@jijoh123 The $30K–$150K figure you cite is more appropriate for professional studio construction or dedicated home theater builds — acoustically isolated, purpose-built rooms. That’s not what most of us (I don’t think) mean by room treatment. Effective acoustic treatment — absorption panels, diffusers, bass traps — can be done for, say, $1,500 in materials, or less if you DIY. GIK Acoustics and similar vendors have made this accessible for years. The improvement that treatment delivers in a typical live room almost always exceeds what a comparably priced equipment upgrade would produce. What’s more, if your room presents a bottleneck making gear changes inaudible, you’re simply throwing money away and indulging in wishful thinking. Sorry if that sounds blunt, but it happens all the time.
Audiophiles and Our Chase for Perfection
I'd like to solicit some thoughts and responses regarding some of our idiosyncrasies, taboo's and philosophies as audiophiles, specifically with regards to cabling.
Even if there was some magical fairy dust material that could coax protons and electrons into behaving differently or better; your signal is still going to be subject to the limitations of the “weakest component” in the signal path.
A perfect example of this is speaker cable. You can spend $50 to $100K or more on them, but as soon as they hit the next connection, junction or conductor, for example, the speaker terminal, you’ve fundamentally nullified any “perceived” benefit from those cables. Not to mention the soldering materials and their impact.
And the cycle goes on through the entirety of the circuit; including the connector/lug, back of the lug terminal, more soldering, wiring from the internal lug to the next component, to the next component and so on until you finally come to the wire or cable connecting to the driver, and even then you hit another junction at the terminal at the speaker itself as well as the subsequent wire from the terminal connecting to the voice coil, then the voice coil wire itself.
The bottom line is, there are so many contributors in the path that, unless you tear the entire speaker apart and replace them all with your idea of the “gold standard” or perfect material/component, you're still only going to be as good as the weakest component in the path. At the end of the day, just get some reasonably good 14 to 8 Gauge cables that are made of sound conducting material (e.g. 99.99% copper, or Silver if you prefer) because that same logic can be applied to ALL of the materials in the signal path.
The scenario above doesn’t even consider the influence or impact of all of the predecessor components in the signal path coming from the Amp, CD transport, DAC or any and all upstream components, as they all influence the integrity of the signal.
It should also be noted that the length the signal travels in that speaker cable (perhaps 6’ to 15’ or so) is a very short path in comparison to the rest of the system both pre and post cable connection.
The following is used with permission from Eric Alexander, Founder & Lead Designer, Tekton Design, LLC
"I truly believe audiophiles are chasing illusions, constantly attempting to fill an acoustic void that standard high-end audio simply cannot satisfy. When a flashy new component or wire comes along, the industry reacts with predictable, superficial hype. My 'In Real Life' (IRL) technology directly proves this theory—it delivers the authentic sound and visceral connection that audiophiles have been destitute and desperate for.
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OP, this is the same argument so many people make... Until they actually experiment with different cabling etc. The argument is something like "well if the power coming into the house isnt using audiophile cabling, that's as good as it gets" is a complete fallacy. Do yourself and your ears a favor and actually try these products in a risk free trial. And of course the room matters. But just like a bad source, you can treat the room perfectly but if you still have a low end system, it will still sound like a low end system. That's not to say I don't enjoy my bedroom system with little sony speakers. As a matter of fact, it's the perfect system for when I first wake up. But once I'm awake enough, my other systems blow it out of the water. I'm not suggesting hook up a $50k power cable to a $1000 system. I'm saying synergy matters and every single part of the signal chain will be audible if you have a high end system. If any skeptics are curious DM me if you're ever in Virginia. I'll show you how power cords, conditioners, speaker cables even USB cables make a difference. And it's not subtle |
@hilde45 100% agree. I think I have spent a little over $2000 on room treatment with GIK but they offer free consultation. I've even made room measurements with REW software and they have manipulated that to provide me advice based on my room. No room is perfect and treatment is always a compromise. For me its a blend of aesthetics and what's best for the money. |
@willywonka Thanks, and I agree. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and even a little can go a long way. Just dealing with a couple problems -- most important, probably, are first reflections, can do a world of good. But it requires analysis and some patience and some non-sexy spending of money. But, like flossing, it does a world of good, in the long run. |
The only "tweak" I’m interested in at the moment is the room, using REW and a consultant. We are not done yet but have made some great progress (audible sonic improvements), at a very reasonable cost, way less than many here might spend on a PC. The detailed acoustic reports, 1st with Harbeth 40.3 XDS, 2nd with MBL 126 + subs that replaced them are in my system profile, URLs are in the system description if anyone is interested. But cables do matter too, mostly interconnects and speaker cables in my experience, but I’ve also invested in a good PC for my amp, balanced power supply for all other components, and an LPS for my streamer and TT. |
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