It is all about the ‘Room’, thinks Toole.

I'm working my way through it. So far it makes a lot of interesting points ;some unrelated to the "room". I would encourage all to read it. Can't wait to finish it. -Jim

I read this about a year ago. I found it rambled a bit but there is some excellent advice in it. FWIW: I have invested rougly half of my money on room acoustics. I find it very odd that audiophiles pretend to be serious about sound quality to the point of agonizing over speaker cables, interconnects and cones/spikes yet many of these same audiophiles do absolutely nothing about the room acoustics - go figure! (Is this hobby about aesthetic fashions or sound quality?)

Judging from many of the posts on Audiogon, Shadorne, I think it's mostly a hobby about fools' gold, mysticism for the gullible. Toole's advice pretty much comports with what I knew about psychoacoustics when I was active in the field, but it's not nearly as sexy as whatever latest widget has become available. We need to get our heads straight and start listening to those power cords.

db

the most important developement in hi fi gear(yes its still hi fi) in over 25 years is burle maple veneer.

Well Shadorne, as Toole points out some of what we consider " good" sound quality is " governed by a cultivated taste". We have been taught that an elevated midbass is "good". If you don't have it it sounds "thin". Live rock concert mixes pound this into our heads.Certain speaker manufacturers now build this into their products. Unfortunately there is no off switch when you don't want it. " Reviewers" tell us that cables will " elevate our systems to a whole new level.( BTW if this is ever true then imho there is something seriously wrong with your system). People who spend the big bucks confirm this and inform us that yes indeed it was worth it . Who in their right mind is gonna tell anyone they just dropped 20 large on a power cable and they couldn't hear the difference. ( I know they can make a difference but it is SUBTLE ) Audio magazines encourage this as their existance depends upon it. This is what I call the Robert Parkerization of audio. We make our lists and we buy the ones that are 90+ points and feel some superiority over those poor souls who can only afford something in the mid 80's. Wine prices are profoundly affected by the ratings ( which are plastered all over their adds ) and outfits exist which consult with growers on how to blend spefically to increase their Parker scores. Nothing about "tranparency to the source" which is also a part of wine evaluation. If you just blindly follow the ratings your gonna get screwed if for example you like Burgundies. Any of this sound familiar ? I've optimized my room the best I could. Any more and my wife will kill me. Despite this the sweet spot is not as large as I would like it to be. Earlier today I had tears in my eyes listening to Wynton Marsallis playing " where or when" from the sweet spot. Two nights ago I sat 7 feet further back with a freind of mine on a couch to listen/watch the J.B. dvd. It sounded like crap. There is no cable, hell there is no speaker , anywhere which could have the same profound effect as 7 feet and a poorly set up space. - Jim