HiFi for musicians

Do drummers use Magneplanars (particularly the old Tympani models)? ;-)

One of my neighbors is a pro rock musician. He was over one time and looking at my gear. I asked him what he used. "I just listen to my computer's speakers!" I asked him "Wouldn't you like to have a nice stereo system?" His reply was "NO!" This example does not bode well for musicians!

My old high school friend (a very talented prog-rock musician) had a rather cr*ppy MCS system from JC Penney! I had to goad him into spending a few bucks for something much better: an AR TT/Grado, Kenwood integrated amp and KLH Sixes! All bought used and cheap, of course! This way I had something reasonably good to listen to when I visited him!

The reality is that most professional musicians cannot afford expensive hifi gear so that isn't even on their radar.  My brother falls into this category....he appreciates it but it isn't in the cards financially.

When I was in graduate (music) school, my professors had absolutely awful  (99 dollar) stereo systems. I was (even then) interested in high end stereo...they told me they knew how the pieces went and were able to "fill in" the unheard parts.

Yes, I have played guitar for 45 years, still play out, and love the fact that my system reproduces guitar tones spot on. I had collected many guitars and amps for a very long time before getting into hifi Audio. Always had a decent system until about 4 years ago, now have a very good system that is very musical. It really impresses with live recordings, which are my favorite type of recordings, especially acoustic, purest of tones.

Life is good!

I was hooked on high end audio (at least reading about it) from the mid 60’s or so, but becoming a professional musician back then required my using any disposable income (ha) on keeping guitars, guitar amps, and PA systems functioning. I had a decent home hifi rig through the 70s but pro music gear still had priority until I bailed from the constant club band scene in the mid 80s...then the audio bug bit hard and I could afford to indulge in nice hifi gear, and still enjoy the crap out of that...I also can now afford better guitars and amps, so win win. I think the percentage of hifi audio geek musicians is about the same as the general population really...I mixed a show a few years ago for the Bill Charlap trio and discovered that both Peter Washington (brilliant bass player) and Kenny Washington (no relation, great drummer) are both hifi gearheads...surprising...rare...

Ken Micallef of Stereophile has a series about this very subject, with interviews of musicians discussing their systems:https://www.stereophile.com/search/node/musicians%20as%20audiophiles
and https://jazztonesblog.wordpress.com/

Some of the various interviews are listed in this link. You can also google Musicians As Audiophiles Stereophile, etc, and the different interviews will be listed. Enjoy!

Thanks for the interesting posts.  I'll check out the stereophile article tonyjack.  I'm always curious to know what people listen for while enjoying the music.