"The room can totally wreck, or make, a system"

I would add this. “A person’s hearing ability can totally wreck or make their audio system “. My gut feeling tells me that many audiophiles having hearing deficiencies but don’t correct them. 

I built a new house during the pandemic and the new listening room was unlistenable. I pretty much abandoned listening to music and really struggled hearing TV. We’ve been using captions to understand the dialog. 

Then 6 months ago I upgraded my AVR and it came with Addyssey room equalization software. It was a hallelujah moment. Just like that it was magic. It was so good i upgraded the Dirac Live full bandwidth with Base Control with a good studio microphone and it is pure joy. If you have an unmanageable room, you might want to look into a quality room equalization solution. It worked for us. 

One of the problems is the “Speaker Merry Go Round”. If you don’t address the room’s issues or without having a speaker built specifically for you and your room’s needs basically you’re just purchasing, no matter who the manufacturer is, an “Off The Rack Speaker”, that sure sounds great in their sound chambers, has all the right specs, etc., but probably will only sound so good in your room.
So many people are let down after laying out big bucks for what they thought was the speaker of their dreams once the honeymoon period of new ownership fades and the true critical listening begins, that’s when you begin to hear the speaker’s shortcomings, usually happening after the allotted return window expires… LOL… Really not Funny. 🤦‍♂️ Now you’re stuck trying to unload, usually at a loss, what you thought were your “End Game” Speakers on the various forums or even to TMR and buying another ticket for a ride on the Merry Go Round again. 

The fix is certainly Fixing the Room, Utilizing DSD or both.

Best advice ever… FIGURE THE ROOM OUT AND DETERMINE WHAT NEEDS CORRECTION and now you know how to proceed. 

Best $500 dollars that I ever spent was DIYing a case of 703 Owen’s-Corning rigid fiberglass panels. 

Hear hear. I did that right away for my 6.5 foot ceiling. Made the room usable.

I would add this. “A person’s hearing ability can totally wreck or make their audio system “. My gut feeling tells me that many audiophiles having hearing deficiencies but don’t correct them. 

My gut feeling is that an audiophile that doesn't correct their room, barring a spouse that defies them, has a brain deficiency not a hearing deficiency. Or, they are audiophiles that don't seek the best sound — an oxymoron. Even folks with hearing problems can hear a huge percentage of what is there. Hans B. has covered this.

I upgraded my AVR and it came with Addyssey room equalization software. It was a hallelujah moment.

I've encountered too many purists who won't go for room correction. I use it for my subs and it solved the issue. I'd rather have good sound with room correction than do nothing! (And there's some good room correction gear out there, such as Lyngdorf.)

So many people are let down after laying out big bucks for what they thought was the speaker of their dreams once the honeymoon period of new ownership fades and the true critical listening begins…

It certainly is good for reviewers who can say "Best speaker ever" to people who really just have a room problem but want to buy their way out of their problem.

I sang this song here for many years. :)

The sound quality result not from the room or the systems but from the relation between specifics ears/brain, specifics system parts and speakers, specifics room (including the material acoustic content of the room and his geometry,size and topology). it result from vibrations controls and from Electrical noise floor control...

The rest is useless upgrade when we reach an optimal purchase point for our budget.