In a lot of these threads people say without the room being treated


It's a waste of money to upgrade you're system. The problem is I don't think most people know how to treat their rooms. I really think it takes a professional to know how to treat a room. Sure you can play around with it if you like but it could also be a big waste of time and money. And I know hiring a person to acoustically treat a room can't be cheap. I wonder why more people don't discuss this subject and make recommendations on who does this kind of work. When I look at the big picture this makes the most sense.

taters
If a good job is done matching speakers to room acoustics, need for treatments can be minimized.  Sometime not even needed.   You might even find less is more in some cases.  
I did a lot of upgrades in 2015, in a new "man cave".  When I got a new pair of speakers, got them "dialed in" to the room with just a few bass traps, the sound was just great!  But when I added a pair of excellent subs, that last octave of bass has been really difficult to incorporate into my system.  Over time I've added more bass traps and have most of the "boominess" out, but it's been a struggle!
Fwiw, I went to to an audio show last year and the best sound my friend and I both heard was in a room that had room treatments. (Von-schweikert)


I read a post here lately where the poster provided some great advice. Put pillows in the corners and hang blankets on the walls at the first reflection point as a test. Then go from there. No real cost in doing this and then see what happens. Experiment some to see if your room perhaps needs some help.

I tried pillows in the corners and it works nice; just one on the floor worked well and more pillows pilled up did not help further. When I'm done, I just put the pillows back on the sofa and so my cost is in the few moments to move the pillows to or from the corners. I may look at trying the blanket experiment next.

I can't believe that someone's spouse felt that Maggies were ugly. I feel that they are beautiful.  When my lady friend first saw my Martin Logan Monolith IIIs speaker, she actually said that they were pretty.  now the hugh Mark Levinson 23.5 amps on the other hand, she didn't care for them at all.  Cables?  nope. Rosewood Sota Turntable? yep.  Cabinet? yep.

I live in a 1930s style house with lathe and thick plaster walls. Shutters behind the speakers and on the side walls and art on the rear walls, and I can tell you that walking around my room when the music is playing, there are spots that I feel need some sort of treatment.  My floor is hardwood with a large, thick area run from the speakers to the back wall, so that first reflection point is minimized.  I have wonderful sound (to me and others), but yeah, I do think that I may need some sort of room treatment.  Just don't want to throw money at a problem without knowing exactly what I'm doing.
enjoy