what system musicians prefer? Do they care?


I have never aspired to be a musician, although I am very artistic.  I am bad at singing and never enjoyed dabbling at playing an instrument. But I enjoy listening to music tremendously and I always wondered if being a musician would improve my experience as a listener. It seems to me that musicians (good ones) would have a lot more expertise in sound, what is good quality sound, a good system, a high fidelity speaker.... but I have never seen any proof. Am I just imagining it? Are good musicians mediocre listeners? Are they not obsessed with good sound? Any musicians out there to comment?
One example I know is the  Cambridge Soundworks Mick Fleetwood Speaker System, which I finally purchased last year, I knew my collection would not be complete without it. It's evidence of great talents crossing paths: a  genious speaker designer Henry Kloss, and Mick Fleetwood, one of the greatest drummers of the century (and  the previous one). But I don't see musicians weighing in on what are good systems are, how much is it worth spending and what to focus on. It's much more like rich douchebags bragging about the price of their systems on these forums. 
gano

Showing 1 response by unsound

Sometime ago on Steve Guttenberg’s “Audiophiliac” vlog he had a prominent guest audiologist who catered to a clientele that were in the music industry, musicians, engineers, masters, etc. for custom IEM’s.  She had some interesting observations to share. She said audiological testing results indicate that musicians hearing was more likely to be compromised than non musicians. That the test results can usually indicate what instruments the musician tested played. And that classical musicians hearing tended to be the more compromised than other genres  (she postulated that that might be due to the additional increased practice time of classical musicians).
I don’t play, but know many musicians and have attended many rehearsals and performances. Some music professionals asked for my help in buying audio systems. Usually they buy good value oriented budget high end systems that can play back the particular instrument they play especially well, violinist choose differently than trombonist.
I have the feeling that musicians tend to be more interesting in the construct of the music and how they can fit into it, than in the pure sonics of it. What they hear on the bandstand is very different than what the audience hears in their seats.