Black & White hearing

riglehart

What do you make of this conversation with my wife???

She's playing an ELO cd in our crappy little under-the-kitchen-cabinet GE spacesaver. I have a pair of 2.3TL in the living room RIGHT THERE next to her. So I say...

Me: "Why are you playing this CD in here and not in the nice system"

Her: "I don't want to have to walk all the way over (10 feet) to the living room and blah, blah, blah..."

Me: "But this sounds like crap."

Her: "The only difference I hear between the two is that the other one is louder"

Realize, this was a friendly exchange. She is not tone deaf, because she comes from a musical family and can sing right on key, and she is not going deaf. We have both come to the conclusion that her hearing is definately missing something. I think there are definite differences in the way people hear and perceive the same music at a physiological level.

Makes me wonder how many people out there have NEVER heard a peice of music like I do. Explains a lot of the back and forth on weather this or that makes any difference in sound. To some it does, to others it is imperceptible.

Early B.

Look at this situation from a different perspective -- if your wife thinks the GE spacesaver sounds as good as your audio system, you've just been given a free WAF pass to UPGRADE!!!!

BobMcG

Early B. wrote:

Look at this situation from a different perspective -- if your wife thinks the GE spacesaver sounds as good as your audio system, you've just been given a free WAF pass to UPGRADE!!!!

Sounds like a good way of looking at it to me.;)

Pablo

My wife is kind of the same way. I found most women I know really don't "listen" to music, they just "hear" it. Almost every guy that has watched a movie over my place said the sound was great, but never from a lady.

When I lost one of my upstairs speakers I told her not to buy anything, I want to put in something nice (it was my old crappy system). What does she do, she goes out and buys a crappy Sharper Image $100 compact piece of crap (it was from $ exchanged for christmas stuff). She says it sounds ok, but it really sound like a couple of tin cans!

schwarcw

My wife likes music, and has many CDs of her own. She will acknowledge the great sound of my system. But could care less. She doesn't have the same passion for the good, quality sound. She's happy with the boombox.:(

riglehart

Early B. wrote:

Look at this situation from a different perspective -- if your wife thinks the GE spacesaver sounds as good as your audio system, you've just been given a free WAF pass to UPGRADE!!!!

Actually, she's probably thinking "why the heck is he spending all this money just to play his music LOUDER. Just buy a couple more GE space savers and bi-wire them."

Early B.

I think women generally feel music more than they listen to it. They're less likely to be interested in dissecting the sound like men do.

nadams

However, many times really listening to the music, allows you to feel it even more than usual.

riglehart

You know, that's a good observation. I'll listen to a song 20 times and not have a clue what the words are. I'm more interested in the "sound". My wife will sing along with a song after hearing it twice.

ESavinon

I have the same problem with a female friend who happens to be a classically trained concert pianist.
She has a $20,000 grand piano in her living room and listens to music on a $50 phillips boombox. yet she contends that the best way to listen to music is live preferably at carnegie hall or the met. GO FIGURE.

Tour2ma

riglehart wrote:

She's playing an ELO cd in our crappy little under-the-kitchen-cabinet GE spacesaver.

I'm guessing it was not a critical listening session... more like dinner prep-time...

Late evenings with a glass of wine, does she still prefer the GE? If yes, then there's cause for concern.

reeltrouble1

I once had a tall slender blonde lightly caress my SDA, slightly parting at the thigh, she wrapped her arms around the cabinet and leaned in, stating "if I had these they would be on all the time", it was awesome to see her back curve rise a bit as she smiled.

This is a Reel experience.

RT1

madmax

Often times I enjoy listening to AM radio rather than the system. It's just a different experience.
madmax

Skynut

I have been trying to get the kids to notice the difference between their ipod, the boom box, and my system.
Now the boy thinks movies in his room are better when they can be heard through the house. He has a tv with built in dvd player. It is just not the same and he thinks volume is the important factor.
They are going to need a lot of work.

steveinaz

I think the difference is that women listen to the music, and not the equipment.

bikezappa

She just may not CARE about the differences in the quality of sound.

She can hear the differences however.

If most men looked and compared a $200 suit to a $2000 suit they would not see any differences, but if they were shown the differences they would then see them. The feel of the fabric, the way the suit hangs on the shoulders, the shape/taper of the suit. But at the end of the day they probably would still buy the $200 suit and wear it. However a women can see these differences in the suits 30 feet away.

That's the wonderful differences between men and women. And it's a good thing.

schwarcw

reeltrouble1 wrote:

I once had a tall slender blonde lightly caress my SDA, slightly parting at the thigh, she wrapped her arms around the cabinet and leaned in, stating "if I had these they would be on all the time", it was awesome to see her back curve rise a bit as she smiled.

This is a Reel experience.

RT1

DAMN! I hope you showed her some real wood RT!

cfrizz

It has to start with the music first.

I love great harmonizations, be it vocals or instrumentation. More often than not that is what will catch my attention first. After I hear the music a few times, then I will focus on the words. I don't care what it is playing on. Most times I have heard the song on the radio, then I proceed to go buy it.

I didn't get into realizing that the equipment that the song played on made a significant difference until much later in my life. After which I started looking for better equipment to listen to.

I am now quite content with the system that I have to listen to my music on. Do I like looking at newer better stuff? ABSOLUTELY! But I can't justify the expense of upgrading when there is NOTHING wrong with the equipment I have!

Some of you guys don't care if you can justify the expense or not. YOU JUST WANT IT!

Men are far more fascinated by the equipment than the music. If the music sounds better as a result of the equipment great! However, that won't stop them from shopping for something even better.

The same way some women get into always clothes shopping, most men are into always shopping for better more expensive audio equipment. Regardless of the fact that they already have gear at home that is doing a terrific job!

HBombToo

steveinaz wrote:

I think the difference is that women listen to the music, and not the equipment.

YES, YES and that is exactly what I think.

NAILS Steve.

HBomb

PolkThug

riglehart wrote:

She's playing an ELO cd in our crappy little under-the-kitchen-cabinet GE spacesaver.

Was it Evil Woman?

cmy330go

I know many people (men and women) that could care less about the way it sounds, and are only concerned about the music itself. For example I have a few friends that have a very cool, unique band (kinda jazzy, hip-hop). All of the members are HUGE music fans and critics, but not a single one of them has a respectable system at home. Even after hearing my system a few times they all agree that is sounds far better than anything they listen to. But rather than spending a little money on a system for themselves, they would rather just buy more music.

My wife is somewhat the same way. She LOVES music, but has very little concern for what it is playing on. About the only time she will make a comment about poor sound quality is when we have to listen to a crappy TV in a hotel room.

I guess is just comes down to different priorities.

Dave

HiPerf360

cmy330go wrote:

I know many people (men and women) that could care less about the way it sounds, and are only concerned about the music itself. For example I have a few friends that have a very cool, unique band (kinda jazzy, hip-hop). All of the members are HUGE music fans and critics, but not a single one of them has a respectable system at home. Even after hearing my system a few times they all agree that is sounds far better than anything they listen to. But rather than spending a little money on a system for themselves, they would rather just buy more music.

Dave

I know some people that are the same way; however you miss so much of the music when it is played on a boom box or something similar. When I upgraded to the system I have now I rediscovered some of the music I had been listening to for years.

Jonathon

sucks2beme

My 16 old son told me last month "copied cds don't sound as good as the originals". And he's using my old hand me down stuff(Denon cd player, Rotel pre-amp and Beyerdynamic headphones).
The wife can hear a difference, but really doesn't care. If it doesn't fit in with the decor, it's out of there. The good stuff ends up in my office.
I guess I'm just obsessive!!

wingnut4772

As a woman, I can tell you that most women really do not care about sound system quality. This is a source of frustration for me with my friends because when I tell them (all excitedly, of course) that I can set them up a killer system they have absolutely NO interest. Even for cheap or free. I don't get it. My mom on the other hand, LOVES Hi-Fi and HT....Hmmmmm..guess that's where I get it from:)

cfrizz

WAAAA! I can totally relate Darla. When I try explaining to my friends they just look at me like I've grown a 2nd head!

But then I do the same when they are going on ad nauseum about the 200th pair of shoes they just bought!

wingnut4772

Exactly!!! Ad nauseum is right.:eek:

Early B.

I realize we're talking about women in this thread, but most men don't give a damn about audio equipment, either. Only Polkies and a handful of others are interested in this audio stuff. I'm sure Trekkies and car enthusiasts are wondering why everyone else isn't into their hobby like they are.

However, if buying audio components could entice women to lose weight without breaking a sweat or get them another pair of shoes, we'd turn all of them into audiophiles overnight.