Right-sizing the system / room treatment evangelist
I spent some time looking through a lot of the system photos yesterday. I was really struck by how much beautiful high end equipment is out there… usually very tastefully added / integrated with an existing living room, den, or some other existing room. But also how incredibly compromising these rooms have to be to the sound. There are a few with extensive room treatments, but the vast majority are nestled in with open doors, fireplaces, windows… and huge speakers in small spaces, some untreated boxy reflective rooms.
There are a few room treatment evangelists around here. I see why. There are tremendous opportunities to radically improve the sound. I am really lucky to have accidentally bought a large house with a really excellent large acoustic space. My dealer friend of over 20 years sell and installs high end systems an is very cognizant of right-sizing the system for the sound space. We have been carefull to right size my speakers. There is an optimum size system for a space.
I remember hearing one of the most incredible systems in a tiny room / large closet. It was at a dealer who had carefully chosen the equipment / size to be room appropriate… and the added benefit was it was less expensive… smaller speakers, less powerful amp.
So, I think if I was faced with putting my system in the living room (like I did when starting out) with all sorts of compromises, vs a smaller extra bedroom where I could control the space and right size the system. I would now choose the smaller space.
I have a small 9x13 listening room. I probably had 75% of the gear where I wanted,then realized I had to do something more with room treatment. That made an enormous difference. I’m working on clearing out some space so I can get my gear out from between the speakers. I think that will greatly improve an already pretty good soundstage. By the way @ghdprentice, beautiful system and room. |
I have 4 dedicated rooms that are disguised as living rooms. The overtreated antiseptic dedicated rooms are typically…meh. I am blessed to hear and setup gear in many rooms in a given year, including monitor / control rooms in recording studios and live recording locations…. bring on the plants, portable diffuser ( dogs ), brick a brack of real life…. Just an opinion… |
Thank you @rocray @tablejockey. I fell in love with Sonus Faber years ago and had a couple sets. My last set were Olympica 3. My dealer and I discussed a levels up and down from the Amati. Even though the next step up was twice as expensive he discouraged it. We also discussed a lot of systems he implemented for clients. He helped me connect the dots from my own observations I had made in the past on the subject of sizing. I really consider this current system a collaboration between him and I. It is also his favorite system. We have similar tastes… natural / musical system. As opposed to ear bleeding detail striped of musicality. He constantly complements the space… one of the best he has ever heard.
Also, when I had ribbon speakers the stuff in between and the bare wall was not detrimental sonically (I tried with and without). But when I switched the dynamic speakers, wow, big soundstage improvements removing the components and treating wall. Now the soundstage goes back 10 - 12 feet actually behind the wall. While initially with my speakers set up toed in (most typical) the soundstage was confined to between the speakers… it opened up as I moved them to no toe in. The heavy Afghan made a big difference in allowing the soundstage to increase in depth. Now the speakers disappear (one of their abilities)… But to get there, I’m pretty sure the space of my room was required as well as treatments. My room is also highly asymmetrical, which is also really helpful. |
