Quote Originally Posted by RothwellAudio View Post
In my opinion you always have to actively listen. When you're on stage it's all "just there" because there is no reproduction system getting in the way, but you still need to actively listen. You'd be amazed how many people don't listen. They're not nice to play with.
Playing in a band isn't really the same thing though, it is an active as opposed to passive activity and is quite demanding (unless you're just covering Quo tunes).

Obviously you would need to listen - perhaps what I should have said is that on a very good system there is no need to concentrate or pay special attention in order to hear everything there is to hear.