If you want lame advice DON'T do this!

You are completely right about the importance of acoustic over even gear choice as the road to audiophile experience...

Thanks for the articles...

😊

@mahgister

Is the OP an acoustician specialized in small room

That is a GREAT question. The OP (as in moi) knew his limitations re: small room acoustics AND his budget. Thankfully I had the sense to get the acoustics right before blowing up my budget. There is some GREAT info available on the topic which I chose to avail myself of. (check page 2 here) and (chapters 4,5, and 10 here) This is a starting point and yes, I consulted with professional mixing stages, studio owners, the founder of Auro 3D, and installers of high end listening rooms and home theaters. I have had my measurements reviewed by professional acousticians. Maybe it was overkill but still a LOT cheaper than buying new gear.

It’s always a good idea to NOT make recommendations without knowing more about the context in which the recommended component will be operating.

I agree the result can often be money wasted, depending on exactly how one goes about it. The main thing is to buy things that can be returned or resold cost effectively if needed because you never know for sure until its operating in YOUR room.

Given that, the smart thing for even high end affectionados to do is try less costly products that have good chance of doing the job well first before trying to go for broke.  You can always make a change as needed.  Otherwise you may be spending a lot for something that might have been achieved for much less.

How many here actually do that?  Don't know except that I do.

@newbee

And the bigger question is, perhaps, who is going to train these folks?

I wouldn’t want to send out a drivers ed student in a Rolls Royce. If you are Joe Six pack just install big subwoofers and hit the only switch you will ever need (full blast). Next there are certified calibrators that will calibrate a TV or a listening room (see CEDIA and https://homeacoustics.org/haa-training/)

For the astute members that have already invested in a system it isn’t a big deal to buy a mic and measure.

@mapman 

It’s always a good idea to NOT make recommendations without knowing more

Thank you, 👍

@nonoise

Funny you should mention BestBuy

I know, I know, the first three words of English you learned was "attention K-Mart shoppers". my bad.

Forget the link I posted for you to get professional help, use this one instead.

As per my personal preferences for my room setup the Toole uses the same setup as me (right down to using a center height channel and using front and rear book shelves as height channels AND a VOG channel):

Abbey road studios mixing Pink Floyd immersive audio, same. I also use active speakers for bed channels and have active speakers mounted high as height channels, sounds better and save a lot of space and money. They are using Neumann active monitors, I use Paradigm Active Reference 40 and 20's:

Here is a takeaway about acoustics from both setups, notice the MLP is equidistant from the front and back of the room. This was a HUGE improvement in my room when I moved my MLP to same and NOT the one listed in the dolby specs which is closer to the rear wall FWIW.