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Speakers vs. headphones

OK, desperation is setting in (I'll admit it). I have a 12-by-13 room with 7-foot ceilings (carpeted room and acoustic tiles up top) and I've tried every speaker and sub placement imaginable for my very modest system (NAD 326 amp, Totem Mites, Velodyne SL-800 sub). Even without the sub, I can't get the sound to anywhere near what I'd like it to be. I had an even more basic system (NHT Super Zeros, Onkyo amp, M&K sub) in my old home and it sounded INCREDIBLE compared to what I have now. Like I said, I've tried diagonal speaker placements and everything else, including room treatments (panels on first reflection points – no bass traps yet, but it seems the problems go well beyond bass). The question(s): Is it time for headphones? Is it even possible to get decent sound in a room with these dimensions?
128x128jeddythree
ferrellms
12 posts
 
It is a matter of taste, of course. If you want the most analytical detail, good headphones can't be beat. They also produce bass which is unaltered by room modes, thus often smoother and clearer in the bass. Speakers, by comparison, are much more expensive, require more space and fiddling. But a big, deep, reach out and touch sound stage and bone-rattling bass are too much fun. Unfortunately, you need EQ, good-sized and treated rooms to do it right.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,823 posts
 
Headphones take room acoustics out of the game and are the easiest and most inexpensive way to establish a good reference for listening to recordings on the smallest possible scale, as a start.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
2 big advantages are no speaqker crossovers and class A amplifier, hopefully a tubed one.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,823 posts
 
HEadphones are the rest of hifi audio's biggest enemy, because so many things can be done right with headphones for so little.

You don't get the soundstage and imaging, or the associated illusion of live music, which is very important to me, but in general you can have all the rest for a relative pittance compared to in-room home audio.

Will agree with Geoff on this one. No crossovers=greater coherency and top notch amplification comes in quite affordably with phones. No better way to listen to what is "in a recording", but the listening experience is much different than what one would typically hear "live".
linesource
11 posts
 
You said you haven't tried bass traps. Bass traps transformed my room, 10x13x8. I finished it off with 24 1x2' SoundTrax Pro acoustic panels through out the room. Twelve on the back wall behind the listening chair and twelve on the side walls, six per side, extending forward from the speakers. The front wall has a window with a curtain and two of the bass traps centered vertically in the corners. A third is mounted in the corner of the the wall-ceiling juncture on the back wall. I made my own 2'x4'x4" bass traps out of 1x4 lumber and stacked 2 inch thick 2'x4' Rockwool boards. The bass panels were done last and had the greatest effect. The room was unlistenable until I did all this.
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