I'm never going to hear a megaspeaker in a good room am I?


Was thinking about something. There’s a thread about good $40K speakers which made me think that honestly despite hearing a lot of them at shows, I’ve never heard one in a decent environment. Now, perhaps we can argue:

If it doesn’t sound good anywhere, including a hotel room, is it really that good a speaker?


But let’s not go that route. But I am thinking to myself, in well treated rooms the best speakers I’ve heard were merely mid-range Wilsons and Magicos. I say "merely" because they were under $40k, not because of performance. The two best speakers I’ve heard, in medicore rooms were the SF Stradivari and Snell A/III, and top of the line Vandersteen.

All the $40K + speakers I’ve heard have been at shows, and either very badly treated rooms, or in halls so big the first reflection point was like a mountain echo. Am I ever going to get to listen to $40K+ speakers in great rooms anywhere again??

As a result, I’ve developed a severe bias against the performance of mega speakers, because I only ever hear them in terrible rooms and have not heard one I’d spend money for, and honestly that's unfair to them.

erik_squires
Duke will be familiar with these. I have a pair of what I'd classify as megaspeakers, although not high tech. I bought these 20 years ago, (in storage) because of this crazy world circumstances (blah blah) I've been looking for a sizable room to move to. JBL 4676a two-way (4550 bottom cab) fully original top condition. I have Wavelength Cardinal XS (300B) and Wavelength 45 Silver amps. Recently got Marchand 2-way (tube, ext PS) crossover. I am very interested in any comments, ideas or feedback, etc.
Btw, I hadn't tried them with the afformentioned equipment, hence my query. Thanks.
Hi Duke,

I don't mean to nit pick but you listed this as beneficial:

1. Increased time delay between the first-arrival sound and the onset of the lateral reflections, and a generally increased decay time.

Did you mean the last part?  I thought generally in home rooms we want to decrease the decay time?  Maybe I'm not understanding what ideal is here.

Thanks for the explanation.

Erik
I will never hear a great system in a great environment. Never.
Nor do I want to, really!
Because I will Never, Ever HAVE that great system in my little apartment environment.  There will be Excuses.  Compromises.  Deal with. Limited Dollars.  Thus Never Ever be satisfied with what I have.  Ignorance IS bliss.