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
I haven't ever been to an audio show so my only listening experiences have been at dealers.  They have been in modest markets such as St. Louis, Nashville and Memphis.  The mainstream/larger dealers that also had Sony TVs along with the full suite of Sonos devices, etc. always leave me disappointed.  They haven't had this mega level of speakers to offer, but it has been the top of the line B&W and Paradigm to name a couple.  They were in medium to large rooms with 2 other systems arranged as well and possibly part of a home theater.  It has always been a let-down.  The one visit which wasn't was here in my hometown of Memphis.  George Merrill, who builds his own high-end turntables, is a gracious audiophile and welcomes his customer to stop in the store.  He has a single listening room for which I cannot remember all the electronics.  The speakers were Aerial 7ts.  His top of the line turntable along with some fairly exotic solid state electronics were all set up.  His TT is around $10k and the 7ts around $12k.  I looked up the other pieces and the system topped out with an MSRP of around $90k.  His room was fairly small and well treated.  It was my first listening experience in a well-treated room and it was jaw-dropping.  I felt as if I was in a vacuum chamber where there was no echo/reflections whatsoever.  The soundstage was so 3-dimensional and lifelike!  My point is that it may be better to search for these room more than searching for $100k or whatever mega price speakers that are simply connected.  One would expect speakers of this level to only be connected in such a room, but I suspect that is not the norm.  Regardless of our own individual budgets and purchase intentions, I feel these experiences help us in our never-ending journey for audio nirvana.  It planted a frame of reference in my brain that I use as I try different components in my system. 
It was my first listening experience in a well-treated room and it was jaw-dropping. I felt as if I was in a vacuum chamber where there was no echo/reflections whatsoever. The soundstage was so 3-dimensional and lifelike! My point is that it may be better to search for these room more than searching for $100k or whatever mega price speakers that are simply connected.
Thanks for this very interesting experience...

My experience is the same, except that not only acoustic, but mechanical and electrical embeddings controls are the way to go first....

My 500 bucks system gives me this "3-d and lifelike experience, ONLY because of the way i adressed these 3 embeddings controls priorities...

But it is more easy for us sometimes to gives money instead of thinking, or to buy ready made, instead of working it ourself.... But sometimes working is fun when it is possible and stimulate our own creativity.... I bought NOTHING (tweaks or upgrade product) , and create many solutions from homemade simple experience....My post is for those who need to be confirm in their intruition and dont have big money but big wish for audiophile experience..... Contrary to most adivices mine is simple: dont upgrade, embed it rigthtfully and enjoy doing it....

The only problem is it was for me necessary, not to have money, but to have a room for my audio experiments.... It can be done in a living room only if your are not married.... :)

If you are, it will be costly to have beautiful acoustical device controls and adequate controls at the same times.... :)

Mine a cheap,homemade, ugly, (i am not very crafty) but very poweful indeed.... My speakers will astound anyone with their sound for the price paid..... All that comes less from the good speakers choice than the device controls i used to liberate their potential S.Q.

Poor audiophile like me are not necessarily frustrated one....

Even with the money i dont know if i will upgrade, because if you can listen the Great Mass of Bruckner on your speakers without losing details, dynamical intermingling of brass,wood, choir and strings why paying for more?

My dream is comes true.... That is enough....

Audio need less money power than a little creativity.....

My best to all....
Most loudspeakers can perform much better than most owners will ever realize and that's a shame.
True dat--the Aerial 7T's that i bought sound great in my room   but i guarantee the dealer's room treatments (and source/amps) were way better--still working on room treatment in mine as i believe this may be the single most important aspect of re-creating what i heard there.  I'm guessing the dealer's set up for the Rockports was not as good as their listening room in Maine (bucket list?) but it was still better than anything i'd ever heard.