System Quality vs. Acoustics

Shonver · Dec 5, 2009

Vaughn made the following comment here...

goneten said:
There are cases where demo rooms are purpose built but in general, many of the rooms I've been in have not been designed acoustically and in fact, in some cases, the experiences are far worse in a demo room than in a home, given the very high ambient noise levels on a show room floor.

But what I sometimes can't understand is that, in many cases I've experienced, the very same people that challenge the idea that show rooms are inadequate for in depth listening seldom care about their own acoustics at home and in many cases will continue to buy ever expensive items while experiencing the same 20 dB null at the listening location or the excessive comb filtering that obscures clarity within the mid-to-high frequency range. But that's what makes this so interesting. Everyone has their own criteria, own needs, wants, cares and ultimately desires, irrespective of whether it is 'correct' or not.

<SNIP>

Many people, I'm sure, wouldn't care to ask these questions because it doesn't factor in their minds. As a matter of course, I always mention the pitfalls of poor acoustics to clients, most of the time it's a bit too in depth and I end up talking myself (and them) to sleep. But that is who I am, I'm too technical for my own good, sometimes to my detriment, but at least I try to mention the particulars. Now whether my advice is taken to heart (or not) is another matter entirely.

But as discussed before, some people don't care whether their room is the wrong or right shape or whether the speaker or subwoofer levels in the showroom were calibrated or not, or whether a dealer used ice blocks surrounded in a figure of eight pattern to improve skin effect etc. Some people just want to have speakers in their room, no hassle, no fuss and nothing more to complicate matters, for them.

The bits I have highlighted are totally opposite to the HiFi Corp experience, where a snot-nosed assistant tries to tell you why 1300W PMPO sounds better than 15W RMS (for those not in the know, these figures have nothing to do with sound quality, and not even comparable in terms of output power rating).

I started this thread because Vaughn brought up a very important issue. So, Vaughn (and others): to what extent does poor room acoustics defeat the point of buying more expensive, higher quality gear?

My personal experience is that I have always been able to hear the effect of a better loudspeaker in my own lounge, where the only thing I have done for acoustics is to ensure that there is a rug between the speakers and the couch.