2. best-of
  3. 1023153274

Listening Through Walls at Show: Vodoo or Valid?

My girlfriend and I visited the NY show on Sunday.

Although I enjoyed it nonetheless, I found it a bit crowded and the rooms a bit cramped to really settle into any particular demo for a relaxed listening session.

This led to a very weird observation: although I am normally opposed to A/B comparisons and snap judgements, thinking that only longer term listening sessions really reveal the subtleties of our hobby, I found myself making judgements about the systems from OUTSIDE the rooms, sometimes standing in the hallways through only a crack in the door or even walking past closed doors.

Pacing down the corridors we felt compelled to enter some and avoid others. My girlfriend is not an audiophile but she is really interested in music and would often say "too bright" before we would even completely enter a room. (This was not about the music, especially as 9 out of 10 demos seemed to be Patricia Barber anyway.)She particularly ran out of the Phillips? home theatre room and also shied away from the pipedreams system.

Two rooms that we liked were the Dynaudio room and the Wilson set up (Innovative Audio?) which both sounded great to our ears from outside AND inside the room -- with different music and with the Dynaudio room actually having us wonder "is it live?" -- here again from down the hall!

Obviously this might not be the most intelligent way to make pricey decisions on purchasing new components but it was quite a surprise to think about and reflect on.

For the record, I didn't have 6 bloody marys at breakfast or anything.

I would be curious to hear what others have had similar experiences or think of this test methodology?!?!?! Maybe there is something to it!
cwlondon
bomarc
501 posts
 
This would be a very bad way to make even cheap decisions about components. The three most important determinants of sound are speakers, room software. Note the one in the middle. Now, think about the "listening room" you're doing this highly scientific comparing in. Anything like your room at home? Ixnay. For one thing, the ratio of direct to reflected sound is, well, zero.

The rooms these systems were blasting out of could be having an effect (and a different one in each case). Some systems may have been playing too loud for your friend's taste. So I wouldn't put too much stock in it.

On the other hand, if I were showing off my equipment, I'd make damn sure it sounded good as people were approaching.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
IMO if it sounds bad from outside the door it's only gonna get worse the close that you get. That much of your approach is likely quite valid anyway.
pbb
1,140 posts
 
This is not even voodoo. It only lends credence to what I wrote on this site many months ago: audio shows are the worst places to form any kind of opinion on a sound system. The dreaded subject of blind testing gets short shrift because it, according to its detractors, puts undue pressure on the listener as it forces one to decide under some form of duress brought about by not being able to settle in and listen normally. The second worst place to listen to compomnents or systems is at a dealer. This does not leave much choice: get a sample of what you want into your own room and go through a standardized listening evaluation. Are you serious about judging sound through a crack in the door? As high-end audio come to this? Tell me it ain't so Joe!
More to discover