"The Ultra High-End Speaker."

Very interesting post! Thanks....

This illustrate my point that acoustics science dont reduce to room acoustic and room acoustic dont reduce to passive material treatment but may include active mechanical device as resonators and DSP as Choueiri BACCH filters and this illustrate why psycho-acoustics is the ultimate ground of audio ...

The relation between specific brain/specific ears /a specific filters EXCLUDE simplistic recipe as we read often ...

Acoustics applied to Great Hall and to very small room differe very much and it is why as medecine is a curative and preventive ART grounded in science , it cannot be reduced to a technology excluding human thinking ( save for diagnostic by A. I. as a tool )...

This is why it takes me a year to do my room full time ... I learned making errors i corrected all along 7 days a week ... It cost me a great amount of time but there is no price for learni9ng and anyway those who dont pay with time will pay with their money and big ...Or stay frustrated ...

Psycho-acoustics rule audio not the reverse ... Price tags dont matter as much many claim...

I have heard a number of rooms built from the ground up as audio rooms with full blown complete room treatment. Even with such rooms, subjective impression of the rooms vary greatly. Most of such rooms were, to me, disappointing—too dry and analytical sounding with bleached out harmonics.

The best was a $250,000 room designed by an acoustic architect. That room did not look like it was treated because most treatment was hidden behind the wall coverings, including the truly giant bass traps in all four corners. The front wall had a very large convex wood diffusor that looked like room decoration, not treatment. But, even this room, which I liked, got mixed reviews. Two of my friends did not like the sound and both are audio professionals. So much of good sound IS subjective.

Your post is very true to the general marketing /consumers situation ...

It is why i posted for years  these facts also ... Snobbism does not exist in acoustic circle , at least less than in audio marketing circle ...

Thanks for the post ...

False.... A purpose built room+a sizeable investment in treatments that actually work can drastically reduce the perceived performance gap (and all associated metrics of audiophilia) between high end gear and relatively affordable gear.

For example, I could demonstrate to guys like you how a 60k speaker and a 1k speaker sound in the same room (one of my rooms)...a good one with about 40k to 50k worth of treatments that work, i.e. how close it starts to get.

Of course, if such truths get demonstrated too much, the "high end" sales guy (which is maybe half the forum) may start to freak out that his sales numbers could suffer. But then again, he need not worry...because most audiophiliac dudes love to buy a few hundred thousand dollars worth of gear, plop it down in a sht house and hope for miracles anyways. Such dudes may usually buy 2 doofus panels, put it up in a couple of spots for decorative purposes and claim that their room is treated! Hence, the high end sales guys has nothing to worry about...high end sales will be great as usual. All is good in the world...Amen.

Everything matters is the short answer as always. But to over amplify the importance of one aspect of audiophilia over another is not a fruitful argument imo. Room construction, size, acoustic treatments, speakers, amps, preamps, sources, cables, etc..., all that matters if getting the best sound to your ears truly matters to you. Unfortunately there is no easy short cut, not even high end speakers.

Lavigne never said that the Revel speakers in a well treated living room compare in design and potential quality to his TOP speakers and to his actual speakers/room ...He said that he could live happy with that... Then read him right ...

You must understand that OBJECTIVE acoustic satisfaction in a dedicated acoustic room where all acoustic factors work without being impeded cannot be confused with the quality design evaluation of the gear which is another matter ...

I am happy with my low cost speakers ... Where did i said that buying the superior design of the Revel speakers is useless BECAUSE i designed acoustically my room ? Nowhere did i suggest that ...

Neither Lavigne suggested that the Revel will replace his actual system , even if he said that as any of us we can live happy with them... Good acoustic experience dont reduced to design quality price of high end ... There exist a minimal subjective treshold of acoustic satisfaction ...but we need a dedicated room acoustically controlled to experience it the most and for the better with good design to begin with at any price ...

Minimal acoustic satisfaction is not TOP OPTIMAL acoustic satisfaction ...

The quality of design of each components play a role ...Only idiots will equal my low cost performance speakers even well embedded to Revel speakers and the Revel to the Lavigne speakers ...My low cost system dont compare a second to his even if i am as happy he is with his system ...I am not an idiot ...

But if acoustic passive treatment and active mechanical and digital control play the greatest part in acoustic satisfaction experience NOT THE PRICE TAGS... This dont means that price tag of higher design is snake oil ...

I never say that high end audio is a MERE scam and only idiots will claim this , but high end audio WITHOUT acoustics is a STOP GAP nevermind the price (i dont speak about few acoustic panels here and there ; read wikipedia definition of psycho-acoustics to begin with )

If someone like @mikelavigne is willing to put the money AND the time and effort into an ultra-high-end system, I think he can probably build one that sounds noticeably better than yours, no disrespect intended. Diminishing returns will surely also be noticeable, but if someone has the money and wants a system and room that’s the best he can buy, I don’t have a problem with that.

There seem to be a lot of posts on this forum that imply or state that high-end audio or some aspect of it is a scam or that everybody should listen to a system like the poster’s or at least one based on what the poster has found works for him. I think we all hear differently, have different tastes, have different listening rooms, have different budgets, different wives 😁, etc. and that is why we all have different systems.

If you invest upward of (say $250) in an audio system and do NOT BUILD a house (or at least 'barn' or complete addition from ground up) to put it in (including floor, walls, ceiling, power supply (obviously, nothing but a solar powered bttery bank and purely DC equipment), then you lost your mind, and are considered Ultra STUPID High End.