[sdiy] Speakers and SDIY (was: The final cut power amp!)

[JH.]

This may sound surprising, but I don't feel comfortable at high sound levels
at all.
I want to hear music in reasonable (low) volume, and I want my environment
to
be accordingly quiet, such that I still have high dynamic range. Our world
has
become increasingly LOUD, and silence - silence per se, and silence as a
background
for music that does not need to scream over background noises - is a most
valuable
good to me.

I'm recording and mixing with headphones. This is said to be difficult, as
it would
have a tendency to increase bass unnaturally in the mix (to compensate for
the loss
of bass in headphones). I have my own method to avoid this, however: I'm
using the same
type of Sennheiser headphones for as long as I can think, and every time one
is worn out,
I'm buying the exact same model. (Yes, this means looking on ebay, as they
aren't built
anymore.) So I have learned how they sound, and how my recordings will sound
on other setups. The final test, of course, before I finish a piece of
music, is putting it
into other setups, like car speakers, portable radios, and the hifi in the
living room.
Sometimes there is an unpleasant surprise (and will be taken care of), but
normally
this works remarkably well.

JH.