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The Room, not us, determines our speaker choices

A bit cryptic perhaps, but after going through several pairs of expensive speakers, one just clicked with my room in an incredible way. It was like the errors in the speaker complimented the errors in my room so perfectly that the speaker actually sounded better to me than other "better" speakers. Unfortunately, you have to just keep trying until it happens. There's no way to predict which one it's going to be, but when the stars line up, it's a beautiful thing.

I guess if you have a dedicated audio room, where you can place the speakers 6 feet out from the front wall, 5 feet away from the corners and 10 feet from your couch, which is 5 feet from the rear wall, you may have some predictable performance, but how many have that? I would wager that many of us are fighting with clutter, TVs, computer desks,,,

Keep working at it - if you find the speaker that clicks with your room, you'll be a long way towards audio bliss. As a former musician, I always knew that NOTHING affects the sound more than the room. The greatest acoustic guitar played in a POS room sounded like a POS. You just have to find a friendly speaker and you'll know it when you do. It's a worthwhile quest.

I'm not saying your source or amplification components are not important. They make a huge difference once you find the right speaker. It's just without that speaker you're back to the great guitar in the shitty room. Experiment people. A bit of a crazy rant, but my pills are kicking in, so i'm more prolific than ususal. Have at it.
chayro
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
soundstage is over rated. i lived with tympany 1b's for 14 years, with no soundstage width. the speakers did not disappear. it was a wall of sound. the instruments sounded realistic.

i heard the mg 20 when it was first introduced at ces, in the Golden Nugget, downtown Las Vegas. it was set up in a small hotel room. the sound was wonderful.
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uru975
684 posts
 
maybe the thought is off but it seems that if you get the stream of signals from source through to amp working right for one speaker then when you try another speaker that is more to what you want or an improvement over what you have, all the improvements you have made upstream should flow through. Open to any thoughts on this.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,137 posts
 
The speaker/room interaction is the most critical element in obtaining high quality sound reproduction. You don't have to absolutely nail it as in a professionally designed dedicated room, but any compromises will limit, possibly severely, the quality of your home sound reproduction.

I agree with Mrtennis that soundstage is overrated, but that doesn't mean one should live without it. It's possible to get realistic instrument sound and excellent soundstage reproduction, isn't it?
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Unfortunately, you have to just keep trying until it happens.

You can do a lot to fix room problems with a lot greater chance of success than randomly trying speakers in the hope of finding one that is sufficiently bad or uneven in reponse so that it will happen to compensate for the room.
chayro OP
2,926 posts
 
02-05-09: Amandarae
May I ask about what speakers are you talking about?
Can you post your system here? Anything visual can make your post much more effective in conveying your message don't you think?
regards,Abe
______________________
I don't think it really matters that I post my system, as what works in my room really has no relevance to anyone else - but for some reason, the Opera Callas Monitor just cliked in my room like no other, even some more expensive speakers that I would probably prefer in a good demo room.

Shadhome - it's true that one can often do a lot to treat a room, but not always. When you live in a one-bedroom, you are often relegated to certain choices, such as having the TV between the speakers and having a couch flush up against the rear wall.
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