Horrific Confession and Question

i don't listen to background music, finding it irritating and disruptive of my concentration. i have had the experience, tho, of buying discs on the basis of what i hear on a record store's system. (FWIW, i try very hard not to buy anything from big boxes, supporting instead my local indie, usually twist & shout). can't tell you how many times i've brought such recordings home to play on my "real" system to find they sound like crap. not sure what that implies but suggest this: if ya wanna listen to crap, play it on crappy electronics/speakers, 'cuz nobody'll really care, much less discern its crappiness. i guess that's why so many pop grammy award winners really ought to be put in the muzak category

Danvetc is on to something. I have heard Bose in background situations and Pianos always sound pretty good. Right smack in the mids. Put on the Piano dentist office music and off you go.

I, too, have suffered from this disease in the Tower Records classical system, and felt deeply ashamed to look up and spot Bose mini speakers in the ceiling!! (Compare with Mark Levinson, Jadis and Martin Logans at home!) Can some of our more technically minded contributors suggest a solution to the different challenges of background music, entertaining guests over drinks and dinner etc. that won't betray everything we stand for or further enrich Dr. Bose?

I think one of the reasons you like the sound in the store is that it is from a multispeaker system. Its all around you no matter where you go.

I hate to admit it. Last year at an outdoor seafoodfest I wanted to hear where the live music was coming from. As i got closer I shrugged noticing a musician selling his CD's through a booth with Bose Omni directional speakers. I kept wondering what my Dunlavy 5's would sound like in these circumstances. I also wondered why I felt two inches tall