Read this article by Roger Skoff :
Is Testing the Real Snake Oil? Roger Skoff Debunks the Debunkers
https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/roger-skoff-debunks-the-debunkers/
There's lot's in there to start a major world war right here on the forum. Those whom want to go there can do so to their own delight or peril. There's some juicy bits in there.
What I would like to focus on is his take on speakers, placement and room acoustics. Helping a non-forumite friend whom recently purchased a floor standing Spendor, he found this information useful, hopefully there's some benefit here too. The highlights are mine :
"And some testing can actually work against the finding of truth.
Just for example, consider this: A pair of speakers that measures perfectly "flat" in an anechoic chamber can still sound disappointing in actual home use. In addition to the obvious effects of room acoustics on perceived frequency response in the middle and upper frequencies, how the speakers are placed in the room relative to walls, floor, and corners will absolutely affect their audible bass response. Close proximity to each of those surfaces will add to the speaker's bass amplitude (not frequency extension), and the effect will be cumulative with each additional surface added, and clearly audible.
Absolute bass frequency response is another sonic area where testing can be both irrelevant and misleading. Even despite measured proof that a speaker is capable of response down to 20 Hz or even lower, if a room is smaller than one half the wave length of the frequency to be reproduced (for a 20Hz tone, that would be about 27 feet [8.23 meters]), that frequency simply cannot be propagated in it, and to buy speakers that go that deep for that room would simply be a waste of money.
Perhaps even more obvious is the effect of speaker placement on imaging and soundstaging. As anyone who has ever set up a pair of speakers knows, even speakers designed and measured to be perfectly time-coherent (planars, for example) still need to be properly placed in order to make a coherent image. Just the fact that their specifications indicate that they ought to be able to do so makes no difference at all in the real world."
Some simple, very useful truths.
Is Testing the Real Snake Oil? Roger Skoff Debunks the Debunkers
https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/roger-skoff-debunks-the-debunkers/
There's lot's in there to start a major world war right here on the forum. Those whom want to go there can do so to their own delight or peril. There's some juicy bits in there.
What I would like to focus on is his take on speakers, placement and room acoustics. Helping a non-forumite friend whom recently purchased a floor standing Spendor, he found this information useful, hopefully there's some benefit here too. The highlights are mine :
"And some testing can actually work against the finding of truth.
Just for example, consider this: A pair of speakers that measures perfectly "flat" in an anechoic chamber can still sound disappointing in actual home use. In addition to the obvious effects of room acoustics on perceived frequency response in the middle and upper frequencies, how the speakers are placed in the room relative to walls, floor, and corners will absolutely affect their audible bass response. Close proximity to each of those surfaces will add to the speaker's bass amplitude (not frequency extension), and the effect will be cumulative with each additional surface added, and clearly audible.
Absolute bass frequency response is another sonic area where testing can be both irrelevant and misleading. Even despite measured proof that a speaker is capable of response down to 20 Hz or even lower, if a room is smaller than one half the wave length of the frequency to be reproduced (for a 20Hz tone, that would be about 27 feet [8.23 meters]), that frequency simply cannot be propagated in it, and to buy speakers that go that deep for that room would simply be a waste of money.
Perhaps even more obvious is the effect of speaker placement on imaging and soundstaging. As anyone who has ever set up a pair of speakers knows, even speakers designed and measured to be perfectly time-coherent (planars, for example) still need to be properly placed in order to make a coherent image. Just the fact that their specifications indicate that they ought to be able to do so makes no difference at all in the real world."
Some simple, very useful truths.
