More listening techniques...

...and Embrace still sound like a sack of shit.

Hodgepodge of a system at this end: NAD amplifier, Pioneer cassette deck, tuner and turntable, Sony 5-CD carousel, and a pair of PSB bookshelf speakers, because I'm in an apartment now. Also have a set of reasonably good Koss headphones for when the mood strikes.

Alternately: AthlonXP system with SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum, and a set of Cambridge Soundworks 5.1 speakers, good for both audio AND DVD.

A lot of my music I listen to through my PC, an Athlon XP with a SB Live! going through a very simple 2-channel mixer, which also takes input from my 'Micro' Turntable. I also keep a couple of "small-to- RCA" converters plugged into the back of the mixer for when friends come around with laptops and whatnot.

The mixer, NAD tape deck, and NAD CD player all go into my Luxman solid state amp.

The speakers are freestanding and were custom built for my dad some 25 years ago. They sound pretty nice.

Most of the time I use the speakers, but for those late night listening/composing sessions I use either a pair of Technics or Pioneer headphones. (the Technics are better for extended use, but the Pioneer have better bass response)

I have a Sony discman by my bed for listening to ambient tracks first thing in the morning or last thing at night.

I also have a Sharp MD player that I use when I'm walking the dog, or catching a tram, or driving my car. Unfortunately it doesn't do anything fancy like audio compression, so I'm stuck with 74 minutes per MD, which ain't so bad most of the time.

Now now Dr C, that's a very uncalled for, thinly veiled, and rather irrelevant pop at me, isn't it?

I don't actually listen to said band much anymore at all, for reasons that actually have been detailed on here at sometime in the past, and I certainly don't mention them very much at all even in passing.

So what was that for?

ps. I also listen to a good portion of my music these days using my Creative Nomad Jukebox: I can listen to it on the road, or hook it up to a pair of speakers in the bedroom. Not exactly AUDIOPHILE, but then again, neither am I some days. (It's pretty hard to be an audiophile in a small apartment, so I don't even bother most of the time.)

"I FINALLY GOT THE GOOGLAPHONIC SPEAKERS, WITH THE MOONROCK NEEDLE....AND I WAS LIKE , HEY, THIS STILL SOUNDS LIKE SHIT." -Steve Martin

At home -- Sony amp, Apex CD/DVD/VCD player, and these great old speakers that my dad picked up in Japan in the sixties. Perfect combination of sound approaches, if you ask me.

Right now at work -- pair of small but very effective Harman/Kardon speakers for the PC. Not the little round ones for the Macs these days, these are about seven inches tall or so.

I am depressed from seeing so many people I deal with here in San Francisco my age and younger owning lofts, expensive cars, taking vacations all over the world, etc, etc, so now I am going to brag about my hifi, which is the best of anyone I know:

Linn LP-12/Lingo/Ittok/Rega Exact, Naim CD 3.5/FlatCap, Naim 102/HiCap/250, Linn Kabers.

*exhales* No, I don't feel better now. How did all these people get so goddam rich? At least I have a nice hifi... too bad I'm not home now listening to it.

Listen to my Sharp MD portable a lot on the bus, through snug-fitting Sony EX-70LP ear-canal things, which stick out at a bit of an angle and make me look a twerp.

At home, there's the living room stereo: Copland CDA266 CD player, Michell Gyro SE turntable/ Rega RB-300 (erm, re-wired with Cardas cable back in the days when I was daft enough to waste money on such things) / Ortofon MC25FL moving-coil cart, Nakamichi DR-3 cassette deck, Sony JE520 MD deck, NAD 402 AM/FM tuner (dead display, noisy transformer, mostly unused thesedays), NVA Phono 1MC phono pre-amp, Audiolab 8000Q pre-amp / 8000M monobloc power amps, Heybrook Quartet speakers. The Panasonic VCR also runs through this lot.

In the office, there's a pair of B&W Solid home-theatre monitors on swivel-stands running off a Cyrus Two amp. The soundcard (which came with the PC and is nothing special) runs into that along with any other bits and bobs (MD/tape Walkmen, pocket radio). This is the system playing now: Stars of the Lid: "Requiem For Dying Mothers". Cheer up, lads.

Other than that (this is turning into an insurance claim-form entry), there's the Akai HD recorder, which runs through the living room stereo, and through the Cyrus amp (dragged into the hall) for performer headphone monitoring.

Michael; do you have the moonrock needle? You need that.

do you have the moonrock needle? You need that.

I did try it - had terrible difficulty setting the tracking weight. Seemed like the manual was out by a factor of six.

i've just got a thorens belt drive with om-20 (?) -- it still adds a click one revolution after an isolated noise -- should i increase the weight ? -- i do hate the permanent damage element -- where the equipment touches the collection i figure is important

two old speakers and a 50 watt amp i built as a kit set as a kid which i have to push in a certain way on a certain old silicon button to keep from speaker drop out -- the amp _sounds_ fluid/organic i feel

old ('89) phillips cd player (they invented the format right ?), with remote control volume and digital out (the first such model from phillips with those features in my price range i think) and (sub-) index buttons -- has the industry turned it's back on the concept of sub-indexing ?

Hey, I haven't got any moonrock but inside my CD player I've got a tiny little crystal of quartz that pulses thousands of times a second and keeps the timing of the music better than a pixified John Bonham.

Who's impressed?