Some famous reviewers have atrocious listening rooms!

curtdr

Yes the "underused dedicated home theater" has been a theme that has often cropped up in the dedicated home theater forums (e.g. AVSForum).  One really should go in with a realistic idea of how many people will likely use the theater and how often.

In my case though I created a projection based home theater system, I didn't want a dedicated room that felt separated from the rest of the house.   I merged it my two channel listening room, which is the front living room of the house on the main floor.  It's a high performance room in which dark curtains can be pulled all around the room to cut screen reflections for a very dynamic, big image and immersion.  But it is bright and cheery by day, eminently accessible and comfy, and so my family is often in there and I used it every day, whether for reading, listening to music, watching movies or TV etc.    I didn't go with awkward looking home theater chairs in such a room, but had a huge sectional sofa custom-built, which has come in handy as I've had many guests watch sports and movies with me there.

Once you have a room that feels like you are going off in to some other dark pit to watch movies, it can actually feel to some people more of a barrier.

Nothing is more insulting to the music than some audiophile's listening room that is set up like some sterile audio lab with a lone chair centered in a room where nothing is allowed to "live" in it except for some aesthetically awful acoustical panels, all their high-end gear stacked on the floor, and speakers set up to imply the person doesn't actually listen to music. They hear it but they're not listening to it. 

@prof  +1 yeah, nice, a well-used and inviting flexible multi-purpose room 

@bipod72 +1 and yes, agreed... and why some gear, certain speakers for example, might not be "perfect" in a lonely lab room but out in the general living room really come to life with music

bipod72

I see no reason to denigrate how anyone else enjoys music, be it their choice of room furnishing, single chair or whatever.

If that is the way an individual likes to focus on listening to music, how could that be "insulting" to the music?

One could just as well say that people who spend a lot of time on a place like audiogon discussing gear are in to the gear, not listening to music.

But that would no more be necessarily true than seeing someone's set up which has lots of gear.  This forum has a whole section devoted to people showing off pictures of their gear.  

Reviewers exist primarily to promote product.

Really? I used to review a bit, and have known many audio reviewers. I can’t think of a single one who thinks of themselves that way, or who approach their reviewing just to promote a product.

Does it matter how they see themselves?

Besides I was referring to paid professional reviewers. I find owner/amateur reviews to be generally far more relevant.

I can hardly think of a single review which came close to describing what I later heard in person.

Maybe you weren’t terribly good at, or didn’t put much effort in to weeding through reviews.

I have gradually improved at weeding out reviews which contain sins of commission, but I still can’t account for those which feature sins of omission.

To not mention issues that could prove problematic is a general malaise these days. We see it everywhere from a school reports to employer references.

The great majority of products that received glowing reviews turned out to be crushing disappointments in real life. [fully loaded Linn/Naim six pack was shockingly bad when I’d been expecting near perfection]

Ah, looks like you were maybe to high in your expectations regarding reviews.

So were tens of 1000s of others who were brought up on the UK press in the 1980s.

Time and time again I reminded myself to never again trust ANY reviews.

It’s the oldest adage in audio but you really do have to listen for yourself.

Why did you need reminding?

Once upon a time I took professional reviews seriously. After all, they were written by experienced journalists who usually spoke with a voice of authority.

As has been already mentioned several times in this thread, they are nothing such. In fact reviews are very little more than a rough guide.

This salient fact is not always apparent to those who are new to the big and often bewildering world of audio.

As the OP stated, it can be disappointing for audio novices to eventually discover that professional reviewers are not experts in anything at all.

Far from it.

They just have better access to a wider range of equipment than we do.