14 replies to this topic

[Auto-Fox]

Tell us about your sound system!
What ya got. Boom-box? Kick-a** component stereo? Portable CD or Tape player? MP3 (you lazy bastard)? Awesome car stereo?
Also, discuss! Comment! Tell us about your music collection if you want.
Anyway, I'll start us off.

What I got:
Type: Component home stereo system.
- JVC RX-3 FM/AM Computer Controlled Receiver.
- JVC TD-W110 Stereo Double Cassette Deck.
- JVC XL-V450 Compact Disc Player.
- Pioneer LD-870 LD (LaserDisc) Player.
- RCA DRC190N DVD/VCD Player.
- Fisher FVH-T607 Sound Stage VHS VCR (stereo sound output).
- Sharp VC-A542 VHS VCR (monaural sound output).
- Audio-Technica AT-PL50 Stereo Full Automatic Turntable System.

Still a work in progress, I'm working on hooking the tuner to the old TV antenna on the roof of my house. As well as learning to get my tape deck to record off my other components. I'll also be adding whole new components as I can afford them, including (eventually) a dedicated VCD player, perhaps a DVD-A and/or SACD player, better speakers (and more of them), and a digital TV tuner.
And also, don't laugh, an 8-Track player, eventually. If only for the apparently unique sound quality of the format (and the fact that it's the only tape format capable of quadraphonic sound).
I'm also slowly building my catalog of stuff to PLAY on my setup, expanding my tiny CD collection. Also vinyl and cassettes.
The local record store is stocking new vinyl releases, and their used stuff is cheap, so my collection should grow pretty big pretty quick.

So! What about the rest of you? Have an epic audio rig you're proud of? Or a humble little device or setup you love to death? Tell us about it!

[Nemoide]

I've pretty much absorbed my parent's old stereo system as my own. It's a couple decades old but serves me well enough (I need a new receiver one of these days). It initially consists of a receiver, turntable with P-mount cartridge (P-mount is a point against the turntable... especially since my current cartridge is kind of cheap), and a tape deck (with Dolby B and C); all Denon brand.

The one piece I bought for myself was the CD player; also a Denon. It's a 5-disc changer, although in all honesty I would prefer a single-disc because I'm afraid of the drawer's motor wearing out. Supposedly the model has worn out for others, but mine is going strong and it produces great quality sound. It has a 24-bit digital-analog converter, as well as an HDCD decoder, which makes HDCD-enabled discs (which are also all playable on normal CDs, most folks probably own some without realizing it) playback at 20-bits as opposed to the normal 16 of a typical CD.

My entire setup is sort of a jury-rigged mess. I've got wires all over the place. I can only, have one video game console hooked up to it at a time (or the TV, through it's headphone jack, converted to RCA), so I often have to switch the RCA cables, I have a male-to-female extension so I don't have to reach behind the receiver at least. The components are spread out across various cheapo furniture pieces. TRUST ME, IT IS A MESS! But I prefer to think of it as being... hacker-esque? Kind of like I'm the protagonist from Pi with his homemade supercomputer?

I'd like to start upgrading, but I'm waiting until I'm settled in a career. The first thing to change should be my physical layout; getting a solid cabinet to house all the pieces. Putting the turntable on a butcher's block and Vibrapods, cheap little vibration-reducing things which supposedly greatly improve sound quality. Next to be upgraded would be the cartridge on the turntable; apparently decent P-mount Moving-Coil Cartridges exist for a couple hundred dollars. I can't afford that at the moment, but SOMEDAY! The most significant upgrade will have to be a new receiver; I want one that can handle HDMI connections, as well as digital coaxial; plus the ability to hook up multiple video game consoles at the same time. I would love to also be able to someday get a Blu-Ray player that also plays HDCDs, SACDs, and DVD-audio; so I could just have one unit for those formats.

Oh, and I prefer CDs to vinyl. I JUST LIKE THROWING THAT OUT THERE! Because even though they tend to be less expensive and produce technically superior sound on most setups, apparently my opinion is in the minority? Whatevs.

[Jof]

I pretty much listen to all my music on my iPhone when I'm out and about. I bought a pair of quality Bose noise-cancelling headphones a couple of years back, and since then I can't listen to music on anything else! Since I only have a laptop, the speakers on that are a bit shite, and even plugging the headphones into the jack seems to produce lower-quality sound than if I used the iPhone. Must be to do with the soundboard.

So yeah, I listen to everything as I walk; to and from work, to and from uni, to and from anywhere, I have to have my headphones on : ). There's just something about walking, with absolutely no outside noise, and just the sweet sounds of whatever I'm playing. It sounds weird, but it's almost like an out of body experience. Like I'm in some sort of TV show lol, and it's the soundtrack to my life. The music puts me in different moods depending on where I am and what I'm listening too. I even walk along to the beat!

[Auto-Fox]

My entire setup is sort of a jury-rigged mess. I've got wires all over the place. I can only, have one video game console hooked up to it at a time (or the TV, through it's headphone jack, converted to RCA), so I often have to switch the RCA cables, I have a male-to-female extension so I don't have to reach behind the receiver at least. The components are spread out across various cheapo furniture pieces. TRUST ME, IT IS A MESS! But I prefer to think of it as being... hacker-esque? Kind of like I'm the protagonist from Pi with his homemade supercomputer?

^^ I know what you mean. All my components are from at least the mid '80s, and it takes two separate pieces of furniture to hold it all. My CD player and Turntable are off with my video-game consoles, while the rest of my setup is off with my A/V stuff.
DO NOT look behind those shelves. It would make a grown electrician cry.
Actually, the only reason I HAVE this setup is because my parents got me a turntable for Christmas (I had been talking about how vinyl is making a comeback recently), oblivious that my cheap boom-box couldn't take the input, as it didn't have the proper connectors.
In their guilt, they bought me my tuner and CD player, and I assembled the rest out of my own pocket. Goodwill is AWESOME for finding stuff like this on a budget, I got my Tape Deck for $10.
So... what kinda stuff d'you listen to? I mostly listen to dance, techno, stuff like that.
My current favorite artists are 7 Red 7. Got their "Liquid" album off a bargain shelf, and it hasn't been out of my CD player since.

[Nemoide]

Jof - sounds pretty sweet! I someday would like to upgrade to a really sexy pair of headphones. I was given a pair of Bose "TriPort" headphones (their lowest-end) a number of years ago. They SOUND great but they've broken something like 4-5 times before eventually upgrading the design so they don't break apart for no reason. Bose has good customer service but the product that breaks that easily shouldn't have been released to the public in the first place. Still, I like how they sound, they got me through my undergrad years, and I use them whenever I want "the full effect" in terms of audio from my Nintendo DS.

So... what kinda stuff d'you listen to? I mostly listen to dance, techno, stuff like that.

EVERYTHING. Almost. My default answer for "top bands" are They Might Be Giants, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, and Logan Whitehurst.
I'm almost entirely out of the loop with what most people like; I listened to Taylor Swift for the first time ever about two weeks ago at a party, apparently everyone else knows of her?
But I'll listen to rock (pretty much every major subgenre from rockabilly to metal), techno, rap, industrial, experimental noise, 1960s novelty songs, J-pop, classical, 1950s R&B, jazz, ETC. I don't know much about country, but I've heard some really dynamite old records on the freeform station I listened to when I lived with my parents. It really depends on my mood; I can listen to, and enjoy, any type of music. As long as whoever is working within that genre is interesting. No "indie-as-a-genre" acoustic guitar songs about high school romance allowed!

[Auto-Fox]

^^ Cool. I personally avoid mainstream music as much as possible. I do most of my record shopping off the bargain shelves in my local record store. So far, I've had pretty good luck with that method.
Like I said, I mostly listen to techno, house and dance, but I also love Hair Metal, Prog Rock, stuff like that... also Synthpop, when it's well done.
But, I won't listen to pop music produced after 1998, and I'd say I'm better for it, to be honest.
Can't stand country, either. I just... can't STAND southern drawls. Don't ask me why.
^^ Anyway! Trying to learn how to record mix tapes off my tuner with my tape-deck... I've got everything hooked up, just can't figure out how to make it work.
Anybody here know anything about that?

[Noctourne Wonderland]

^^ Cool. I personally avoid mainstream music as much as possible. I do most of my record shopping off the bargain shelves in my local record store. So far, I've had pretty good luck with that method.

I dare you to look up Klaus Nomi. His stuff is opera meets synthesizers meets aliens doing vaudeville. Case in point, Lightning Strikes. Enjoy.

As for how I listen to music, it's usually on an iPod. My record player is fun for the novelty of it all, but for just listening to good quality music, I like to just use my iPod.

[SmashQueen]

How do I listen to music? Either with a pair of headphones I recently got from my cousin, replacing the old pair which only worked on one side with a bunch of tape, hooked up to my computer's speaker, or from a discman. Radio on occasion, tape deck/CD player too. While this is going on, I usually try to sleep, read, write, or look out the window.

A menagerie of music is orchestrated, placed into a certain order for maximum inspiration or joy. ^^ That is my happiness...

[Level 99]

I think I have close to a dozen different setups that I listen to music on regularly, but I'll list the big three here:

The recording setup: All regular computer components aside, when I'm listening to music that I'm either creating or giving feedback on, I'm using my Focusrite Saffire 6 USB audio interface with a set of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's on. The 280's are fantastic headphones, and have made the biggest difference in music listening and creation based on quality alone. They're not noise-canceling but with the amount that it blocks out outside noise, they might as well be. Running either Sonar 8.5 for creation or using Foobar2000 for playback.

Deskchecking the sound/casual media: for double-checking sound, as well as for less-hassle listening, I have a Creative X-Fi Platinum also in that computer. Either plugging in the 280's or using a Creative 5.1 sound system for normal music and media, as well as playing games since Saffire 6 USB isn't very friendly with things like TF2. It's a pretty constant switch between the sound card and the saffire in any normal day.

On the go: I have a Toshiba Gigabeat F40 with the latest version of Rockbox on it, and it's almost always plugged into my car stereo or very cheap headphones.

[sapphire]

Most of my newer music is on my iPhone. I haven't updated it in a while, however, because my computer doesn't recognize my phone for whatever reason (I terribly need a computer, but I terribly need monies). I'll use any headphones that sound good that aren't earbuds, since I can't stand the things.
Sometimes I'll pull out my cassette player for the crazy amount of old music my dad has on tapes. In fact, I'm currently listening to some stuff from The Who.

[Dark Magician]

Well I normally listen to my music using my MP3 player or my laptop with either lab or MP3 headphones. However, depending on if my batteries are charged or not, I might just use my old CD player.

[Auto-Fox]

Personally, I prefer CD. I like Cassette, too, though.
And then, of course, I also use YouTube to go find AMVs set to specific music, then just minimize the page and listen to the audio. ^^
OOH! But, there's something I must tell you all about. During a trip to Goodwill, I acquired an Archer Video Enhancer/Stereo Audio Enhancer. Basically, it lets you master a tape with your own soundtrack, in addition to the original narration and such.
As printed on the back of the box:
"Mixes narration and background music on soundtrack while enhancing the quality of the video images. Mixing controls for audio, music, microphone, master audio and video enhancer. Inputs for CD/cassette, camcorder/VCR and microphone. VCR/TV output."
So, yeah. It's got a bunch of RCA audio inputs, an RCA video input, a single set of A/V outputs, and level sliders for sound volume for the various inputs. Also, it's got the aforementioned "video enhancer", which I'm guessing is just a signal amplifier, which is fine. It'll make my tape remasters and copies look all the better.
This thing looks like it should have "As Seen on TV" printed on the box, but actually it's from Radio Shack, so I'm guess there should be SOME basis to the claims on the box.
^^ Should be cool, once I finally start to use it. Imma make some music videos using my brother's camcorder and my CDs!

[viperxmns]

It's either the computer (the built in iMac speakers are meh, but I've gotten used to it), iPod (with Sony earbuds suited for the subway), or my ol' Sony CD player connected to external speakers for when I'm doing stuff in the studio (studio being my workspace/art table area downstairs).

[DiENE]

I use my Creative Zen X-Fi2 and some Sony sound canceling headphones when I'm commuting or walking.

Other times I will use the external speaker on the mp3 player when I'm riding my bike and just throw it in my basket or I will use these amazing little speakers I invested in recently. I use those with my bike too as well as when I'm on the beach or in some desolate area in my town where I practice dancing with a few friends, I seriously recommend these compact things there really cool. iHome portable speakers

[The Dread_Emperor]

I currently a iPod Touch 8GB model, with noise canceling headphones (pretty big pair). Or, I might listen to music on an old boom box stereo, my bedroom stereo with surround sound, or on my computer listening to whatever that I have playing in my iTunes or on Youtube. I highly have a conspiracy to listening to a lot of video game themed music, but most of all I just like listening to Rev Theory or The Birthday Massacre.