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I'm never going to hear a megaspeaker in a good room am I?

Was thinking about something. There’s a thread about good $40K speakers which made me think that honestly despite hearing a lot of them at shows, I’ve never heard one in a decent environment. Now, perhaps we can argue:

If it doesn’t sound good anywhere, including a hotel room, is it really that good a speaker?


But let’s not go that route. But I am thinking to myself, in well treated rooms the best speakers I’ve heard were merely mid-range Wilsons and Magicos. I say "merely" because they were under $40k, not because of performance. The two best speakers I’ve heard, in medicore rooms were the SF Stradivari and Snell A/III, and top of the line Vandersteen.

All the $40K + speakers I’ve heard have been at shows, and either very badly treated rooms, or in halls so big the first reflection point was like a mountain echo. Am I ever going to get to listen to $40K+ speakers in great rooms anywhere again??

As a result, I’ve developed a severe bias against the performance of mega speakers, because I only ever hear them in terrible rooms and have not heard one I’d spend money for, and honestly that's unfair to them.

erik_squires
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,957 posts
 
Eric - did you settle on where ? There is super excellent Vandy dealers in Atlanta and Verona NJ. Best ever sound I have heard out of the MBL in a sleepy University town in SC...

IF you want to improve your DIY consider cabinet wothin a cabinet w constrained layer damping between the cabinets.

ignore the Troll, he cant , Kant get no satisfaction....well i guess Trolls plural....maybe they are brothers ?
nyaudio98
420 posts
 
If the chase is.not worth it, find something else. This applies to extreme sports fans...in the end not worth it. 
erik_squires OP
16,242 posts
 
@Hi tomic601

I'm happy to say that the cabinets for the SNR-1 were made by Lee Taylor and I could not be happier.  Those cabinets do not need mods.  What I need is a great room to put them in. :)

Best,

Erik
richopp
760 posts
 
If you wish to hear super-expensive speakers in "the right room," which I assume means set-up properly for demo, it will not be at a hotel room show, as you discovered.

Call the manufacturer, ask them which of their dealers has the best showroom set-up for their speakers, and go there and listen. Unless you live in NYC or SF or some other giant city where they sell enough of the product to warrant a dealer who has the right set-up, you will probably have to travel to a specific city.

I assume you traveled to hear the hotel-room demos.  Next time, go to the city where the dealers are big enough to showcase the specific manufacturer's stuff.  OR, most manufacturers have their own demo rooms.  If you are serious about spending that kind of money, they will be pleased to host you at their facility, I am sure. You will, most likely, hear the item at its best at the factory showroom, right?

Enjoy the music, and remember, the sound in the "perfect" room will NOT be the sound in YOUR room unless you make the appropriate modifications to it.

Cheers!
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