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
There's no denying that room acoustics are of primary importance when setting up either a recording studio, live music venue or a listening room. I'd generally rather have so-so equipment in an excellent room, than excellent equipment in a so-so room. REALLY what one needs is a basic understanding of what will work easily, and what won't, when making equipment choices. Most don't get to build the room around their chosen equipment. BUT- It's been my experience that no problem is insuperable. Equipment can be modded and rooms treated, to achieve most REASONABLE goals. Of course- Good musicians, recorded well and planar speakers ARE indispensable in the recipe(at least in my cookbook).
Saw a good flick last night called, "Bottle Shock"

There's a great line in that film that comes to mind reading the all too familiar "pass the Grey Poupon" rhetoric I read here often.

You’re a snob, and it limits you

Put a pair of great speakers in a small, floor-to-ceiling-tiled room and they will most certainly not sound "good", and few, if any, would want to spend any time listening to music in that room. To a lesser extreme a room can certainly obscure the attributes of any speaker, some more than others. Compare ten pairs of speakers in the bathroom setting I describe and I doubt very much whether anyone could tell that much about how each speaker distinguishes itself from the others as when set up in a more ideal environment that suited the specific speaker. Sure, you'll be able to glean some useful information from the comparison, but I don't think I would want to make a decision based solely on the information I came away with. Broadly comparing the rooms at CES with those at RMAF I personally thought that there were far more rooms sounding better at CES than at RMAF and I do believe the difference in the rooms being contended with had something to do with that. To some extent I'd agree though, that the differences are not so extreme in practice as to really obscure being able to discern important qualities of a speaker's performance. There are consistencies in performance that come to mind from one show to the other (Roger Sanders for instance - though I felt his speakers sounded great in both cases, I thought at T.H.E. show recently, they were actually more compromised by (?) than at RMAF so go figure). I would not, however, dismiss the room so flippantly...it almost seems like a contrarian fishing expedition to me. I don't see it as a mechanic blaming poor tools. A mechanic working to tune a Ferarri in a well-lit, comfortably heated, well equipped garage vs the same mechanic, same tools, tuning the same car in a cold vibrating room with dim lighting. Same tools, same mechanic, different environment = likely different results.
I totally aggree. In college I bought some Canton higher end speakers though they sounded great in the showroom when I go thtem home they still sounded good and flat in the midrange but I loss base soundstage and something else. I even called Canton thought something was wrong with the speakers. Several years later I moved to a bigger room they had some air around them and wow what a difference! The speakers where simply to big for the room, probably a good pair of bookshlves woudl of been better.

Now I have vandersteen 5a and same thing I had them in a decent room but just never really worked I moved to a new house about a year ago with a dedicated 23 x 23 HT, Much better my soundstage just opened up. Can't waite till I get some treatments in I have a base hump.
One other thing that people are swareing buy is these sound eq like audssey (sp) that balance your speakers to a room. These hit the HT market in processors a couple of years ago and wow what a difference. They now make some high end ones for 2 channel most audiofiles frown at them, I understand, but most people I know that tried them will never go back. I am a firm belever you need to not only match the speakers to the room but also in some cases balance them to a room. Heck Vandersteen has been doing this for years he balances to the room and the preamp with little pots on the backs of the speakers and crossovers. When is the last time you installed any speaker in to a totally equaly sounding room on both sides. Also once the speakers sound the same the sound stage appears and gets big and the speakers disappear.