Hard of Hearing Audiophile.


This is for my hard of hearing audio peers. I lost a lot of hearing from exposure to big guns in the military. Wasn't bad until my fifties then caught up with me and pretty much killed the hobby. With the virus quarantine, I set out to build a little system that would serve me. I was motivated by enjoying Spotify through my JBL 200 Life bluetooth buds. 
I went through four sets of speakers, six integrated amps and a set of headphones in my quest. I have Widex hearing aids and they do have a less than perfect Music setting. Kind of harsh and peaked in the upper midrange but not totally bad for live performances and listening in the car with road noise. 
For my audio system, I quickly realized that I had to listen through these hearing aids to get decent sound so my goal was to find something that was neutral to easy going and not peaky or harsh. 
I went through several sets of speakers. Got a good deal on some PSB XB bookshelf's but they lacked the body and bottom end I wanted. Klipsch M600 were too forward and brash. After reading some reviews, I settled on ELAC Debut 62 speakers. These are great $600 speakers. I later added two eight inch Outlaw M8 subwoofers and they really added to the sound quality and the PSB monitors were very nice with the subs. I kept both the PSB XBs and the Elacs.  I settled on Audience Ohno interconnects. They got a good review in Absolute Sound and are excellent interconnects. I'm using 3130 Mogami OFC speaker cables nicely terminated to look professional. Conductor size came out to about 9AWG. (two 12 gauge on each leg) The sub cables are some Belden 8412 with Canare F10 RCAs Terminated by me. Good sub cable but sucks as an interconnect. I cant speak highly enough of adding the Outlaw M8 subwoofers. It made a huge difference in the system. 
Sitting on a wooden shelf, I slipped an 18"x18" Ceramic tiles under subs. Seemed to tighten up the bass a fraction. 
I had a OPPO 93 DVD player and it is my CD source. 
Amps are where I had trouble. Luckily, I discovered the Yamaha S801 integrated, and it's calm honest influence makes the entire system sound really good to me. One of Steve Guttenberg's favorites along with the PSB XB speakers.
I passed on the Cambridge 100 receiver for being dead sounding. Denon PMA800 was nice but no sub out. Outlaw receiver had a characteristic sound to me and music seemed not to escape the front of the speakers. I ordered an IOTA  integrated from England and couldn't get it to work for me sonically.  The Vincent 500 had a nice midrange but lacking in bass control and fitness in the details. Parasound 200 integrated and great bass and the remote was the absolute best I've ever seen, treble, bass and balance being adjustable from your listening position and you can see the bar easily from, in my case eight feet away. Too harsh and forward for me. 
I found a used set of HiFi Man headphones for $130 on Ebay and they join the mix. 
This setup is in my garage/work shop. I got some foam sound material from Amazon and glued it to the wall behind the system. My speaker stands are a very sturdy work counter. I have limitations. The speakers can be set out from the wall one foot max. 
Thats been my adventure. If you have hearing problems, just experiment and look for the neutral sounding equipment that other may think are not exciting enough. For me it works. I don't know if any other hearing aid has a music setting or not.  I am super happy with my enjoyable system now. I even got a stamp of approval from an audiophile friend with good hearing. 
My thanks to Crutchfield for their generous patience with my returns and ditto for Audio Advisor. I expected to be red tagged as a return abuser but it never happened. 
Remember that my hearing is damaged and your mileage may vary. Objets in the mirror are closer than they appear.

fredcdobbs
 Thank you for sharing your experience Fred! I am in the same boat - no hearing aid yet, but I have mild tinnitus. I can't hear past around 14.5k Hz based on playing with a frequency generator in my electronics class last year. No idea down how I hear down low, but I have an Rel 12" home theater sub that puts out some great feels when I am watching movies.
I always find it amusing when I see people judging a speaker because it only goes down to 45 Hz and they say they want 28 Hz. All I can think is "Can you even hear down there?"!

And congrats on your Yamaha. I have an old R900 that I still use in my office on some bookshelf speakers, and I love the sound that comes out of it too. Yamaha is one of the last integrateds to still offer you tone controls and a loudness dial, which I use extensively. If I ever need a new one, I will probably stick with Yamaha.

Best Wishes.

Geoff
Find a good audiologist who will custom tune your hearing-aid music setting while you listen to music. When it sound right, it is right

Very informative, interesting post. It reinforces the repeated advice on this forum to trust your ears whatever their condition. Whether it’s a specific condition such as yours or many others, we all hear differently. 

+1 your positive experience with AA & Crutchfield.


GREAT thread! We all have to adjust to our bodies and our aging, and this thread is filled not only with good advice but also with hope and determination. As the Grateful Dead sang, "the music never stopped."
Thanks for your responses...including those of you who don't have normal reading skills.
I am not quitting my quest. Due to not spending money in restaurants and other diversions, I will be taking some visa liberties and I will be testing more equipment. Some Parasound electronic and probably a set of Bucharest 300 speakers. Who knows?
Somehow my font has changed and I need to figure that out later. However, I have noticed that there are some really excellent near buds being made and are actually quite expensive. Seems like a lot of technology is being poured into better and better ear buds for your phone. Instead of hooking them up to bluetooth, I wish someone would make a pair quality in ear listening buds with a good microphone on the exterior.
You have all seen the cheap hearing assist devices for people who cant afford or don't want hearing aids, hunters use them to detect game etc. I want a high quart version of those things, even with a little shirt pocket amp would be great. With the size and appearance not being an issue because they would be used for indoor music and TV listening, they could be substantially bigger and better than hearing aids that have to stuff a small microphone and speaker in ones ear canal. It's the obvious choke point for better sound. Whats frustrating is they already make the high quality drivers for the inside half of the deal, they just need to add a small quality microphone to the exterior. That and a phone app to tailor the sound would be ideal. I'd be a customer for sure.
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