Men And Their Gadgets..ipod Speaker Help
 

O.K. guys, Mistress needs some "man help" here, I have started my holiday shopping and need your advice on what kind of speakers to buy for my boyfriends IPOD Nano. Any suggestions? I will pay upwards of 200.00. Also, what is it with men and new "gadgets?" Is it a DNA/chromosome pre-disposition to have these things? Help me out will ya?

Fraid I cant help with the speaker thing as I dont have and IPOD. As to the second part of your question. I've never really had the slightest interest in gadgets. Guess I must not be a real man...

- Peter.

Peter- real men don't need no stinkin gadgets...

I don't have an Ipod either.

I can't help you with the first question but do have a comment on this one. All my gadgets are 20+ years old and I don't remember the last time I went out and purchased one. I don't have an ipod nor do I desire to own one. I have seen a blueberry (or was that blackberry) and have been told by certain individuals that they received my email on theirs:).

On the other hand ask me about my "tool" collection. Those are my "gadgets" and I have some that I purchased when I was 13:) and they are still in use:).

I use headphones for my Ipod.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you."
It's a wonderful thing.

The only time it ever goes through speakers is if we're having a party and I hook it into the mega home system and use a playlist, so I don't have to change anything.

However, for the last party I just used the XM Radio, same hookup.

Perhaps a really nice pair of high end portable headphones would be a nice gift.

Good call. Check out the Grado line.

If it must be speakers, several companies make little "docks" for iPods. JBL and Klipsch come to mind. You might see if Tivoli makes anything for the iPod; they are a nice line as compact systems go.

Good luck!

Mistress - men are suckers for cool gadgets, must be genetically hard-wired. Look at this forum - our cars are perhaps the most expensive toys we own. :D

I've got an iPod and a shuffle, I bought a pair of Sennheiser earphones that I use for running and I really like. As far as hooking it up to speakers, you can just buy a 1/8" to RCA output cable that will let you hook the iPod into an existing system.

There's also 'sound dock' systems that are designed for iPods and charge them while playing music. The Bose one has decent reviews (I'm normally not a big Bose fan, but their sound dock seems to be good enough).

As far as earphones, there's three basic types - buds that fit snugly into the ear, open air phones and the higher-end cup phones that cover the entire ear and seal it with a foam perimeter.

I'd find out what he'll be using the iPod for mainly. For running/evercise the pods are good, as are open-air that have a band that fits around the back of the neck, to hold the phones in place.

Downside of the bud-type phones is that, while they produce great bass, they tend to cancel out outside noise, due to their tight fit. Kind of dangerous if used outdoors for running, etc. Also, they generate a 'stethoscope effect', in that if you touch, jiggle the earphone cord, you can hear it in the phones.

The higher-end cupped and sealed back earphones are best for overall sound quality, IMO. Plenty of excellent phones for $200. Sennheiser are good, JBL, etc.

shame on you!
 

Peter, you git on down to Circuit City and git you some gadgets, boy!

I tend to think of myself as not overly gadget-oriented, and yet I have gadgets-aplenty. I Pod, Sirius radio, Treo smart phone, stereo equipment, etc.
I don't watch much TV and yet I am drawn to those big, honkin' plasma screen TVs like a moth to a back porch light:D .

Don't know why really, just am. . . That Bose CM3 speaker system is really quite fine, though, since somebody asked . . :idea2:

mistress... i recomend the bose sound dock... if you check out apple.com and visit the store for ipod accesories they usually have ratings with them, having used a bose sounddock i was surprised at how well it sounded check this out ipod speakers

also check your local apple store, the iPod HiFi is very good also

Bose
 

I know Bose gets a bad rap from audio afficianados, but, then the i Pod is not an audiophile-quality component, either. I have listened to a bunch of different speakers hooked up to mine and the Bose speakers sound great. Has anybody ever listened to their i Pod hooked up to one of the Klipsch subwoofer/speaker systems? I always thought Klipsch made good speakers.

I saw a nifty deal yesterday at Costco -- a $60 package for using your Ipod to run your car stereo. It uses an FM signal, I'm guessing you find an empty part of your FM dial and use that frequency. Also has a cigarette lighter power jack and 110 adapter. I don't have an Ipod yet but when I get one, the car setup is going to come with it.

My 2 cents. When I was at BGSU I shared a 'studio ' type of apartment with another student for a year. He had a pair of Acoustat One speakers (electrostatic) powered my a 500W Crown amp. Even at lower listening levels these speakers required a lot of power. But the detail that these speakers reproduced was astounding. There were so many recordings that I had listened to dozens of time before, but with these speakers I could hear details that I have yet to hear any other speakers reproduce. I am sure that there are other high-end speakers out there that are good, but to me the sound reproduction of electrostatic speakers is awesome. I hope to have a pair of Acoustat One+One's someday.

Yeah, I love the sound of Acoustats, but as you have noted, they are power hogs. I have an old stereo that has some static in it. I think it's just oxidation on some of the conections. I'm going to try and clean those this weekend maybe.

Open aurial and closed aurial are two completely diffrent things. It refers to the speaker's rear chamber. Sealed are good for high-noise envirments, as the speaker's cone will be affected less by outside noise. Open-Aurial is good for general listening, and will often yeild a better phone for the price.

Then you have your diffrent cup designs. - I happen to like the sealed ear type, more comfey, and isolate outside noise better (better seal against the ear)

I highly recomend Grado, Sennheiser, and Shure (for earbuds) If you want a good set of speakers, look into "Studio Moniters" I like the Rokit series from KRK (be sure to get the self-powered ones) but they usually run anywhere from $150-300 per speaker. Sound DAMN good, though.