Some famous reviewers have atrocious listening rooms!

Is room acoustics important? Yes, but system synergy, level of components, quality of power, cables and vibration control are equally important.

I think that we have to acknowledge that different audiophiles claim to hear differently. I’m amazed at shows how audiophiles make claims about judging cables and electronics in horrible rooms.

I don’t know if they can actually hear THROUGH the crap or they are just suffering from self-delusion, but one thing I know for damn sure is I cannot.

So for me, that statement doesn’t match my reality. I have to have a good room first or the rest is nonsense.

Steven Guttenberg seems to live in a CVS breakroom's storage closet.

And may I repeat the nth time: so many audiophiles have the most "amazing" furniture and decoration worth 10s of dollars at a swap meet surrounding their 50+K equipment.

This seems to me like weighing yourself every morning on a scale that is off by 10 pounds.  So what, as long as it's consistent you will see if you are losing or gaining.

So (hopefully) they know how their room sounds and by extension they know what sounds better or worse.

You may punch holes in this very easily...don't bother.

Reviewers are "show girls" you'll never get what your expecting.

Use your own brain and ears.  'nuff said.

Regards,

barts 
 

I just finished Stereophile’s review of the Klipsch La Scala. Obviously we all know they are super sensitive, super dynamic & can crush just about any other speaker out there in terms of pure undistorted volume with not that many good watts. They only compared it to a 60 year old Altec Valencia! How about compared to speakers of a similar price range in terms of high frequency detail, imaging, low end detail ( did mention it cuts off around 50 hz). 

Funny. My brother just bought a mint pair with upgraded crossovers and powered by a Chinese variant of the LSA amp it just sounded slow, lethargic, and without resolution to me. It is incapable of boogie, of PRAT, of much other than tone. It reminds me of Grandpa's Buick Roadmaster badly in need of new shocks, struts, rubber, and an alignment. It reminds me of Koss 4AA headphones-the real sh*t in the day but that day is long gone. The S'Phile review? I suspect something is badly wrong in Denmark. Fish wrap. 

Yes indeed, I too have had multiple conversations about reviewers' listening rooms with my audiophile buddies. The clutter, the tiny rooms, etc ... They look to be FAR from ideal. I'm assuming most of what they're doing is near field, otherwise the busy-ness of the spaces makes me wary of their reviews... Take everything with a grain (giant block) of salt.