The Room, not us, determines our speaker choices

hi magnumpi:

i have been to ces for 16 years. i have noticed certain speaker systems consistently sound good, in spite of bad rooms. most manufacturer's blame the room, when, often it is the equipment.

"a bum mechanic blames his tools". a poor speaker designer blames the room.

a decent speaker, will always sound "good", even in a bad set up, but mat sound better when a room is treated.

just as it is easy to recognize a great recording on a mediocre stereo system, it is easy to recognize a great speaker in a bad room. make the best of your room, but choose your speakers wisely.

don't be a box speaker fool, panels rule ! LOL

There's no denying that room acoustics are of primary importance when setting up either a recording studio, live music venue or a listening room. I'd generally rather have so-so equipment in an excellent room, than excellent equipment in a so-so room. REALLY what one needs is a basic understanding of what will work easily, and what won't, when making equipment choices. Most don't get to build the room around their chosen equipment. BUT- It's been my experience that no problem is insuperable. Equipment can be modded and rooms treated, to achieve most REASONABLE goals. Of course- Good musicians, recorded well and planar speakers ARE indispensable in the recipe(at least in my cookbook).

Saw a good flick last night called, "Bottle Shock"

There's a great line in that film that comes to mind reading the all too familiar "pass the Grey Poupon" rhetoric I read here often.

You’re a snob, and it limits you

Put a pair of great speakers in a small, floor-to-ceiling-tiled room and they will most certainly not sound "good", and few, if any, would want to spend any time listening to music in that room. To a lesser extreme a room can certainly obscure the attributes of any speaker, some more than others. Compare ten pairs of speakers in the bathroom setting I describe and I doubt very much whether anyone could tell that much about how each speaker distinguishes itself from the others as when set up in a more ideal environment that suited the specific speaker. Sure, you'll be able to glean some useful information from the comparison, but I don't think I would want to make a decision based solely on the information I came away with. Broadly comparing the rooms at CES with those at RMAF I personally thought that there were far more rooms sounding better at CES than at RMAF and I do believe the difference in the rooms being contended with had something to do with that. To some extent I'd agree though, that the differences are not so extreme in practice as to really obscure being able to discern important qualities of a speaker's performance. There are consistencies in performance that come to mind from one show to the other (Roger Sanders for instance - though I felt his speakers sounded great in both cases, I thought at T.H.E. show recently, they were actually more compromised by (?) than at RMAF so go figure). I would not, however, dismiss the room so flippantly...it almost seems like a contrarian fishing expedition to me. I don't see it as a mechanic blaming poor tools. A mechanic working to tune a Ferarri in a well-lit, comfortably heated, well equipped garage vs the same mechanic, same tools, tuning the same car in a cold vibrating room with dim lighting. Same tools, same mechanic, different environment = likely different results.

I totally aggree. In college I bought some Canton higher end speakers though they sounded great in the showroom when I go thtem home they still sounded good and flat in the midrange but I loss base soundstage and something else. I even called Canton thought something was wrong with the speakers. Several years later I moved to a bigger room they had some air around them and wow what a difference! The speakers where simply to big for the room, probably a good pair of bookshlves woudl of been better.

Now I have vandersteen 5a and same thing I had them in a decent room but just never really worked I moved to a new house about a year ago with a dedicated 23 x 23 HT, Much better my soundstage just opened up. Can't waite till I get some treatments in I have a base hump.

One other thing that people are swareing buy is these sound eq like audssey (sp) that balance your speakers to a room. These hit the HT market in processors a couple of years ago and wow what a difference. They now make some high end ones for 2 channel most audiofiles frown at them, I understand, but most people I know that tried them will never go back. I am a firm belever you need to not only match the speakers to the room but also in some cases balance them to a room. Heck Vandersteen has been doing this for years he balances to the room and the preamp with little pots on the backs of the speakers and crossovers. When is the last time you installed any speaker in to a totally equaly sounding room on both sides. Also once the speakers sound the same the sound stage appears and gets big and the speakers disappear.