Bad stereos.

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So for about six months or so, ending last week, I'd been listening to music via computer, using some decent multimedia speakers with a subwoofer and all the other bells and whistles. And during this time, I found myself sort of not liking a lot of new albums I'd expected to like, not to mention putting on plenty of old albums I knew I liked but then finding that I wasn't particularly keen on listening to them.

Then I finally got around to picking up a new receiver and reconstructing an actual stereo system, and voila: suddenly a lot of the stuff that mildly irritated me before sounds just fine. I've been tossing discs between the computer and the stereo to try and find some sonic difference, but whatever it is, it's not particularly noticeable, or not egregious at any rate.

So what the hell should I conclude from this? That my ability to judge decent musicianship is somehow dependent on some non-noticeable frequency that my computer speakers just couldn't handle? Has anything like this ever happened to any of you? I just need someone else's thoughts on this so I can try and figure out if there's something wrong with me or not.

Note: I did listen to some of these previously-annoying albums on headphones quite a bit during this period, and that didn't change anything either. Is it possible that I somehow need a decent pair of open-air speakers to even start liking a record?

Confusedly,

― Nitsuh, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What a difference a woofer makes.

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have never understood the plastic computer speaker thing. Just hook it up to your stereo!!! Miniplug --> RCA + [napster] = all the songs in the world sounding good

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Exactly! Or at least headphones.

― Kris, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Uh Tracer, why not pop the CD in the stereo then?

― nathalie, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I take it you didn't notice the Napster in that equation.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought that was a Radiohead bootleg or something. ;-)

― nathalie, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My computer has odd speakers. They are very very bassy. I've tried changing it but I can't. It's amusing because with some songs, like Chemical Brothers Under the Influence, stuff falls off the shelves and with other ones you can't hear key parts of the song. Like Gomez Whipping Piccadilly for example, you can't hear the vibraphone type effect before the chorus but the rest of the music goes on anyway. Its still good for dance music though.......

― Ronan, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it may have been a Mr Ewing that said that a great pop song is defined as something which sounds great on the crappiest earplug from the worst seventies transistor radio - which may bear out you theory.

This kind of argument keeps us vinyl lovers alive.

― Pete, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it may have been Spearmint who said that, unfortunately.

― Tom, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

my girlfreinds' speaker suck and I have to put up with it. theres no fucking treble! arrgh!

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

pete - that is somewhat true: songs aimed at pop radio/tv play are often deliberately produced to sound good on shit equipment, via heavy compression, omitting very low/very high sounds from the mix etc.

― m jemmeson, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Any speakers that let you hear less of Gomez must be top of the range...

― Andrew L, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

nath - complete and corrected equation should read more like: [(miniplug)RCA + recorded music] / stereophonic hi-fi set = not that plastic cocktail crap. "pop CD in the stereo" = impossible or extremely daring since my stereo does not have a device that will play them. hence my reliance on homebrewed stereo math functions.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have never understood the plastic computer speaker thing. Just hook it up to your stereo!!! Miniplug --> RCA + [napster] = all the songs in the world sounding good.

Yeah, but Tracer, my whole problem was not having a working receiver, which sort of limits those options. Not to mention that the sound ins and outs on my PC are all dedicated to a recording set-up, and I'd hate to have had to unplug my mixer or fire up my four-track every time I wanted to listen to a CD.

I just find it strange that speakers which sound basically alike -- the computer speakers didn't sound bad, really -- could have such a profound effect on what I wanted to listen to. I'd go buy new CDs, bring them home, and then get all disappointed that they just weren't appealing to me -- when really it was just something about the sound that must have been bothering me. And like I said, headphones didn't seem to help much either.

― Nitsuh, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

no stereo = bad stereo

tho i am jealous and impressed by such asceticism. given my distaste for music in its recorded form.

― Tracer hand, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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