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I just wondered if questions about musical equipment (as HiFi systems) should be on-topic. E.g. Does the type of music you listen to factor into determining which speakers to buy?

The tour says, questions about music appreciation are on-topic and to me, having a nice HiFi system is all about music appreciation. What do you think?

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  • I am also curious about this and was currently in the process of asking a broader question about the act of listening to music when this came up.
    – Darrick Herwehe
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 20:43
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    I would think that some questions about equipment are obviously on-topic. How speakers affect the sound of music seems great. Which speakers I should buy for under $100 in Pittsburgh, not so much.
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 21:21
  • It would depend on whether an objective, specific answer is possible or not. However I think most such questions will end up being primarily opinion based (polls or lists or varying by locale). Can't think of a good example that would be On Topic, offhand.
    – user3169
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 3:19
  • @user3169 What about the question linked? Objectively, different music features different frequency profiles. Different speakers have different frequency response. Thus, yes, you can get speakers that more accurately reproduce the recorded sound. Those seem factual to me, and the question isn't polling or asking for lists (nor will it receive them).
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 6:06
  • @MatthewRead The question is fine, though "soothing and pleasant music" and "high beats" should be more specific, maybe cite examples. As for the answers, discussion of speaker characteristics is OK, but both current answers end with a subjective "you decide by listening". That is pretty obvious. Discussion of speaker characteristics should lead into how to to check speaker specs., to help decide which would be the best for given circumstances.
    – user3169
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 17:58

3 Answers 3

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I would think that some questions about equipment are obviously on-topic.

How speakers affect the sound of music seems great, though some disagree.

Which speakers I should buy for under $100 in Pittsburgh? Not so much.

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I think that equipment questions are on topic.

For instance, in 'name of song' what intrument created this perculiar sound 5.43 mins into the song ?

I'd draw a line at 'what specific make/model/year [instrument] did [musician] use on [track name]' as this is far too specific and probably should be in the musical performance site...

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    My question was more about the equipment you use to listen to music but also an interesting aspect.
    – André Stannek
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 11:22
  • There will be an interesting crossover here into Sound Design Stack Exchange - worth us having a look at what works on either site.
    – Rory Alsop
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 11:25
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I don't think equipment questions should be on-topic. In the Area 51 proposal, there are 94 example questions. Only one of them is about equipment, and it has a score of -2.

What guidelines should I follow to buy an HiFi?

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  • I see. Could this be attributed to the fact that there were fewer members/users then? I deleted my previous comment, because it was cluttering.
    – Pobrecita
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 23:04

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