Poll:Listening pleasure, which is 1st choice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rbathsheba
  • Start date Start date

Which system is the most enyoyable to play your favorite cd's on?

  • 1. studio monitors

    Votes: 11 18.6%

  • 2. headphones

    Votes: 13 22.0%

  • 3. home hi-fi

    Votes: 18 30.5%

  • 4. car

    Votes: 17 28.8%
  • Total voters
    59
R

rbathsheba

dabbler
I just read a forum on another site and it made me think of something I really hadn't thought of before. I am wanting to get some fair quality monitors for critiquing music and hopefully for listening. Right now I have headphones that I use with my computer, mixer etc. Probably my favorite way to listen to music is through headphones. I like my portable mp3 player with headphones I listen to most music on, going to sleep. I am assuming that when I get some decent monitors I will love to play all of my music on these whether it be for critiquing or listening for mere pleasure. The post I read on the other site made me think that this might not be the case. Here is the post http://studioforums.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/1526095781/m/8346027075/p/1
So my question is do we spend all that money on monitors because we need them but they are really not our choice for listening to other music? Will these make the cd's I enjoy now sound bland? I know this is a very nubee type of question but wanted to post it before I decided on monitors.
 
For mixing and anything that needs critical listening, monitors are the way to go. But, personally, I like headphones when I'm just listening for enjoyment.
 
I tried that once...mix for max on the headphones...put it to the muscle car 6x9 Jensen test and then the Klipsche Horn array...

It sucked.

The thing is, mixes done well on good monitors will/should sound good on just about anything...not just headphones. One of the big things I noticed was the blown out imaging...left and right were all over the map. The human skull wasn't designed to work this way.
 
Headphones have the best Isolation, my choice for enjoyment not for mixing though
 
whenever i get a new CD or something, i always pop it in the car and go for a drive. since i love music and driving, it works out well for me, haha.
 
everything done on my wharfedale 8.2A's sounds great anywhere but I do like listening in the car the most. Driving & music....with a woman on the passenger seat :D
 
LemonTree said:
everything done on my wharfedale 8.2A's sounds great anywhere but I do like listening in the car the most. Driving & music....with a woman on the passenger seat :D
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:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
Although my car only has Pioneer speakers (3 way in the back, 4-way in the front), it is my listening room of choice. Those 3 hour drives back home from school are brutal without music.
 
I don't think studio monitors make music sound bland. Just a lot more up front than a typical home stereo setup. I wouldn't choose my nearfields for playing background music or something, but they are great when you want to hear what is really going on. They are designed to play the audio back as flat as possible. A lot of home stereos accentuate a range of lows and a range of highs, and together it makes the audio sound louder and more powerful, but lacking detail.
 
Sadly, I have to pick the car. Not because it's the best sounding environment by far, but because it's the rare opprotunity I have to sit with out interuption and enjoy the music.
 
While I like listening to music in my truck, we have a pretty kickass home theater. I love to crank music, and listen from MY chair..... :D
 
I voted for Headphones

Because thats where i put when i want to listen for pleasure
Monitors for work only, and some especial music on it ;)
 
with constant listening through monitors, I feel like i've really learned them -- little things that I love and have to replicate when bands ask for um are much easier to do since I've taken to listening on them.

it's like when you force yourself to buy fruit instead of pizza. yeah i probably like pizza a bit more, but i know the fruit's gonna do me more good in the long run...
 
Mindcore said:
Sadly, I have to pick the car. Not because it's the best sounding environment by far, but because it's the rare opprotunity I have to sit with out interuption and enjoy the music.
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same here. without interruption is key, imo. I voted for the car.

thinking about it, cars are probably more universally acoustically similar too, from Ford to Honda,than say rooms and acoustics in various houses where setups can vary tremendously.
In other words I don't plan on remixing because my friend Fred likes his SubWoofer cranked to 12 and has his Bose cubes stuck up in the corners of his 16ft ceiling for movies.

rbathsheba
So my question is do we spend all that money on monitors because we need them but they are really not our choice for listening to other music? YES. :D
Will these make the cd's I enjoy now sound blandDifferent, maybe really different. like a different set of speakers can sound different..I know this is a very nubee type of question but wanted to post it before I decided on monitors.

My HR input...
Going from years of headphone shit mixes...using speakers was like getting a secret game code to advance to the next level. Translation improvement was large.

Then I went thru several sets of monitors looking for a holy grail- technically perfect monitor. Thinking I could get another LARGE improvement..which never happened, from set to set it was small and subjective to my ears. what a bunch of shit & waste of time reading about 22Khz or 20Khz being better.
Other findings was your room has an effect, is real, and sucks per physics.
Having nearfields in the EE triangle helps and some DIY wall stuff helps but you won't get the bass response of a gymnasium..er..unless your room is a gymnasium.

IMO, the "real monitor data" for me is:
1) physically how many CD-R's I waste before being happy.
2) Do the speakers sound good to my ears.

I'm not posting the brands, because thats not the point and I'm just a hobbyist HR head...so take the bs for what its worth.

go buy some Monitors, pick 3 sets, try 'em at home, buy one set...and get back to Tracking,Mixing, Mastering...
 
wesley tanner said:
with constant listening through monitors, I feel like i've really learned them -- little things that I love and have to replicate when bands ask for um are much easier to do since I've taken to listening on them.

it's like when you force yourself to buy fruit instead of pizza. yeah i probably like pizza a bit more, but i know the fruit's gonna do me more good in the long run...
Click to expand...


Listen on tin cans attatched to string often enough and you'll be able to mix on them.

Good point
 
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