2. speakers
  3. 160890-20253

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
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Erik:
"Half a second?? Delay between direct and reflected? That's 550' long! :) How do you accomplish that? That's no longer going to be a reflection but a distinct echo.

Like duke was suggesting, most think a 10-20 millisecond delay is ideal."

Hello Erik.

RED ALERT!  RED ALERT!  RED ALERT!
QUICK!  QUICK! 
STOP THE PRESSES! 

noble100/Tim  made a mistake! And it's a HUGE one!
COLLOSSAL EVEN!   
He typed half a second when he meant 10 milliseconds!

WHAT A DOPE!!!
QUICK, JUMP ALL OVER THAT IDIOT!
BIGGEST MISTAKE SINCE THAT ORANGE DOPEY BABY GUY!!
QUICK, CALL CHIEF O'HARA! HAVE HIM SEND UP THAT BIG BLACK BAT SILHOUETTEY THING IN THE SKY! 
OH MY! NOW I'M CLUTCHING MY PEARLS!
OOPS!  I WET'EM!

Geez, C'mon Man,
  Tim       
erik_squires OP
16,838 posts
 
Hi noble100
I’m sorry you took my question so dramatically. It was meant to point out a typo which I wanted some clarification on while being humorous. It also shows I actually read the post attentively.

My apologies if it came as too flippant for you.

Erik
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Hello Erik,

     Thank you but there's no need to apologize.  No harm, no foul.  No big deal, I was just having a little fun.
     The truth is it was my mistake, not yours, and I do appreciate your attentiveness.  I also try to pay close attention to posts, especially on posts about room acoustics and room treatments.  Not only because the subject seems to merit close attention to details, but also because I'm relatively new to its practical application.
     Everything's cool.

Thanks,
  Tim
mahlman
433 posts
 
I like updates from Audiogon but most of the time pass them by anymore. However this one caught my eye and I have to say I find the audio worlds equivalent of  "The Onion" as entertainment does not disappoint.

  Personally I think unless you have built a dedicated house with a real theater room with meticulous spare no expense attention to detail and stuffed some million dollar speakers in there you have no standing to determine what is good or not. You, OP, simply have plebeian tastes and budgets and as typical for that type of, ahem, discerning audio decision making crippled by lack of ability to choose or judge what is good correctly simply also lack the finances to ever even hear good things.  Some like the Prius but a few with impeccable taste like the Rolls Royce and can afford the better things in life and the same is true with audio. Some have speakers, but we who know have life changing audio reality in pristine audiophile environments that immerse you into what you hear and we are the only ones qualified to speak on what is superior.
wyoboy
293 posts
 
Getting back to the original question the answer is you could but you'd have to be willing spend the time and money to search and travel.  Are you really serious about purchasing such a mega-speaker if you heard it in the right environment and loved it ?  or just looking for that experience?   You could call Mike Pedero in the Phillippines--he designs listening rooms and designed Jack and Jim Duavit's two rooms which i've read are the two best listening rooms in the world--and Jack's a dealer but no showroom--just his basement in Quezon City...how far are you willing to go ?
More to discover