You who have several sound systems, what do you listen to the most?

[Barrelhouse Solly]

I do most of my listening in my bedroom. I have an Elac EA101EQ-G amp that I got from the manufacturer as a close out. I have Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers that I got on sale at Fry's for $70. I'm using a Monoprice 12" subwoofer I got at a ludicrously low open box price. For input I'm using various Raspberry Pis and, every now and then, my tablet when I watch TV. My desktop system is an Aiyima A70 amp, SMSL SU-1 DAC, and a Raspberry Pi 3A+ with a JustBoom transport running PiCorePlayer with Jivelite to a Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble II speaker system I bought new in the '90s with a Cambridge Soundworks 10" subwoofer I bought new about 20 years ago. I use the computer as an audio source mainly for games and YouTube.

The Elac amp has light weight room correction that's tied to a phone app. It improves the sound. I have 2 Pis hooked to it, one with an Allo Boss2 going to an analogue input and the other with a HiFiBerry transport going to the coax input. All the music comes from my NAS except for internet radio.

I'm definitely subject to budget constraints. I like the bedroom system pretty well. Because I listen at low volumes I don't need much power. Oddly the speakers are the least expensive part of the system except for the Pis. I wanted the room correction. I did get the amp at about 60% off so I could have done worse.

I think the highest end equipment I've ever owned were the used Brociner power amp and Fisher tuner/preamp I bought when I was 19. The Rek-O-Kut turntable wasn't bad either. I got a mono system because I could get better SQ than I could with stereo on my budget. I bought mono records till about 1970.

 

[sarumbear]

Same but I need Spotify to have Dolby Atmos. as that is my favorite feature of Apple Music.

I listen music in stereo.

 

[Andrej]

I used to live in a big house with multiple good systems, and if I was reading in the library, I used that system (3.2) as background music. I almost never listened in the bedroom sitting room, with as good a system. If I was really listening, then it was always in the large, very heavily treated, basement room, dedicated to home theatar (pre Atmos), an 11.2 setup. Whichever of the many systems I owned I put into the treated room, that was the best system I had, so that is where I listened. Mostly digital files through Squeezbox (Logitech), but I'd try to do at least a side of an LP, as I like gadgets and I had to "justify" my 3k LP collection and an expensive (given the budget allocated to HiFi/Video) VPI turntable
I now live in an apartment, where I have built a nice pair (now added the center channel) of speakers. Those are used for music listening (not as background music, I almost never do "background"). I had also set up a 4.1 system for TV watching, but never use it as the room acoustics is terrible, so I use Stax Lambda headphones. A few days ago I replaced my old small front speaker pair with the new large horn speakers, and it is a vast improvement. Adding the center channel speaker (similar characteristics) did not change the situation a great deal, as I live alone, and always sit in the optimal listening location. Still, if i lean back, close to the wall behind the sofa, the sound gets much less clear (obvious when listening to dialogs in TV watching). Great speakers are great, but a great room makes all speakers great(er). Looking forward to a new house and a dedicated listening room

 

[Pablopbb]

I used to live in a big house with multiple good systems, and if I was reading in the library, I used that system (3.2) as background music. I almost never listened in the bedroom sitting room, with as good a system. If I was really listening, then it was always in the large, very heavily treated, basement room, dedicated to home theatar (pre Atmos), an 11.2 setup. Whichever of the many systems I owned I put into the treated room, that was the best system I had, so that is where I listened. Mostly digital files through Squeezbox (Logitech), but I'd try to do at least a side of an LP, as I like gadgets and I had to "justify" my 3k LP collection and an expensive (given the budget allocated to HiFi/Video) VPI turntable
I now live in an apartment, where I have built a nice pair (now added the center channel) of speakers. Those are used for music listening (not as background music, I almost never do "background"). I had also set up a 4.1 system for TV watching, but never use it as the room acoustics is terrible, so I use Stax Lambda headphones. A few days ago I replaced my old small front speaker pair with the new large horn speakers, and it is a vast improvement. Adding the center channel speaker (similar characteristics) did not change the situation a great deal, as I live alone, and always sit in the optimal listening location. Still, if i lean back, close to the wall behind the sofa, the sound gets much less clear (obvious when listening to dialogs in TV watching). Great speakers are great, but a great room makes all speakers great(er). Looking forward to a new house and a dedicated listening room

Curious about the logitech squeezebox... have you looked into Raspberry PI devices for streaming from your local digital files on the Logitech Media Server? For those unaware, the LMS is freeware since logitech discontinued making/selling the hardware front end devices. It was a really nice parting-gift that they released the source code so folks could continue to develop it.

 

[MacCali]

I really like the internet find on this info as an example.

I'm an electrical engineer by education, and started tinkering with my parents broken Magnavox console system before I was 10 years old (in the 70s). Reason I mention this as background info is b/c that Kenwood/Trio KA-3700 was purchased at a Salvation Army "recycle" center (its regionally where items go after they don't sell in the Thrift store, and right before they dismantle them to dispose of them or e-cycle them, they sell some bins of items by the pound). There was a 1980s style Pioneer stereo cabinet (cheap press board, tinted glass front and top with Magnetic latch) that all of us oldies probably remember, and the cabinet was in the laast-chance furniture department for $10. Reeked of tar and nicotine. Inside was the Kenwood amp, tuner, turntable (rebadged Bic 20z) and I think it was a a toshiba cassette deck. Basically, they were selling the cabinet for $10, and all the other stuff happened to be in it for free. I rolled that cabinet near a power outlet, plugged in each item individually and saw the power lights work on each (but could tell they all needed some work). Amp just needed the internal fuses replaced (the ones shown in the video linked above from DanielT), BIC turntables have a habit of grease hardening, but youtube shows how to fix that with a heat gun or soldering iron to melt it, then I replaced the belt and Voila worked fine [well, works at 33 1/3 and not as a changer], even had a microline cartridge/stylus! Tuner worked fine as it was, and the tape deck was irredeemable with all the belts, pinchers, rollers gooped up and melted and the heads looking pretty charred, so it got ecycled by me. I don't have a 'scope, just a basic mutlimeter at home, and sometimes the repairs are REALLY basic (resistance showed the blown fuse in one channel). In the past year Ive happened upon a Pioneer SX-626, Sansui Model 2000 (same problem, fuses), Kenwood KR-710 and Sony STR-7055, all for $20 or less (you don't want to know which ones were curb finds). Only the Sony was beyond my repair abilities. I still treasure the Crown D150A I thrifted years back, and used it to power a passive sub for years. Now, if I ran these on the bench with a signal generator and an Oscilloscope, it might not look pretty, but to my ear I got them sounding "not so wrong" (ok, the Sansui perplexes me bc one channel seems to have the treble go in/out sporadically). Just picked up two Southwest Technology Products 60/w monoblocks his week (Tiger model 207 A) as a freecyle.... box has spare parts too. Unfortunately, I heard these are not as quality as Heathkits so gotta be careful

Didn't mean to morph the thread, but Im sayin this hobby can be done really cheap too, sometimes you just have to take a chance and be willing to roll your sleeves up a bit. I haven't even mentioned my journey with the speakers....

Yea unfortunately if I had more time I would be more interested in taking a hands on approach. I got a local repair shop who is the authorized repair center for over a dozen major companies including sound united for warranty issues.

They’ve been in business for many years and only charge 80 to figure out what the problem is and also if you decide to repair that 80 goes towards it. They have a large staff too and typically no bs or delays.

But yea there’s a lot of good finds everywhere, I found a really nice onkyo receiver I was using in my living room home theater from goodwill which is a thrift shop as many of you know. It was only 50 dollars, was super mint condition and had nothing wrong with it.

But I will note that a lot of thrift shops offer no returns and products are as is or gift card credit for returns which is a hassle. So I wouldn’t spend more than a 100 ever.

My suggestion is for high priced products, which typical audio components are.

Also with eBay’s money back guarantee that’s another great way to buy. Unless it says as is it should be fully functional and I would test everything too. You can return it if it’s messed up without paying return shipping.

 

[stevenswall]

I listen music in stereo.

Why not mono?

Stereo seems better than mono, but surround seems at least as big of a step, regardless of humans having two years.

I like my nearfield Kali's at my work desk, but immersive audio is just that: immersive, and I can sit back and just listen all over again provided the Atmos mix was done reasonably well.

 

[sarumbear]

Why not mono?

Stereo seems better than mono, but surround seems at least as big of a step, regardless of humans having two years.

I like my nearfield Kali's at my work desk, but immersive audio is just that: immersive, and I can sit back and just listen all over again provided the Atmos mix was done reasonably well.

Sarcasm?

I have a 9.3.4 system as well, but do not like most Atmos mixes and prefer stereo in music. As you said, there are very few Atmos mixes that are done well.

 

[Andrej]

Curious about the logitech squeezebox... have you looked into Raspberry PI devices for streaming from your local digital files on the Logitech Media Server? For those unaware, the LMS is freeware since logitech discontinued making/selling the hardware front end devices. It was a really nice parting-gift that they released the source code so folks could continue to develop it.

I thought about it, but other priorities, and the inherent inertia, have kept me from doing anything about it. Once I find a more permanent housing/media room, I will be revisiting the whole setup. Streaming being one of the top priorities

 

[JohnnyAudio]

We have 5 systems that all can be fed from an Allen & Heath XONE 92.
That is a pretty flexible way to enjoy music.