What stereo equipment do respected musicians listen to?

The cobbler's children's shoes.

Musicians and recording engineers tend to listen to music deconstructively. It's a quite different way of listening which doesn't put a premium on a lot of qualities valued by audiophiles. That plus the fact that music as a profession is, with exceptions, not a lucrative pursuit tends not to make musicians audiophiles - IMO.

vinylvalet, I agree entirely with you. I am also  a songwriter/musician and part time recording engineer. Thankfully, I can switch off the deconstructive part of my musical brain when I'm listening to the hi fi. Because I spend so much time writing, playing and recording, I actually find it a relief to just listen to music, without having to do the other stuff. My income is not reliant on anything to do with the recording/performance side of music so the hi fi is funded from other work.

Yinylvalet - nice to meet you too. I play guitar, bass and drums left handed so needless to say Sir Paul is right up there on my list of all time greats - as a musician and songwriter!

@wolf_garcia. I am simply reflecting my own experience of my interactions with other musicians over a period of over forty years.

Yes I did read your post - is your comment about musicians and money not a generalisation in itself?

As it happens I agree with you.

On your last point, it is not a question of "retaining hearing", but of retaining the capacity to listen discriminatively having suffered significant amounts of NIHL - which I agree that at least some people can do.

However, I've also listened to a good few recordings where it's pretty obviously that the engineer's ears were shot in the 2-4k range and their eq decisions reflected that.

I don't want to prolong this in an unnecessary tit for tat but I do feel compelled to respond on three points.

1. I said that I have listened to a "good few recordings i.e. many - not a "few recordings". Perhaps I was being too understated in my post. By the way, I have my ears tested regularly so I know exactly what the state of my hearing is. It's completely normal for my age. Thankfully, I have always used ear protection when being exposed to loud music and I'm careful in the levels I listen and monitor at.

2. There is a significant amount of literature about noise induced notch deafness. I respectfully suggest that it's worth a read if you are not familiar with it.

3. Lengthy involvement in the music business lends weight to your anecdotal evidence but it does not render it fact  - c.f. appeal to authority logical fallacy.