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The Room, not us, determines our speaker choices

A bit cryptic perhaps, but after going through several pairs of expensive speakers, one just clicked with my room in an incredible way. It was like the errors in the speaker complimented the errors in my room so perfectly that the speaker actually sounded better to me than other "better" speakers. Unfortunately, you have to just keep trying until it happens. There's no way to predict which one it's going to be, but when the stars line up, it's a beautiful thing.

I guess if you have a dedicated audio room, where you can place the speakers 6 feet out from the front wall, 5 feet away from the corners and 10 feet from your couch, which is 5 feet from the rear wall, you may have some predictable performance, but how many have that? I would wager that many of us are fighting with clutter, TVs, computer desks,,,

Keep working at it - if you find the speaker that clicks with your room, you'll be a long way towards audio bliss. As a former musician, I always knew that NOTHING affects the sound more than the room. The greatest acoustic guitar played in a POS room sounded like a POS. You just have to find a friendly speaker and you'll know it when you do. It's a worthwhile quest.

I'm not saying your source or amplification components are not important. They make a huge difference once you find the right speaker. It's just without that speaker you're back to the great guitar in the shitty room. Experiment people. A bit of a crazy rant, but my pills are kicking in, so i'm more prolific than ususal. Have at it.
chayro
hens
173 posts
 
Never thought I'd write these words, but I agree with Mr. Tennis to some extent on this one!:)

I would prefer to select speakers within my budget that I most like the sound of based on as many auditions as I can do. However, I would only audition speakers that I expect, at least on the face of it (size, measurements, etc.), to be a fit with my room in terms of size and frequency range (this is where I disagree with Mr. Tennis). Having selected the speaker that most appealed to me, I would then work on the room, making feasible changes to get the best room response from the speakers.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
as an example, an mg 20.1 in a small room sounds better than any book shelf speaker in a small room, because i don't like box speakers. i can respect some brands , but i can't live with them very long. their faults annoy me.

A close friend tried to integrate 20.1's into a smallish listening room (well, smallish by 20.1 standards). He went through great lengths in everything from room treatment to stands to Xover to biamplification. The end result sounded very impressive, but ultimately restrictive in terms of throwing a realistic soundstage. Personally, I could not live with that huge compromise knowing I was not going to change the room. There are many alternatives that would work much better. Ultimately my friend decided the same and sold the 20.1's. He now uses a very different speaker design in the room which is much better suited to the space an the results are breathtaking in every which way. He'd also tried Quad 988's in the same room which rendered very similar challenges as the Maggies did. As good as both the planar speakers sounded in there I would NEVER be able to live with their faults within that space. At the recent CES I heard a pair of very odd speakers from Gradient called Helsinki. It was designed to alleviate some of the major challenges of integrating the speaker into any room. I don't know how it actually works in practice since I only heard it there, but the theory, which I'm sure can be better stated on their site, seemed like an interesting concept, and, more importantly, their sound was outstanding. I think I've seen them written up in a recent rag too.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
horses for courses...agreed
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,370 posts
 
Chayro, I was just thinking this same thing. You just can't tell. I don't know if it's that the room favors one type of speaker or that you just found the right speaker for your tastes and room. I feel like I'm in the same boat and the only way to really find something like is to just keep trying new speakers. Or should you try new electronics, it's hard to know for sure and expensive to find out.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
soundstage is over rated. i lived with tympany 1b's for 14 years, with no soundstage width. the speakers did not disappear. it was a wall of sound. the instruments sounded realistic.

i heard the mg 20 when it was first introduced at ces, in the Golden Nugget, downtown Las Vegas. it was set up in a small hotel room. the sound was wonderful.
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