6bg6ga!!!

Edited May 24, 2017 by formariz

[6bg6ga 272]

I believe in the analog god and am a firm believer that digital is the work of the devil. I've re-built a lot of gear over the years and it funds my other faults. My line stage, phono preamp and mono block tube amps are all tube and built by me. As we both know there is nothing out there that can surpass the clarity of a good piece of tube gear. The 7591's are a sweet tube. Keep them running my friend and if you ever have a problem with them I can probably tell you what the problem is and how to fix it. Thanks for sharing.

[EricF 589]

19 hours ago, formariz said:

Unfortunately most people never had the opportunity  to listen to music in really good gear and with the advent of home theater systems and digital technology most will never do.They may be modern, cool looking, compact and convenient but good and faithful music reproducers they are not. All of these new developments were in a way the demise of good quality audio.

It isn't just the equipment. It's the sound mixing and mastering that's gone into lowest-common-denominator mode on far too many recordings, because there's no call to spend the time (because time is money) on careful studio production when the producers know that nearly all listeners will be hearing it on tiny earbuds, factory car stereos, or small computer and Bluetooth speakers. Or they mix it for audiences that just want music to play loud, not clearly and with detail.

 

Movie soundtracks are designed for the gee-whiz factor of exaggerated surround, too often missing the point of creating an immersive sound environment while still maintaining a clearly defined focus to follow the dialogue track. Instead, dialogue positioning gets whipped around, following the over-energetic camera movements and still manages to get overwhelmed by environmental sounds and the music track. And then if that gets fatiguing to listen to, switching to the stereo mix is often disappointing -- just a mess of musical score and sound background competing with the dialogue track.

 

Digital recording and compression isn't evil, but you have to understand how the sampling and playback processes work, and how compression/decompression works and make suitable adjustments for it during mastering -- few take that kind of time.

[6bg6ga 272]

Digital recording has its place. It works fine in studios and radio stations. Compression work fine in large areas and once again in radio stations. I'm sure you have heard the phrase garbage in garbage out as your reference. I will give you the point on the recording makes a difference but then so the does the equipment your listening with. I personally can pick out an amp with a blind A/B test and the same with a preamp. Saying the playback equipment doesn't have an effect is well pointless since its well documented that equipment does make a difference unless of course one is deaf.

 

Bad source = bad sound,  good source and bad equipment = bad sound, good source and good equipment= good sound.   I am an audiophile and have been for 40+ years. I may have to work with digital equipment but nothing will ever make me like it. Having said that I can tell you years ago I could fill a full sized rack with the processing equipment that now takes a single or at most 2 rack spaces. It has its place in recording studios and large outdoor systems. It has however no place with my gear.

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

On 5/25/2017 at 6:57 AM, EricF said:

It isn't just the equipment. It's the sound mixing and mastering that's gone into lowest-common-denominator mode on far too many recordings, because there's no call to spend the time (because time is money) on careful studio production when the producers know that nearly all listeners will be hearing it on tiny earbuds, factory car stereos, or small computer and Bluetooth speakers. Or they mix it for audiences that just want music to play loud, not clearly and with detail.

There is some hope and there are signs that the period of "totally smashed" mastering are drawing to a close.

It is very sad how many "remastered" releases are worse than what they replaced.

Me, I love dynamics. Year's ago I used to have 2 expanders in my system. Then CDs came out and I had plenty of dynamics. Now no dynamics, not because of limitations of the medium, but out of choice. Yuk. But there's been some stuff coing through with dynamics lately, so at least there's hope.