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Room treatment and speaker placement????

Just poking around on audio sites and system pics, personal, not dealer. I've seen many systems that are far nicer than mine, set up without any visible, or at best, minimal room treatment.

I don't get it. If you have the money for nice gear, or even modest gear, why not squeeze the best you can out of it for not much money?

Recently did a fairly extensive treatment of my own room and I can honestly say that it was by far the best bang-for-the-buck I ever spent in audio. By the time I was finished, or at least close, I still have a couple more things to do, I barely recognized the sound of my own system and music......it was that different.

Everything got substantially better. Bass is deeper, cleaner and tighter. Sound stage with good recordings, stretches wall to wall and realistically deep behind the speakers. Imaging is tight and well defined, vocals are clearer.............The speakers tend to simply disappear in most cases......It's all just BETTER and I didn't have to strain my ears to hear it, it was obvious.

The only down side I have noted is that you can easily hear the differences in recording quality between discs now. As a result, while most music is much better, lesser recordings can be a bit disappointing.

My other question concerns setup and speaker positioning.......Judging strictly from a picture or two, it would appear that many speakers are far from optimally set up...............Without knowing the whole room, I could be mistaken. It would seem that although many people enjoy the hobby and have spent significant money on the equipment, they don't actually understand acoustics.............how important setup and treatment can be.

If you fall into that category, do yourself a huge favor and spend a few hours researching the above.

So many folks will spend hours arguing over cables, stands, pods, points, pads, wood, metal, glass.....the list of tweaks is near endless. Set your gear up right, make an attempt to correct at least some of your room problems....... ALL rooms have problems........... and you'll walk around smiling for days..........Tain't magic folks or even particularly complicated......and it's guaranteed to work.

Neither an engineer or acoustics expert, just a hobbyist that reads a lot.

Room treatment, a few hundred bucks. Proper speaker set up............free, just a little of your time........Best "tweaks" you'll ever make.
shadowcat2016
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,593 posts
 
Many people cannot use room treatments because their living space is a shared space that also happens to be their living room. Many nice and loving spouses just don’t want to fill the living room with all manner of ugly treatments. Yes they are ugly in the eyes of many spouses regardless of how we think they look.

So for many this is just not an option. In the past I have enjoyed fully loaded, acoustically treated rooms dedicated to audio. We are now empty nesters downsizing and my dedicated music room is a thing of the past. My wife and I discussed the best aesthetic options for our new space and my music/audio needs. The room could not be filled with rectangular boxes of electronics and no acoustic panels, traps and the like were allowed . She was ok with the speakers being placed into the room where they would sound best. She helped pick the model she found attractive and I found musical.

I ended up purchasing a one box wonder with SOTA room correction and have the best sound I have ever had in my home. The unit is the Lyngdorf 2170 and for me it replaced the need for physical room treatments. I know some Aphiles think you still need these physical acoustic elements for great sound, but my experience with the 2170 as shown these (physical acoustical treatments) are not the only means to great sound. Yes, in a perfect world both SOTA room correction and acoustical treatments when combined would make an unbeatable combo.

I know others who use room correction with great results so we do have options today for our shared audio/living spaces. Options that please both the Audiophile and The Audiophile’s wife in our case 🙂
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
In all fairness, until the past year when my wife of 40 years passed away, my "listening room" was also our living room and therefore subject to the same restraints that you speak of. My wife was very tolerant of my hobby, but it was still our living room and concessions had to be made as to set up.............Now I'm able to do whatever I feel the need to do, but truthfully I'd gladly toss it all in a dumpster to have her back.

Never heard of the Lyngdorf before, but I did a quick read on a review done by Home Theater Review..........Sounds VERY impressive. Not cheap, but what is in this hobby :)..............Wish I'd have known about that before I spent weeks treating my room!!.............Live and learn.

Yes, I too think that a piece of gear like that, along with some modest room treatment could be an ideal setup for many people............Almost makes me want to sell my amps and replace them with the Lyngdorf.

Thank you for a very informative and useful response. It gave me food for thought.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Thanks for sharing again.
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
Not sure what to make of you GK?.....You are frequently "here"...and are obviously well informed, more so than I, but I haven't quite figured out your sense of humor yet, if in fact that's what it is........I guess I should have responded directly to Grannyring....wasn't my intention to air my laundry globally, but it seemed relevant to the discussion......If I've annoyed you, forgive me, wasn't my intent.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
"I tried to follow the "professionals"..I figured they knew more about it than I did. YMMV"
I thought so, too. Then I looked at the promo pictures on established manufacturers’ websites. Speakers in positions that would trigger a few heart attacks on Audiogon. Corners, next to a huge window, even against the glass wall. Dali has a pair inside an LP rack. Maybe it was designed for that. See Dynaudio, Revel, Dali, but I am sure there would be more, if one looked for it.
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