I was listening to...when I...

**Digispeed03** · January 25th, 2007, 12:02 PM

A few moments before sitting down to type this post, I, for the first time in my life, heard Stravinsky's "The Firebird (Suite)." My jaw is still on the floor in awe. There are simply FEW other events like the sound of the London Symphony Orchestra vibrating the walls of one's living room at ~100 db. After years of listening to primarily rock, R&B and contemporary jazz, I've been totally SMITTEN by classical music. In the past I listened to it "casually" via various Reader's Digest compilations, etc. As of late I've really begun to enjoy Mozart's "Requiem," Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and, as stated earlier, "Firebird" among others. My question is this: Which genre of music that you "hardly listened to" in the past have you developed a taste for? What didn't you "get" then but get now? Are you a "house head" who transitioned to rock? Pop to metal? Hip-hop to R&B? I'm interested in finding out what has "taken hold" of fellow ZPers musically. :icon_salu

**Mr Gummo** · January 25th, 2007, 02:13 PM

Many of us got into classical music because we were audio geeks. I was a "Hi Fi" freak a long time ago and learned that classical music is the best test for audio equipment, especially dynamic range. If you are hearing the quiet passages at normal listening levels, the crescendos will shake your place if your system can reproduce the sound clearly with little distortion.

Then I got to like the music!

**Jorge** · January 25th, 2007, 03:55 PM

I have been listening to classic country lately, the music has some much emotion that you can feel the power of the south in every tune.

**Digispeed03** · January 25th, 2007, 05:53 PM

Mr. Gummo, you hit the nail on the head. I'm what you could call an "audiophile on a budget." I'm aware of the Creeks, Rotels, ARCs and Krells of the world, but my income (much less my wife ;.)) simply don't permit that level of audio nirvana. Several days ago, I upgraded from a 10-year-old generic 85W/ch (stereo) Aiwa integrated receiver/Aiwa sub combo to a Pioneer VSX-816-K @ 110W x 7 and a 139-watt 12" Velodyne VRP-1200 sub. I playback my ~100 GB mp3 collection through a Creative Audigy2 NX @ 24 bits padded to 32 bits via foobar2k which is connected to the Pioneer (24/192 DAC) via an AR optical Toslink cable. I know that most "purists" would ring my neck, but the convenience of calling up any one of approx. 1,700 albums at the click of a touchpad beats flipping through a similar amount of CDs/vinyl any day IMO. While not being the best that exists, my new setup affords enough power, presence and soundstage to really fill my 20x12x10 listening space. I could literally feel the lower register notes of the piano, percussion, etc.

**Digispeed03** · January 25th, 2007, 06:00 PM

@ Jorge. When you say "classic country," are you referring to artists such as Johnny Cash, the Charlie Daniels Band, Billy Walker, Jimmy Dean et al? I ask because I don't listen to a lot of country music and I know when its being discussed, most non-listeners automatically think Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton. Who are some of your favorite performers?

**_Mazza_** · January 28th, 2007, 08:37 AM

Totally different genre but I've been listening to an album called Oh, Inverted World by The Shins and am really liking it, some ppl may find it a bit too weird for their liking though.