After reading this thread I just realized that my golf game is perfect, it’s the golf course that is causing the problems.
🤣😂😀😂
Speaker positioning: why do audiophiles neglect this so much?
Went to a recent seminar featuring Jim Smith, well known author of the book "Get Better Sound" and hi fi set up guru.
The basic gist of the discussion was that the most important elements of a high end stereo installation are listening position and speaker positioning, in that order. The actual hardware (speakers, amplifiers, source, cables etc) are of less importance relatively speaking.
Yet it is clear from this web site and it's contents, that set up is discussed much less than the actual hardware.
When I look at the Virtual Systems page on site, I'm estimating that, maybe, 10% of the systems posted are close to well set up. Thus, hardly any of the featured hardware is performing close to it's maximum potential.
Shame, and why is it so? Not sexy enough to talk about system set up in depth? Lack of knowledge? Or is it simply too hard to do and too complex a subject?
Just my 2 cents ...
- ...
- 141 posts total
I guess my feeling is that for many of the people with pictures here on AG it MAY be that they don't work on the room that much. But OTH for those who have their systems in a family area there often is a WAF (wife acceptance factor) issue or also just not enough room to move speakers where one would want. Guys with dedicated rooms need the actual bigger area and money for all that correct acoustics might entail. |
Even in a living room if you know the importance of acoustic versus costly upgrade, at least you can improve in some degree your listening experience at low cost if you think and read about acoustic instead of reading marketing reviewer of gear...... That is my point... I dont say to people that dont own a dedicated room that they are wrong, i just say look at what you can do acoustically even in a living room at low cost BEFORE upgrading... All audio threads speak about upgrade... I speak about something more essential : acoustic... I must be right if a reviewer with a way more costlier system than mine enjoy only an " in between speaker sound" not even knowing that it is not optimal acoustic at all... 😁😊 Alleging only fuzzy distortions and "out of phase" effect and attributing that IN A BET to my room CANNOT EXPLAIN timbre and imaging and other acoustical cues perceived coherently TOGETHER in my room...This is just plain acoustic ignorance invoking simplistic explanation about something they are unable to figure out to begin with confirming my point about general underestimation of acoustic in magazine......But they sell NEW gear not acoustic knowledge right? If they will focus on acoustic, who will pay their publicity? This fact will not change the scientific fact that acoustic and psycho-acoustic ONLY can describe our sound/music experience and perception not a new complex design of gear by itself alone EVER nevermind his cost.... Only fetichist think otherwise...
|
@4afsanakhan The symmetry you speak of can usually have positive effects ABOVE the transition frequency of the room. Below it the opposite is usually true. |
The listening position and speaker position are very important IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ROOM. The speakers and the room have to interact properly to achieve sota imaging and sound that is not strident. Most people have to do the best with what they have in regards to the room. Few of us have the opportunity to design rooms specifically for two channel reproduction. I do see systems that make me scratch my head. I also see systems that make clever use of the resources at hand. I certainly think people would be better served by analyzing their situation and managing the acoustic environment than pissing money away on silly fuses. Another problem is that most people have no idea what they are striving for. They only know what seems to sound good to them and they have no idea what that is because they have never measured it. You will hear rather frequently of people complaining about sibilance thinking it is a problem with either the recording or their equipment. I would guess that 95% of this is poor control over room acoustics. Most systems I am invited to hear have this high frequency haze over the sound due to high frequencies bouncing all over the room. A cymbal does not come from one specific location but all over the place. You can locate the fundamental but the harmonics are spread out making the cymbal much wider than it should be. The best systems are going to sound dull at first. They will always play at louder volumes without strain making you think they are nowhere near as loud as they actually are. There will be little if any sibilance behind female voices and imaging will be pinpoint and holographic, instruments and voices in space not splattered against a wall. The image will not extend beyond the speakers unless the engineer is resorting to trickery. You should feel the music even at lower volumes. What are you listening to? Any idea? Have a graph of your system's frequency response? Group delays? The response of individual speakers? Out to sea without a compass would be the likely description. |
- 141 posts total