Sounds of modern life
10/03/16 05:13
One of our early purchases when we were newlyweds was a small stereo receiver. I already had a set of bookshelf speakers and a turntable and the used receiver gave us the ability to listen to AM and FM radio as well as play records. That set, with the turntable traveled with us to Chicago for graduate school and from there to our first job in North Dakota. We had collected a small box of record albums and once in a while I’d crank up the volume and listen, enjoying sounds of the Chicago symphony at something like I imagined the volume one would experience in orchestra hall. Over the years, we have had a variety of different stereo equipment. At one point I paid a bit over market value for a large set of speakers, with 12” woofers because a member of my youth group wanted to upgrade and selling his old speakers to me was a way of getting some of the cash he needed. Those huge old speakers have long since been sold on a rummage sale and when I think of the amount of space they occupied, they really seem like dinosaurs in today’s world.
It was 1982 when we got a car that had a cassette deck in it. I collected soundtracks to musicals for a while and had a box that held a couple of dozen cassettes to which I would listen over and over as I drove around the state to meetings.
These days our car stereo receives signals from my cell phone and plays digital music from my phone account. I also have a small speaker for playing tunes from my phone in the house or garage.
We’ve never owned musical equipment that would impress the folks at the stereo shops. On the other hand, our lives have been filled with wonderful music and I feel grateful for the many sounds that we have been able to hear.
I think it is typical for someone my age to occasionally complain about the volume of the stereos in other cars on the street, and I’m no exception. I’ve had the experience of thinking my car was experiencing a maintenance issue just to find out that it was the thump, thump, thump of the bass in another car on the street. I have no doubt that there are many cars in the high school parking lot whose stereo systems cost more than the value of my car. Not long ago I was visiting with a young man who opened the trunk of his vehicle to reveal that all of the cargo space was consumed with stereo equipment and speakers. While there was a bit of fascination with the technology of sound in that car, I didn’t have any desire to own such a piece of equipment.
I know a lot of people who have spent a great deal of money installing surround sound systems in their homes. Especially popular are audio-visual systems that create a theatre experience in homes. Technology advances have resulted in spectacular sound from smaller speakers, but the real subwoofers still take up the space of a piece of furniture and create vibrations that can be felt when the ear can’t even quite perceive a tone. I guess it would be something to have such a system if you watched a lot of movies.
I think our neighbor has such a system in his home. Although previous neighbors who owned that home invited us in and I have a sense of the layout of the home, I’ve not been inside since the current owner bought the place. There are times, however, when I am aware of the bass rhythms of whatever it is he is listening to. That is fairly impressive given the fact that we live in a subdivision with a minimum lot size of half and acre and my house is set very close to the opposite edge of my lot. It isn’t uncommon for me to wake in the night and listen, at first not being sure that I am really hearing sound, more that I am aware of the rhythm of the bass. And, yes, I’ve gone outside and stood on the deck nearest his home and listened to determine the source of the sound.
It wouldn’t qualify as a noise ordinance violation. And I’m sure it involves no intention of bothering the neighbors. Our neighbor just keeps different hours than we and he is watching a movie unaware that the process would have any effect on anyone else. Most of the time I can go right back to sleep without a problem. Having figured out what the sound was, I can tune it out once I know that it isn’t something I left on in my basement or a problem with one of the systems in my home. OK, I’ll admit it, once I went to the basement and checked my water softener in search of the source of the sound before determining that it was coming from the outside. It may be that my hearing isn’t as sensitive or as accurate as once was the case. It may also be that I’m not very rational when I wake up in the middle of the night.
Somehow my neighbor’s stereo system got me to thinking about what the neighbors of the church might think. Except for the tolling of the church bell at midnight on Christmas Eve, we don’t make our music late at night, but that big bell in the steeple is capable of making vibrations you can feel in the choir loft and the bottom rank of 16’ organ pipes produce sounds that are more intense than the subwoofer in a teen’s car. I wonder if our neighbors can hear the music we so enjoy. I wonder what they think of it.
I guess, if we are lucky, one of them might get interested enough to wander in and check it out some day.
In the meantime, I can entertain myself by trying to figure out what movie my neighbor is watching in the wee hours of the morning.
It was 1982 when we got a car that had a cassette deck in it. I collected soundtracks to musicals for a while and had a box that held a couple of dozen cassettes to which I would listen over and over as I drove around the state to meetings.
These days our car stereo receives signals from my cell phone and plays digital music from my phone account. I also have a small speaker for playing tunes from my phone in the house or garage.
We’ve never owned musical equipment that would impress the folks at the stereo shops. On the other hand, our lives have been filled with wonderful music and I feel grateful for the many sounds that we have been able to hear.
I think it is typical for someone my age to occasionally complain about the volume of the stereos in other cars on the street, and I’m no exception. I’ve had the experience of thinking my car was experiencing a maintenance issue just to find out that it was the thump, thump, thump of the bass in another car on the street. I have no doubt that there are many cars in the high school parking lot whose stereo systems cost more than the value of my car. Not long ago I was visiting with a young man who opened the trunk of his vehicle to reveal that all of the cargo space was consumed with stereo equipment and speakers. While there was a bit of fascination with the technology of sound in that car, I didn’t have any desire to own such a piece of equipment.
I know a lot of people who have spent a great deal of money installing surround sound systems in their homes. Especially popular are audio-visual systems that create a theatre experience in homes. Technology advances have resulted in spectacular sound from smaller speakers, but the real subwoofers still take up the space of a piece of furniture and create vibrations that can be felt when the ear can’t even quite perceive a tone. I guess it would be something to have such a system if you watched a lot of movies.
I think our neighbor has such a system in his home. Although previous neighbors who owned that home invited us in and I have a sense of the layout of the home, I’ve not been inside since the current owner bought the place. There are times, however, when I am aware of the bass rhythms of whatever it is he is listening to. That is fairly impressive given the fact that we live in a subdivision with a minimum lot size of half and acre and my house is set very close to the opposite edge of my lot. It isn’t uncommon for me to wake in the night and listen, at first not being sure that I am really hearing sound, more that I am aware of the rhythm of the bass. And, yes, I’ve gone outside and stood on the deck nearest his home and listened to determine the source of the sound.
It wouldn’t qualify as a noise ordinance violation. And I’m sure it involves no intention of bothering the neighbors. Our neighbor just keeps different hours than we and he is watching a movie unaware that the process would have any effect on anyone else. Most of the time I can go right back to sleep without a problem. Having figured out what the sound was, I can tune it out once I know that it isn’t something I left on in my basement or a problem with one of the systems in my home. OK, I’ll admit it, once I went to the basement and checked my water softener in search of the source of the sound before determining that it was coming from the outside. It may be that my hearing isn’t as sensitive or as accurate as once was the case. It may also be that I’m not very rational when I wake up in the middle of the night.
Somehow my neighbor’s stereo system got me to thinking about what the neighbors of the church might think. Except for the tolling of the church bell at midnight on Christmas Eve, we don’t make our music late at night, but that big bell in the steeple is capable of making vibrations you can feel in the choir loft and the bottom rank of 16’ organ pipes produce sounds that are more intense than the subwoofer in a teen’s car. I wonder if our neighbors can hear the music we so enjoy. I wonder what they think of it.
I guess, if we are lucky, one of them might get interested enough to wander in and check it out some day.
In the meantime, I can entertain myself by trying to figure out what movie my neighbor is watching in the wee hours of the morning.