Thursday is Palladium day - what about you?

[damonrpayne]

I look forward to Thursday nearly every week, even Thursdays such as today when I had a crown redone in the dentist chair and my face is still numb. I have several people who report to me at the office, and quite a bit of "real work" to do besides. Thursdays I work from home because being away from the phone and not in my chair is the only way to get any heads down work done.

For the past ten years I've been a heavy headphone user, mostly to block out noise at work and help my mood. I'm extremely conservative with volume to protect my hearing. Since building my current media room, though, I've mostly forsaken the headphones.

On Thursdays I move whatever I need to work on to my laptop, take it downstairs, and let the P-39F rip for nearly eight hours. I find that lunch, bathroom breaks, and so forth is enough to keep me from getting fatigued. The music doesn't get my full attention, but it's great. Thursdays are the days when I can listen to an entire symphony, or both halves of NIN "The Fragile" back to back, and so forth.

Last winter I had my CWIIs upstairs, and on Thursday's I'd move them over to be on either side of my woodburning fireplace. I'd start a big fire and brew some coffee and move my big chair as close as I could stand it. Since I really enjoy the technical aspects of my job these days were heaven. While the P-39F are superior in every way, I'm for sure going to miss the fire on winter Thursdays. I clearly need to start working on a livingroom system.

What about you guys? Do you ever work from home in front of a stereo, or do you have a good audio setup in your workplace?

[picky]

You are a very fortunate man, Damon. It's so quiet here in our office that I don't use my earbuds at all any more. If I did, I would not be able to hear my phone ring, even if I played the earbuds low as we all have our phone ringers down low as not to disturb our cubicle neighbors with a sudden, loud ring. I only get the chance to work from home on rare occasions and when I do, it's normally at the kitchen table. I don't crank any music then because I do a lot of phone-based client support with a headset on so music in the background isn't acceptable. Nope, it's Thursday here at the office and for me, it's just SSDD! -Glenn

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Silence at work drives me nuts. I have my computer set up with two screens so working with my laptop is difficult if I am doing some heavy editing. I usually have about 7 to 10 screen open at any given time. 100 page docuemnts are hard to navigate unless you cut them into pieces.

I set up a system in my office with a Musical Fidelity CD PRE 24, QSC 1202 amp and ERA Design 5 sepakers. The Speakers are about 7" wide, 11" high and 11" deep, so they do fit on my desk. I listen all day every day. I use a USB converter from my computer and run digital out to the CD PRE, which has a DAC. Great sound.

If you have not already, use Pandora. You can create stations with music that you like, commercial free all day long. I set up jazz with no vocals for when I have to concentrate really hard, and other stations for when I am not as intense.

Speaking of NIN, I just played Pretty Hate Machine the other evening. Your speakers should do great with this. What sounds like a bunch of mashed up sounds on other systems is actually very separated and discrete. Great experience.

[j-malotky]

I sort of found that, in my case anyway, rooms I am stressed in sort of keep the stress if that makes any sence. I need my basement HT and my bedroom to be an escape zone.

So in my case, I sometimes take a break while working from home and crank up the Khorns to re-adjust my attitude.

JM

[artto]

I kind of have to agree with John. For me the music room is an escape zone. There was a time when I had to bring down one business and move my private practice back home. For several years the system was dismantled and the music room was used for my desks/CAD computers/drafting tables. It drove me nuts. When it's "Miller Time", its music time (or HT).

[Bill H.]

I get up early each morning and turn on my Classical Internet station. As I am getting ready for work it gives me a clam feeling to start the Day.

[skonopa]

For the past ten years I've been a heavy headphone user, mostly to block out noise at work and help my mood. I'm extremely conservative with volume to protect my hearing. Since building my current media room, though, I've mostly forsaken the headphones.

On Thursdays I move whatever I need to work on to my laptop, take it downstairs, and let the P-39F rip for nearly eight hours. I find that lunch, bathroom breaks, and so forth is enough to keep me from getting fatigued. The music doesn't get my full attention, but it's great. Thursdays are the days when I can listen to an entire symphony, or both halves of NIN "The Fragile" back to back, and so forth.

Maan, there are times I wish I could just stay home and do my work, but a lot of my work requires some pretty specialized lab gear that I simply don't have, nor can easily take home to do my work (and you think those Palladiums are expensive? With what this signal scanner I have costs, let alone the signal generater we use in the lab, I could've outfitted a whole d@mn theater with those things!).

Unfortunatly, I've tried the do the headphone thing, but like you, I have a number of people that report to me, as well as a number more that just likes to consult with me for my expertise in our current project. Seems like no sooner that I get three notes into the first track, there is somebody tapping me on my back wanting my attention!. Finally decided to hell with it and do without the music during the normal work day.

What about you guys? Do you ever work from home in front of a stereo, or do you have a good audio setup in your workplace?

Well, for those times when I can listen to music, such as later in the evening when nearly everyone else went home, I got my trusty old Tivoli Model Two, with the Model Sub. I went and got one of those Apple universal iPod docks and hooked it up to the Tivoli Audio rig and use that to listen to my music in the office. Not anything like your P-39Fs, but not a bad little system for office use, though.

[Marvel]

If I get the chance to work at home on the pc, I have a couple of options. My tiny office space has a set of Alesis Monitor Ones set up right in front of me, and the sound is pretty good coming off the pc through the 100wpc Alesis amp. Or, since the small space is a part of my bedroom, I power up the Heresies with the H/K 430, and fill the whole bedroom with sound.

When I take breaks, I will go to the living room and chill with the Moondogs and LS.

At work, since I move around all day doing computer support, I rarely can listen at my desk (in a large room with 4 or 5 other guys). But I keep my earbuds in, and plugged into my Sony Ericsson phone/walkman. I don't actually listen to music on it, but I don't get as many general interruptions, and when I have to call back to a co-worker from another office, it is easier to hear and I can keep working.

Bruce

[DrWho]

I'm so jealous...

...one of these days I'll have a nice system to kick back to in the evening.

[darkside]

I don't have a set routine, but usually when I'm doing my homework (still in highschool, just FYI), I might have music on for 5 to 6 hours at a time. Other nights, I don't have it on at all. However, I always make sure to catch Jazz Classics on Staurday nights, and I almost always stay up until it's over at 2 am. Very nice and I enjoy it alot, though I must say, my classmates (I'm 17) laugh at me about it...but I'm fine with it[].

[Beesley]

Thursday is my last day of work in a food production facility, I speed walk non stop and if I wore earbuds I'd probably get stuck between a forklift and a hard place. When I worked security in the service, where a good day is when "nothing happens", everyday was spent with some sort of music playing.

[colterphoto1]

I could have done my old job from home, it would be better than listening to Muzak, air conditioning, and white noise while strapped to a headset.

Ooops, wait I guess I still do that gig, don't I? [] Only they don't pay me.

forte II hooked up to the iMac and HK730 works for me but honestly lots of times its quiet in here ( surprisingly, I love quiet).

Michael

[Hifi jim]

Last December 26th I was injured at work, separating my left shoulder, tearing the labrum and wrecking my back and neck as well. After months of physical therapy I realized shoulder surgery was inevitable and on August 26th I had the labrum repaired. Very painful!, but thankfully I have Percocet to take the edge off. Being a bit OCD, I planned everything out. Knowing I would sleep in my recliner for the next month, I started working on my living room system. A few months back I had an epiphany that led me back to my old beloved kg4's. It started as a 2 channel journey that replaced a home theater setup (with some well regarded "Audiophile" speakers) that couldn't satisfy my musical needs. Knowing lots of TV and movie watching would be my daily routine for some time, and since spinning records with one arm is a bit tricky I decided to expand into home theater once more. I found a deal on a Pioneer VSX49-tx that is well regarded on this forum and rightfully so. I bought a beautiful RC-64 from zork52 and some NIB RB-51's for a song on eBay. I, like many of you here, have been down the long, winding and expensive road to audio nirvana. This relatively cheap and simple setup just blows me away for music, films, whatever I throw at it. Sure I hate being one armed (for the time being), and I get stir crazy sitting inside most of the day (only the recliner is comfortable for sitting or sleeping). But having this wonderful system to keep me occupied is a treat. I'm catching up on all those films, "You haven't seen that yet!". And I love shopping for music on iTunes and getting to sample the songs on my own system. Limited use of my left hand is soon to come, and then it will be time to terrorize the kids on Xbox Live. In short; I'm loving it and I need to find a way to work from home. Better yet, once the shoulder is 100% I'll resume my quest for a pair of Cornwalls.