Bob Schwartz

Tag: audio

October 20, 2025

In-Ear Monitors (IEMs): A cautionary tale

I have been listening to music through ear devices for decades. Being older, that includes single-earphones cabled to a monoraul, low-fi transistor radio.

Over the years, as stereo devices—radios, players, phones—took over, I’ve had many different personal listening tools. Wired, wireless, over the ear, in the ear.

When it comes to amplified music, through speakers or earphones, I have good ears but not smart or genius ears. I would never call myself an audiophile, and neither would those who call themselves audiophiles. But I know better sound when I hear it, so I’m willing to go a little above the bottom tier of amps and speakers, but not a lot.

Spotify, my music streamer of choice, finally is offering what it calls lossless audio. It is not the absolute highest level of audio that other services offer, but it is very good.

There is a small issue about lossless for those who listen, as I mostly do, via Bluetooth. Bluetooth cannot carry lossless, though even degraded it is still high quality. But I did want to try out this new level, and the only way to do that is through wires, to speakers or to earphones.

I still do use wired earphones sometimes, nice but plain vanilla ones (that is, relatively inexpensive). When I looked around, I discovered something that audio people know all about, but as I said, I am not that audio guy.

In-ear monitors (IEMs) are often used by music professionals, on stage or in studio, because the fidelity is greater. To put it in simple terms, they are like tiny powerful speakers you put in your ears.

I got a very modest ($18) pair of IEMs from a reputable tech company. The sound is as good as promised. The lossless audio really does sound better, even to an inexpert ear.

Now the issue, which I could have figured out if I had thought. Instructions for standard earphones and headphones warn about high volume, which they should. But the instructions for these spent lots of time on the matter.

After I tried them, I knew why. I always keep the volume down. Years ago, with earphones in, I accidentally plugged in with my device at unsafe volume and, in the vernacular, I blew my ears out. It was not permanent, but it was a warning.

When I started listening through these IEMs, at a safe low volume, trying out a few classical tracks, it was great. But when I took them out, I felt a bit the way you do after a very loud live concert.

I checked it out, and indeed, IEMs, when used too loud or too often, can cause hearing loss. Which, if you go back to something I said before, is not a surprise, since these are like tiny powerful speakers in your ears.

What now? Is the extra bit of audio quality worth it, or should I just be listening to this excellent audio through speakers or less dangerous earphones?

A lot of star musical artists have lost their hearing because of their art. I am not a star or musical artist, standing among columns of speakers, playing to millions. I’m definitely not Beethoven. I’m just a guy who loves listening to music.

The new IEMs are sitting here. Will I use them again? We’ll see. And hear.

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December 9, 2019

Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble Speakers: Retiring Another Audio Component

Note: A while back I wrote about replacing an audio receiver after many years (The STR-AV1010 Is Dead ). It was a sentimental moment, since it played such a role in the soundtrack of our lives. This week another of the venerable audio components is retiring, significant not only to us but to the history of audio electronics.

Above is an ad from exactly thirty years ago, introducing the Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble Speakers. Developed by audio legend Henry Kloss, this was a breakthrough in the way quality speakers were marketed. It was relatively inexpensive compared to big-name brands, and it was being sold direct to consumers, without retail stores in the middle. These days, of course, most consumers buy speakers without hearing them first.

New York Times, February 19, 1989:

Now a new approach to speaker shopping is being promoted by a manufacturer who says, in effect: Buy my speaker by mail, sight unseen and sound unheard. If you don’t like it, send it back within 30 days, and we’ll refund your money.

One would tend to distrust such a proposition if it came from anyone less reputable than Henry Kloss, a hallowed name in audio history. During the 1950’s and 60’s – the gestation period of modern audio technology, Mr. Kloss advanced prevailing standards of speaker design with such classic innovations as the original Acoustic Research and Advent loudspeakers, which were among the first bookshelf speakers capable of wide-range sound.

Later he founded KLH, the first company to produce compact components and to make extensive use of transistorized circuits. It was partly Henry Kloss’s ideas from which, a few years later, the Japanese audio industry took its cue and rose to predominance.

I bought the speakers right away. I am not a listener with genius ears, but I appreciate good sound and good value. These speakers have been with us in all our houses, throughout the chapters of our lives. But just lately, I have heard the distortion symptom of one of the speakers failing. It is time for another set.

As with the passing of the receiver, sentiment is balanced with functionality, and so new speakers are on the way. The Ensemble will go back in the same box that arrived at our door those years ago and that they have been moved in again and again. I suspect they will be discarded someday, but not now.

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