Modernists Unite, or: saying no to room treatment

Keep in mind furniture and window coverings are room treatment too. This never mentioned.

Commercial room treatment is getting like aftermarket power cords. Everybody thinks they need it whether they need it or not.

First you must determine if you need it in the first place. Room treatment is something that can easily be over done.

This posting is from what I have heard in a demo by frank tschang of acoustic resonator . He treated a demo room during KL Hifi show 2009 and the sound improve drastically . I believe that if u want non intrusive method the tiny acoustic resonators and it's cube can certainly help but it's very expensive
All I have to find out how much a room can degrade the sound is by clapping your hand as u move around the round and hear the unwanted echo.
I started this hobby by placing my system in my living room and when I shiifted 1.5yrs ago I built a dedicated room designed by rives audio level 1 ( only available level in my country). Hugh difference.
Dedicated lines and room treatment is certainly more important than mindless changing of gears. I am amaze with some very expensive set up with hardly any room treatment and with the sitting position against the wall

I'll take a treated room over a non-treated room any day of the week. Can you say "bass buildup" or "reflective surfaces"?

Crad's offering is very relevant. One can have good acoustics without lots of treatments, traps and padding being apparent. This is done by designing the rooms to the proper proportions, incorporating diffusive/absorbent elements into the simple modern design and, if larger elements are needed, hiding them in the walls. It takes planning and money.

That said, one should note that the concert hall and the practice rooms are all spaces for the production of music/sound and not for the REproduction of it. There are different acoustical requirements.

Nonetheless, most of us are constrained by existing layouts and, thus, need to deal with treatments that are as unobtrusive and effective as possible.

Kal

I would not lay this at the feet of Modernists, I see plenty or horror room systems in little quaint country settings or in cookie-cutter suburban-normal design. In Brooklyn I've had to compliment an audio guru's system that was placed in the living room but under the stairs.

Treated rooms are essential to optimize a system. There is no getting around that fact. It's just wishful thinking to suggest that that one can make a little triangle with the speakers hear all they have to reveal.