Babies and Speakers

Depends on how close you live to the Grandparents. Sure, you can't play at pre-baby volumes all the time, but if you stay home occasionally during the trips to the Grandparents, those rare opportunities to turn the knob past 2 are that much sweeter. I have the house to myself this weekend and don't plan on turning the volume down till Monday (or when the police show up).

Besides, as you will find out, the price you pay in music is more than made up for. And eventually he will be old enough to enjoy music at the proper volume.

I doubt that you'll have time to listen to music in the first 6 months...

Play Mozart. There is a theory that it increases IQ. They even sell CDs specifically produced for this purpose.

Most babies can sleep through smoke detector alarms and more. On the other hand, you will soon come to appreciate babies sleep time, and you will think twice about disturbing it. High sound volumes in close proximity to a baby is probably not the best thing for their delicate ears.
Just wait till the baby gets mobile, then things get really interesting.

Well Dad,

You do have to aware of the "little one" ears, so playing your floorstanders at Metallica levels in your living room is probably going to be a "no no" for awhile, and over doing the bass can be upsetting for an infant trying to sleep. But playing your music at moderate levels shouldn't be a problem, especially if the music is somewhat mellow. Playing music with female vocals, classic jazz, acoustic music, string quartets and piano music and the like is actually a good thing for babies and young listeners to be exposed to. Actually I was reading an article the other day that talked about unborn babies being able to hear and respond to sounds quite well at 6 months into their development.