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I'm never going to hear a megaspeaker in a good room am I?

Was thinking about something. There’s a thread about good $40K speakers which made me think that honestly despite hearing a lot of them at shows, I’ve never heard one in a decent environment. Now, perhaps we can argue:

If it doesn’t sound good anywhere, including a hotel room, is it really that good a speaker?


But let’s not go that route. But I am thinking to myself, in well treated rooms the best speakers I’ve heard were merely mid-range Wilsons and Magicos. I say "merely" because they were under $40k, not because of performance. The two best speakers I’ve heard, in medicore rooms were the SF Stradivari and Snell A/III, and top of the line Vandersteen.

All the $40K + speakers I’ve heard have been at shows, and either very badly treated rooms, or in halls so big the first reflection point was like a mountain echo. Am I ever going to get to listen to $40K+ speakers in great rooms anywhere again??

As a result, I’ve developed a severe bias against the performance of mega speakers, because I only ever hear them in terrible rooms and have not heard one I’d spend money for, and honestly that's unfair to them.

erik_squires
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
@erik_squires what's the price-point where you would consider something a megaspeaker? You could try going to a dealer that has a good room, or contacting the manufacturer directly to ask if they might allow an audition in their room which has a fair chance of being a megaroom to match their megaspeaker, or see if there is an enthusiast who has both a megaspeaker and megaroom who would be willing to have you over.

I do think a poor room (super echoey, noisy environment, etc.) will make even the best speaker (using contemporary technology) sound poor simply because it will be difficult to discern the sound the same way it is difficult to understand what someone is trying to say to you in a poor environment. Indoor sports arenas being used for musical performances is a great example—even if you have Pavaroti or Netrebko singing in a place like that it will sound horrible.
erik_squires OP
16,242 posts
 
Hi Neko,

I’m thinking $40K and has to ship in a crate, at least.

Magico does regular auditions for audiophiles in their listening room, which is fantastically, fanatically acoustically treate, but I’m pretty sure I’m banned now... << grin >> And I did hear the S1, but at $12K and a petite 2-way system I didn’t consider it "mega."


erik_squires OP
16,242 posts
 
Addendum:

I did hear the Vandersteen Sevens, and they are the only mega speaker I’ve ever heard in a hotel room that was any good. In fact, best of show, quite likely to be largely due to the ability to configure the bass like they do. Honestly do not know why this is not an absolutely standard feature of all mega speakers.

I just researched that they are also $45K, so, they are the ONLY mega speaker I’ve heard which sounded great to me.

I guess they do qualify as a Mega speaker. Highly recommended. :)

I did not include them because I mistakenly believed they were $45 WITH the $15K monoblocks.... silly me.

Best,

E


nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,903 posts
 
There's not anywhere near as many great audio salons as there used to be. If you want to hear a great sounding speaker in a great room, I suggest you keep some luggage packed for those trips you'll need to make.

All the best,
Nonoise
ebm
9,311 posts
 
The days of stereo shows are over buy a pair yourself sport.
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