@cdc
'Research proved that in a live musical environment, approximately 30% of what we hear is direct sound while 70% is reflected from walls, ceilings and floors and only reaches our ears a few milliseconds after the direct sound.
The human brain uses direct sound for identification and to calculate location, but uses reflected sound to determine musicality and spaciousness, as well as direction.'
Definitely something worth knowing.
This probably explains why the venue matters so much at concerts.
I wonder what the ratio is in most domestic arrangements?
I guess a lot must also depend upon the distance you're sat from your loudspeakers.
"I ask myself all the time why do I enjoy my boombox at work? Never even give "sound quality" a thought. But dislike (somewhere between tolerate / listen through the audiophile smog to hate) my home stereo?
Is it expectations based on price?"
Yes, I'd say so. It's natural to expect something that costs many many times more to perform considerably better. That's the reason why I usually wait a while before watching highly rated new films or listening to '5 Star' reviewed albums.
Otherwise they're usually a disappointment. They're bound to be.
"Is it that a cheap, but well balanced, system beats an expensive one if something is off?"
Yes, always. Sometimes you can learn to hear through defects, mainly by focusing on strengths, but sometimes you just can't.
"Does the home stereo reveal too much or is interaction with the room a problem?"
Well, yes, resolution can be a double edged sword as anyone who's a fan of selfies might tell you. Apparently there are still loudspeakers out there that have the infamous BBC/Gundry dip around the 2kHz mark to deliberately soften the sound a little.
I've never had room problems, probably because I've never had speakers that could go down low enough, but I think it's also undeniable that some rooms are just better (more lively?) than others.
I can remember from my days of amateur radio how most studio microphones would improve the sound of the presenters voice, especially whilst they were sat in a tiny room.
None of them actually sounded like that in real life.
And no one sounds the same outdoors.