There are many types of music and many ways to listen to it. I am an audiophile designer for both studios and private listening rooms. My main job is designing toys that make the music experience as real as posible. I have currently 3 reference audio systems set up and yes music plays 24/7 here. I also have 3 casual listening setups, so even when I'm relaxing "the tune" is ever present. This week, while taking a break before my next trip, I started to wonder how many people on mingle have a serious stereo setup. You know, 2 speakers one chair in the room type of thing. Anyway I'd like to when I can share some music with you that I have found to have great soundstaging.

If your into the hobby of dedicated stereo listening maybe this would be a good place to share.

I'd like to start with one of the pieces of music I'm listening to today.

Halo 3

Until today I didn't know what Halo 3 was. Shows how out of touch I am. After a couple minutes of listening I put myself in the listening chair and didn't move till the end.

This is one dynamic piece of music with a soundstage that is captivating. Almost creeping and dark with hints of relief these songs kept me on the edge of my seat, or more the feeling of pulling the blanket up over my head from fear. It's that intense. I hopped up on Amazon to find more about the music.

one of the reviews

"It starts out with Luck, a quiet, noble track tinged with reminiscent sadness. Then, the tracks slowly build in intensity. Halfway up this build is Out of Shadow, taking full advantage of stereo sound and electronic beat to create a subtle but extremely pleasing rhythm. Later comes a peak, This Is the Hour, a heroic variation on the main Halo theme, which then subsides into chilling darkness for the track Dread Intrusion. However, the music becomes more positive and epic through Follow Our Brothers, Farthest Outpost, Behold a Pale Horse, and Three Gates. The creepy beginning of Black Tower segues into an sad and emotional second half, followed soon by the touching Keep What You Steal. The beautiful choral music at the beginning of Halo Reborn is echoed in Greatest Journey, which then becomes the main Halo theme. And boy, what a theme it is. Greatest Journey is the climax of the entire album. Tribute and Roll Call have the general feeling of victory, but not without sadness and sacrifice and remembrance. Wake Me When You Need Me is a quiet, emotional track, echoing many of the tones of Luck and bringing the album full-circle. Finally, extras are tacked onto the end, including the beautiful track Never Forget, a slow and emotional mix of three subtle themes."

This is a fantastic effort from O'Donnell and Salvatori. A true head trip. And, if your into listening to space this is mind thriller.

Lately I've been buying up CD collections from people. Most of these folks are converting from CD to down loading. There are pluses for both of us. Convenience for the downloading folks and great prices for the collectors. One of my recent purchases was a Cd case full of soundtracks. I rolled my eyes when I picked them up, thinking this was wasted space. Now I will have to get rid of them to make room for my other music. Oh well I need the cases anyway. Not so fast!I popped one of them on for back ground and found a whole new world.

Back in the 70's we dreamed of having head trippy music. The further out there the better. Kraftwerk and others made it to the top of our head trip experiences. Music that floated around the room as we were stuck in our chair for the 45 plus minute ride. My eyes have been opened. What was I missing? Like the 70's experimental music sound tracks, mixed orchestra and effects are all over the place to be found. What, a Disney movie is doing this to me? Well, yes and I'm looking forward to many more surprises.

I'm listening to Wall-E. Never saw the movie and maybe it's a good thing cause taking the music at face value without the video has been a wonderful time. Hello, even Peter Gabriel?

Yes, I like a lot of spacial head music. This doesn't limit listening to any one type it just means that there is a lot more on the CD than we give credit to. Here's a fact you may not know. Even if you have your system setup to deliver a fairly good presentation you are more than likely hearing maybe 10 percent of the music.

When I bring people in for a listen they always are saying "never heard that before". This is mainly because the art of listening is more than a system in a room. When you turn your room into your system you find a whole new chapter to listening to music that you never thought was there.



This is one of my rooms, but don't let it fool you. If you took your basic system, set it up in a spare bedroom, and did a couple of tricks you would hear your music in a completely different way than you ever had before.

The hobby of being an audiophile listener has a few tricks that you can do to make your system really perform. Once you do these tricks and put on your music you will be shocked at how much more there is to the sound than you had before.

That's a cool room dude. If I had a room like that the first thing I would do is turn out the lights, fire up a fat blunt, and listen to Pink Floyd Wish You were Here..........

A good choice. Love my floyd, waters and gilmore collection too.

With "wish you were here" some things blow right past you to the rear of the room and back again.

I have a Kenwood speaker surround sound. Nothing fancy. Kinda old actually. Still sounds good. Kinda cool with Floyd. Sounds just fly from everywhere......

Something we like to do is tweak out older systems. Because of all the hours you have played your setup the wires and parts inside have had a chance to what we call "burn in". If you loosen the screws both inside and out of the receiver it will open up the sound even more than it does now. If you ever want I'll show you how to take your system a couple more levels of sound with a screw driver and a wire snip.

One thing people don't know about their stereo is, because of the way it has to ship all the parts are fastened down in a way that keeps them from moving. Because of this the sound gets squeezed while passing through the signal path. When the parts have a chance to relax the sound opens up quite a bit.

fly is what it is about! and Floyd is king!

Today I started off with "aliens ate my buick". Never thought I would be a Thomas Dolby fan till one day many years ago I happened to put this on one of the systems in my audio store. The engineers must have been smoking some strange delight while producing this. On the radio or a basic setup "yuk" would have been my thoughts, but after I gave a serious listen "wow" was more like it.

Like with all music, you have to have a system that knows how to produce bass to truly enjoy a piece as active as this. I only listen to Aliens with the volume up and my ears on. There are a lot of fast moving parts that fly around the room, and if your system is in tune Aliens is as visual as any movie.

For head trippers with a good system setup I highly recommend adding this to your list. It will open the door up for a lot more music to follow that you might have called pop before.

all I want is the keys to your Ferrari

Wow!!...Makes perfect sense mg....I love Jazz, all kinds...I was introduced to it when I was 21.....At first I did not like it....That was because I didn't understand "how" to listen to it...It took time, many live concerts, and lots of concentration.....I love it becuse it is so intricate...Cords being played "under" melodies, complicated improv solos, walking basslines.....I would love to listen to it in one of your rooms, I am sure it would sound amazing!

Love Jazz, old school and new. Cut my teeth on it while running sound for the JVC JAZZ festivals in Atlanta. Great recordings and a fun time. But the real deal happened for me when visiting some of the smaller places with some hip old school jazz/blues dudes. Nothing like live jazz! Walkin the bass, tickling the keys and splashing the brushes. Keith Jarrett bye bye black bird baby!

Yes sir!!.....Blues meets jazz = Fusion!!....I love the blues and how listening makes me feel!....Johnny Lee Hooker "Definitive Collection"... Marsalis and Clapton "Play The Blues".... Muddy Waters..... Mr. Miles Davis "Kinda Blue" and so many more!!!....My girl Candy Dulfer "Sax A Go Go"!!....John Coltrane...well, you get the point...

Now you are talking sis! Went with Johnny to 85th street Chicago back in the day. I was a youngster (green) and parked my truck on the street outside the joint. Johnny had some big dude watch it while we went inside to play around.

here's my studio where some of the gang played



many good times

I really like vinyl records still.............I have the whole Jimmy Buffet collection that were released that way up until disc released, Crosby, Still and Nash, the Allman brothers, and the Beatles on 45. Even have a copy phongraph records. Copy Elvis singals. Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album, LOL!!!

Many friends and clients of mine still live and die by the vinyl and I enjoy jammin at their places.

here's a pic of me at Mo Fi Records

I've listened to 4 or 5 Cds today. What a job right? Tonight I'm going to enjoy some "Jimmy Eat World". Love their realism and simplicity. You can hear their work clearly as they usually do a very good job of recording.



Some pick on music today saying it is without talent. I would disagree strongly and this is a great example of a modern band ruling the studio. I can easily turn my mind back 30 years and see these guys playing then as a soft punk/pop band. The first cuts makes me wonder where they are going but the kick drum/bass lines keep me in the music, and by the 3rd song I can see the party they are creating. Yep, the ole leg is starting to shake about the time they break into a very nice vocal display and rhythmic guitar. I'm in for the ride now till the end as they keep that drive in my head. A great use of pace with the instruments and vocals riding on top of it. Again if your system doesn't produce a good bottom don't bother, you may not get it.

Expect a new rock approach to this CD and let them lead you into their world of high energy rock/pop with a blend of soft ballad surprises.

Younger listeners read this and say "mg's getting old".

Oh well, late is better than never.

You're never too old to see the influences of yesterday branded upon today. The beauty of music and its influences from the classicals, to blues, bluegrass, soul, R&B, rock and roll, country, pop, reggae, and so to all the genre pulled forth. It just captivates the mind and soul into combining the small beauties of the world such as music, art, wines, foods, nature, through many different way to express create.

Love your music room mg ... thanks for the sharing tips too

My husband always had a great appreciation for music, he loved it and his collection was very large. I enjoy music as well. Pioneer sound equipment was used and thought it to have very good sound quality. I imagine there is better out there though and you would know.

I'm using a vintage stripped down Pioneer in one of my systems right now. When I say stripped down I mean it.

take a look at my sunroom system



I love listening to this system in this tiny 10'X 13' room.

This is a stripped Pioneer that can be picked up for $50 to $75 and a stripped Magnavox DVD player $29. I've converted them into music monster makers. This little setup has rivaled $100,000 systems.

I love finding these little setups and helping folks convert their spare rooms into DIY music palaces. A lot of people think you have to be wealthy to have great sound. Not so! It's how you set things up and a few tweaky secrets.

I did car audio for 20 years. I know perfect sound and love it.