Sometimes, you just can't win!

[Doc Mark]

Greetings, Friends,

Well, sometimes, you just can't win, no matter how hard you try! My wonderful Mother-In-Law came up to our very snowy (three feet deep, so far) mountains, to spend Christmas with us. We always enjoy having her up in our home, and always have fun when she's here. She noticed our "new" L300's as soon as she walked in the door, and I told her all about them. She then told me about the wonderful system her sister bought for herself for Christmas, a Bose Home Theater system......... I spent the last several days playing wonderful Christmas music through our L300's, at fairly low volumes, which she dearly loved. But, she really didn't see any difference between "those big speakers", and "those nice little Bose speakers". To her, they both sounded the same.....! I tried to explain about dynamics, honest frequency response, transient response, psycho-accoustics, and all the other things that makes the L300's CRAP ALL OVER THE BOSE SPEAKERS!! She really didn't get it. So, tonight, I put on the Boz Scaggs "Dig" CD, and told her that what she was going to hear was honest, very deep bass, produced on a synthesizer, which no Bose system could ever hope to reproduce. I played only the first few bars of track #5, "Desire", and immediately saw that not only was she not impressed, but she HATED the sound!! "It's too loud", she whined, as she slammed her hands over her ears, and ran from the room!!!!! Now, please note, that I purposely did NOT turn our system up too loud, as I knew that she would not care for too much volume. However, she took the "feeling" of honest bass reproduction, as "loudness", and hated the feeling of it.

To her, ALL music is supposed to be "background" music, which only provides "noise", and which is not for actual listening. To her, having the TV blaring, all day long, even when she's not even in the room, is what she enjoys. It drives her absolutely crazy that we never even turn on our TV, unless we are actually sitting there, "watching" it!!! When we finish our program(s) of choice, we turn off the TV. To her, that is something that she cannot fathom...... the thought of actually have "quiet" in our home, is totally foreign to her, and quite boring. And, to top it off, she really doesn't understand that we actually ENJOY listening to our music, when to her, it's just something that is always supposed to be in the back-ground, and should never be "instrusive" into her TV enjoyment......

Go figure, Friends...... sometimes, you just can't win!! Sigh.......... Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[hjames]

You actually missed the point - it sounds like she was more interested in telling you about her sister's wise choice buying the bose. The sound never actually entered into it - her sister has those speakers that are so well spoken of on TV (in ads, but she doesn't notice that part), they are small and discrete, and her sister got a deal on them. You have those big dark no-name speakers that are too loud, ugly, and obnoxious (grin) ...
You were trying to puff yourself up by dissing her sister, not a winning strategy!

But you have the JBLs - so you DO win!!
Kudos to you, sir, for a wise choice!

She noticed our "new" L300's as soon as she walked in the door, and I told her all about them. She then told me about the wonderful system her sister bought for herself for Christmas, a Bose Home Theater system
... But, she really didn't see any difference between "those big speakers", and "those nice little Bose speakers". To her, they both sounded the same.....!
JBLs ... she HATED the sound!! "It's too loud", she whined, as she slammed her hands over her ears, and ran from the room!!!!!
Every Good Wish,
Doc

[mikebake]

Greetings, Friends,

Well, sometimes, you just can't win, no matter how hard you try! My wonderful Mother-In-Law came up to our very snowy (three feet deep, so far) mountains, to spend Christmas with us. We always enjoy having her up in our home, and always have fun when she's here. She noticed our "new" L300's as soon as she walked in the door, and I told her all about them. She then told me about the wonderful system her sister bought for herself for Christmas, a Bose Home Theater system......... I spent the last several days playing wonderful Christmas music through our L300's, at fairly low volumes, which she dearly loved. But, she really didn't see any difference between "those big speakers", and "those nice little Bose speakers". To her, they both sounded the same.....! I tried to explain about dynamics, honest frequency response, transient response, psycho-accoustics, and all the other things that makes the L300's CRAP ALL OVER THE BOSE SPEAKERS!! She really didn't get it. So, tonight, I put on the Boz Scaggs "Dig" CD, and told her that what she was going to hear was honest, very deep bass, produced on a synthesizer, which no Bose system could ever hope to reproduce. I played only the first few bars of track #5, "Desire", and immediately saw that not only was she not impressed, but she HATED the sound!! "It's too loud", she whined, as she slammed her hands over her ears, and ran from the room!!!!! Now, please note, that I purposely did NOT turn our system up too loud, as I knew that she would not care for too much volume. However, she took the "feeling" of honest bass reproduction, as "loudness", and hated the feeling of it.

To her, ALL music is supposed to be "background" music, which only provides "noise", and which is not for actual listening. To her, having the TV blaring, all day long, even when she's not even in the room, is what she enjoys. It drives her absolutely crazy that we never even turn on our TV, unless we are actually sitting there, "watching" it!!! When we finish our program(s) of choice, we turn off the TV. To her, that is something that she cannot fathom...... the thought of actually have "quiet" in our home, is totally foreign to her, and quite boring. And, to top it off, she really doesn't understand that we actually ENJOY listening to our music, when to her, it's just something that is always supposed to be in the back-ground, and should never be "instrusive" into her TV enjoyment......

Go figure, Friends...... sometimes, you just can't win!! Sigh.......... Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

I actually understand this completely and have experienced the same exact thing. Don't worry about it. She may one day kind of dig it if the "background" music slowly increases if the emotion is there, but people like her are the reason that people need proper music exposure at a young age. The, instead of cringing, they enjoy it at realistic levels.

[Titanium Dome]

Count your blessings, Doc. The holidays will be over and she'll be gone, back to her Bose-loving friend. No need to push her. Enjoy her on her own terms and get back to serious JBL biz when she's gone.

You're so very lucky to be living with someone who shares your passion, so, again I say, count your blessings.

[Rolf]

Hi all, and happy holidays. Doc, this is very common with the generation before us. When they were young there wasn't this kind of speakers. (Or the type of equipment we use). I remember my parents "hi-fi" equipment. It was a 78 rpm thing, with a large horn, and you had to wind it up manually. (Almost like the one you can see on old ads from "his masters voice".

But ... are we any better? We are listening to "old" JBL's or Altec speakers, denying that some modern speakers are better. Some believe and old electrical wire is as good as modern wire. I KNOW there is better speakers than my 4343's, but I prefer the sound of the 4343. They give me something I have yet to find in a modern speaker, but I try my best to get improvement regarding amps, CD players, cables and so on.

Don't worry. Our grand children don't agree with us either.

[BMWCCA]

It's possible I'm not as old as Rolf (or maybe I am), but 53 years ago my father bought a JBL speaker as part of a mono hi-fi system. Not sure what it replaced, if anything, but I was only three at the time. Pretty sure it wasn't a gramophone.

But perhaps it was your choice of music. As a Boz Scaggs fan for decades, I was a bit disappointed in the sound of that same sythesized bass when I first heard "Dig". To me it bordered on the epitome of what is wrong with a lot of "modern" recordings today. I guess after growing up listening to bass as produced by a D130, I may not be objecive, however I don't get that same feeling when I listen to a well-recorded Steely Dan or the various string-bass players on a Bill Evans album. "Dig" might fit well on the Fred Sanford "Roundness" test CD as opposed to "Soundcheck". It's more Prince's "7" than Lyle Lovett's "She's Already Made Up Her Mind". Regardless of how you categorize it, it's no "Silk Degrees" which I consider classic Boz.

Just my humble opinion, of course, but I was all set to enjoy owning "Dig", until I heard it. I may have to try it again, but currently my idea of bass that I love to listen to is epitomized by Ray Brown on Bill Evans' "Quintessence". It's natural, dynamic, and sounds like I'm there during the performance. The L7s play it well. And I have this forum and Ducatista47 to thank for that experience.

[Fred Sanford]

My in-laws are here for a few days, and they've gotten a couple of good lessons so far. Last night's lesson was "dynamics"- we watched Iron Man on the living room surround system (sorry, no JBLs in that one). Dialogue actually was a comfortable conversation level, and explosions rocked you right out of your seat (or slumber, for my Mother-In-Law). Fun stuff.

Lewis Ross' Christmas album (highly recommended) playing over the 4333As made them think that I was playing an acoustic guitar in the living room.

Christmas day was the Steely Dan 2VN live DVD in the basement (L46s w/ Velodyne sub), it was greeted with, "Oh, my God- it sounds like I'm at the show! I love it!"

je

[maxwedge]

My wife is the same way! I'll be playing some music at a moderate but comfortable level and she'll come home, walk in the door and immediately have that sour look on her face! She doesn't even give me a chance to turn it down!

[Titanium Dome]

Max, my GF can be that way, too. We used to get a little huffy when she'd come home and I was listening at what I considered reasonable levels, but now I just turn it down as soon as I know she's around. It saves a lot of trouble, and I always end up turning it down anyway.

Weirdly, whenever I get in her car, her radio is turned up to unbearable volume for my ears. Go figure. :dont-know

[maxwedge]

I can get into my 'whatever' mode and it gets really fun, LOL. She hates that.

[jblsound]

As the old saying goes, "there's no accounting for taste", or the lack of it. And that is certainly true when it comes to audio gear/speakers some people buy.

Just like yesterday some clown on another forum was pimping Def Tech, I wouldn't want those for free, might as well have Blose.

[tom1356]

As my wife says daily, "No one cares about your stereo."

[Mr. Widget]

My wife is the same way! I'll be playing some music at a moderate but comfortable level and she'll come home, walk in the door and immediately have that sour look on her face! She doesn't even give me a chance to turn it down!

Max, my GF can be that way, too. We used to get a little huffy when she'd come home and I was listening at what I considered reasonable levels, u now I just turn it down as soon as I know she's around.

You guys just need a better stereo. When Mrs. Gadget comes home and the system is warmed up, she starts singing along with it... or dancing when that is more appropriate.


Widget

[Mr. Widget]

As a Boz Scaggs fan for decades, I was a bit disappointed in the sound of that same sythesized bass when I first heard "Dig".

I bought that album too after reading the praises here... I was disappointed. My favorite Boz album is Come on Home... it is filled withe "real" music from real instruments.


Widget

[jblsound]

You guys just need a better stereo. When Mrs. Gadget comes home and the system is warmed up, she starts singing along with it... or dancing when that is more appropriate.


Widget

What does one expect with cheap, vinyl covered, 6" deep speakers blairing. Guess we should buy the LS towers, or Arrays, or K2, or EII