Great systems in butt-ugly rooms

04-23-08: Ckoffend
I think more than the appearance of the room, which for some in a dedicated room is not as important, is the number of systems in these tiny little rooms. I have seen some systems with upwards of $25,000 - $50,000 worth of equipment in rooms that don't appear to be more than 8-10 feet wide. Some of these systems are running large, very large speakers that appear to be about 1 foot from the side walls and about 4 feet apart.

Personally I think speakers with 1 foot clear distance from side walls are not a good thing even with some serious acoustical treatments. My room is 11' wide and although I have treatments at both side walls, my speakers performed better with a clear distance of 2' from side walls as opposed to 1.5'.

I do agree that we all have compromises of some degree on room shapes and sizes, and some do ignore the match between the system(speakers) and the room. Room treatments can only help to a certain level and for optimum results it is really important to choose the right size of equipment particularly the speakers for the available space.

Fussy people like fussy. Fussy is fun for fussy people.

Perhaps fun is the wrong word....think of all the pleasure a man can still get from sticking his equipment in a butt ugly space.

CWlondon: Yes, I am in the "looks matter" camp. HST, if it came down to either/or . . I would take the equipment. I am fortunate to have both the room and the equipment.

And, yes Shadorne, I agree with you also.

I am fussy and as any fussy person knows - it is a personality defect that is insurmountable.

Ryder, You can get great sound in a small room, I have done so myself in about the size of yours. The small room does not dictate that good sound can't be achieved and you are correct in your statements in my mind as well.

It is the 10 foot wide room with the 30" wide speakers angled in running two 12-15" woofers, etc. . . that confuses me. These rooms must become overpressurized well before properly driving these huge speakers.

OK so who do members think has the best looking room?

My vote off hand would go to Grr6001, or Mikelavigne in that order, these are truely beautiful rooms and of the ones members post both these rooms are for the most part a universe ahead of the rest.