How many of us fall asleep while

A while ago I had a pair of Stax F81F electrostats that sounded so soothing they would lull me to sleep, it was the Yin/Yang thing..I was so happy when awake, and so pissed that I fell asleap and shortchanged the listening session.

I, too fall asleep when listening late at night. Usually it's after a couple of Bombays on the rocks after a long day at work. My wife usually has retired to bed and I've got the volume set on the low side so as not to wake her. I can really get into the music, it's so relaxing that I fall to sleep like a baby. The only unfortunate thing is that I seem to be missing the best parts of the music I was so interested in listening to when I first sat down. As they say, "the night time is the right time".

And I thought I was the only one with this problem. I've fallen asleep in that "sweet spot" before the first track is done! I've finally traded my recliner for a wood rocking chair and I've heard a lot more of the music since. Hard to fall asleep in something you can fall out of! It's a trade-off between extreme comfort and staying awake to hear some music.

Yeah, falling asleep while listening in the sweet spot is great, but for a sure-fire, fast and efficient method to drift into a deep slumber nothing, and I mean NOTHING, beats listening to "Uncle Lou" Ruykeyser on "Wall Street Week" (even in mono)! His soothing monotone, combined with the utterly predictable format of his show, and the oh-so familiar panelists, lulls you into the reassuring belief that all is well with the world, no matter what the ups and down of the stock market. After a hard week at work, I appreciate this to no end. I wake up once the show is over, ready to go to bed.

I use my late night listening sessions in combination with biofeedback training that I received for chronic pain. If it is a good session I always doze off before the CD is done playing. I usually wake up when the last track ends and then transport myself to bed for at least three to four hours of uninterrupted sleep. These sessions are far more successful than any painkiller (and we are talking real drool material here - right SF) that I have tried and make me a much easier person to live with (per my wife). The clinical psychologist was concerned about me substituting music for the standard biofeedback talkfest/instruction tapes until they hooked me up to their measurement machines and discovered that I was their star patient. I was able to drop the stress measurement from the mid 20's to a 2 or a 3 in a twenty minute session. Mid twenties on their scale is in the "psycho killer" range and 2 or 3 is considered normal. The director of the clinic informed me that I was not their only patient that used music for biofeedback and asked that I give him a list of titles that were effective. I discovered that the type of music whether it be The Pretenders or Dvorak did not seem to effect the results as much as did my total involvement in the music. Cowboy Junkies (for popular music) however are at the top of my list due to the continuity of their song writing, which to me means a clean flow to the music and my total involvement. Don't mean to stretch the thread but I have been listening 15 degrees off axis with my old Castle speakers. My new speakers once they are broken in should allow a better on axis sound.