Can room acoustics amplify the sound of speakers?


In attempting to solve some room acoustics problems, I have encountered a dilemma: Can room acoustics actually amplify the sound from speakers?? This is my scenario, I play music fairly loud, but am no headbanger (for example Yes' version of "America" or "Going for the One", Allman Brothers "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed") I understand what it means to pressurize a listening room and how recording venues have different degrees of loudness which should be adjusted or matched by the volume control. The source of this question originates when I play music loud, the dynamic passages become less clear and more congested or noisy, but a transition to a softer passage, the clarity and harmonics of the music improves. Am I hearing more total harmonic distortion at loud volume levels, and less so on the softer passages??, OR, is my amp clipping, or is the music's demands beyond the capabilities of my integrated amp. The amp is a Creek SE5350 Classic (80RMS) driving Acoustic Zen Adagios. The room is only 12X14. Will appreciate any advice or explanation. Jim
sunnyjim

Showing 4 responses by stanwal

What often happens is room reflections either cancel or reinforce different parts of the musical spectrum. I have been using room treatments and found that by placing them in different positions the sound changes dramatically. Several of the companies offering room treatments give free advice; I got mine from Ready Acoustics and it has really improved my sound.
Just last night we compared my SS Dac with , I believe, 5534s with a $9K tube dac. No contest. Saying all op amps are bad is like saying all tubes are bad, all cone speakers are bad, etc. If there is one single rule in audio it is that APPLICATION IS EVERYTHING. Great designers can use average parts and get the most of them, bad designers can make ANYTHING sound bad.
The tube one is up for sale. At least in this system the SS DAC was better; YMMV.
It is quite true that most of the chips used in current CD players were designed for other applications and have significant shortcomings in CD use. Rega deserves credit for trying to use a chip actually designed for CD use by a small English company. I believe the company went under but not before Rega bought a good supply of the chips. Their new high end player, called the ISIS I believe, has gotten some very good reviews and their lower price ones do well in their price categories. Right now many of the top specialist manufactures depend on NOS parts; this obviously cannot last indefinitely.