Have you ever noticed that when listening to music in your listening area that music seems to sound better with the lights down? To me there is a rather noticeable difference. Could be just in my mind because that's how I like to listen, or is it something more biological/scientific than that? Could it be that the lessoning of one sense enhances the other? Maybe it's just me. Anyway I thought I would see if anyone else has the same experience. Im sure if there is an actual reason for this phenomena, that someone on this forum will have the answer :)
Ok so I think this is in line with this topic. I have incorporated a lava lamp into he equation. With the lights even dimmer and the lava lamp on makes quite an interesting way to listen to your favorite music (mine being jazz) not sure it would have quite the same effect as listing to Rock..
Ok So here is a question. Does the genre determine if the room is better dim or lit? I would think Rock especially some Stones or Hendrix for example would maybe sound better in a brighter environment. No?? How about Sabbath or Parliament.. Would that dictate?
Lights off is very real and very physiological when it comes to attention paid via hearing. Human hearing is an alarm system which never sleeps. But it does vary in the brain power allocated to it.
At night it can save your life, so when dark, it becomes highly attuned. Highly. Shut off the conscious mind and the eyes, then the hearing really perks up. Maximum attention, maximum brain power applied, when it comes to sustained darkness. It is an autonomous function or process, for the most part. Outside of your conscious control, to a notable degree. Just like all parts of our day to day cyclic but varied (in level) functions.
"Lights off is very real and very physiological when it comes to attention paid via hearing. Human hearing is an alarm system which never sleeps. But it does vary in the brain power allocated to it.
At night it can save your life, so when dark, it becomes highly attuned. Highly. Shut off the conscious mind and the eyes, then the hearing really perks up. Maximum attention, maximum brain power applied, when it comes to sustained darkness. It is an autonomous function or process, for the most part. Outside of your conscious control, to a notable degree. Just like all parts of our day to day cyclic but varied (in level) functions.
It’s built right into you. Core function."
Nice. Makes perfect sense to me. No authority on the matter but makes sense. I was thinking along those lines in my opening post. It just seems like as the environment gets darker the hearing gets more sensitive which in tern makes the music sound that much better. Add a little color to that and ...pure nirvana
Music creates mood and so does lighting. I purchased a pair of 2800K (warm white) LED floor spot lights and placed them behind my towers. This is the only light I use in our living room when listening. My speakers now look incredible. This shows off my speakers and helps to set up such a great ambient mood in the room. Very relaxing and it helps me to focus more on the music. A great sound system combined with subtle lighting enhances the feeling you get when sitting down to listen to music. We now spending more than 50% of our time in our living room than in our family room. For the past 31 years we used our living room twice a year. We referred to it as our museum. Now we call it our music room.
"For the past 31 years we used our living room twice a year. We referred to it as our museum. Now we call it our music room."
Larry your story sound exactly like mine. Up until the past 2 years we NEVER went in our living room. I used to tell my wife all the time "lets turn it into an office or something" It seemed like such a waste of space. Maybe thats why home builders stopped building houses with formal living rooms. Anyway. I purchased a nice system to go in that space and now I use it almost daily. Plus I have two places in my home to get some solitude. Best decision I have made, and the WAF was good because I call that system "her" system lol. Hey do what you have to do right.. lol
Hey Elizabeth. This is a little off topic but question for you. You say you listen to music all day and all night. So do you turn on your system on in the morning and leave it on all day until you go to bed even when you run out for an errand? Just curious. I turn my system on and leave it on all day. I only turn it off if I know i'm either not going to listen that day or I know I will be gone most of the day. Im sure that has been a topic of discussion someplace on this forum but thought I would sneak a quick off topic question in. Im sure this could be a topic all by itself.
I understand LED's put a lot of junk on the power lines. Do they sell any of the old 100 watt bulbs anymore?
To be clear, LED bulbs and lights which are AC powered cause a lot of noise because they use a switching power supply. Some of it is really horrible on an oscilloscope.
It is not the LED itself that causes any noise at all.LED's in audio equipment are fine.
Dimmers make other people look brighter. And the reverse is true. So depending on your purpose you can act dim or bright. Yes and it does effect your connection to the emotional experience of the sound of your system.
you know interesting enough I never listen to music with my eyes closed. I will fall asleep. Also I would not be able to keep them closed in a brightly lit room. I guess I have thin eyelid syndrome or something :). I like doing everything with the lights low. My wife is always on me about turning the lights down. She likes bright, well lit rooms. I am more like a vampire. However she likes the blinds in the house closed and I want them open during the day. Go figure. I’m just weird like that I guess so when I comes to listening to music I have to have the lights dimmed else it just does not work for me.
Fools at 20 tend to be fools at 70! Fools grow more foolish just like wisdom (the domain of the Wiz - Frank Zappa) may improve with years. The best bet is to shut your eyes. Open eyes stimulate the optic nerve and make the brain work. Easily seen on brain scans the visual stimulation takes a lot of brain activity and it confounds listening with the distractions. All the visual needs to be screened out if you want undisturbed audio signals for 'receivers' like your brain stem systems.
If we think about all the brouhaha about "buring in wires" on our stereos and just transfere those insights to your wires in your head. To close your eyes and shut off the vision work is like bi-amping your speakers.
rcronk17 Fools at 20 tend to be fools at 70! Fools grow more foolish just like wisdom (the domain of the Wiz - Frank Zappa) may improve with years.
The best bet is to shut your eyes. Open eyes stimulate the optic nerve and make the brain work. Easily seen on brain scans the visual stimulation takes a lot of brain activity and it confounds listening with the distractions. All the visual needs to be screened out if you want undisturbed audio signals for ’receivers’ like your brain stem systems.
>>>>That is especially true when there’s a limited number of brain cells to begin with, like possibly ten or eleven. Multitasking is a skill reserved for the very young or people with huge heads.
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We named it for the Luminist art movement, a movement which emphasized depth and the beauty of the natural landscape and natural light. Luminist artists were so skilled that they rendered their brush strokes invisible, which kept the focus on the beauty of the painting. With our nearly 30 years’ experience, we are hoping to give you those invisible brush strokes, that you may hear music as truly, the artist intended.”
When I go to have coffee, it is not likely to be a casual cup. The coffee, being the main event, is important, but not much more than the environment. Too much noise, crappy music in the background, or worse, two different sources of music playing at the same time. You get the idea, so that would be my point for the listening environment as well. A previous poster did comment that the lights are dimmed just before the orchestra plays. Enticing the mood has it's merits to me.
Fwiw, I'm with Elizabeth, also listen to my system a lot when not tinkering. In my experience I've noticed during daylight hours the system still sounds great but it is influenced by outside ambient noise. In the evenings with less ambient noise it sounds superior to the daylight play. Light or dark environment does not seem to affect the actual sound. I believe that the level of ambient noise does affect the listening experience.
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