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Because the room affects the sound a LOT

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In Reply to: Howcum we're always so quick to blame the ROOM?? posted by kavakidd on December 17, 2004 at 07:48:59:

My guesstimate is that, given the same source material and technically "correct" electronics, 30% of the character the sound of a stereo system comes from the speakers, 50% comes from the room and room/speaker interaction, and 20% comes from everyting else.
At my company we have a sound room designed for critical listening tests. It's all decked out; built to the golden ratio, acoustic tile on the ceiling, treatments on the walls in the appropriate locations, sealed door and seperate stud wall construction. When you shut that door the room is QUIET. We have an active studio monitor setup driven through a TacT room equalizer preamp. Though the little studio monitors could hardly be called "audiophile," I've heard things on recordings on that system that I haven't heard on any high end system in home or in stores. I'm sure the TacT helps out a bit, but even with correction turned off the system sounds damn good.
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/

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I am full aware of how important room - kavakidd 12:43:37 12/20/04 (2)
treatment is. My only point is/was that there can sometimes be things you think can only be corrected with room treatment that can, in fact, be treated/cured other ways.
It is our more or less automatic tendency to blame the room for these things. I know it has been mine.
Recent experiences have shown me that my room is better than I thought it was.

"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
- Your perspective seems to be one of..... - pburant 06:36:57 12/21/04 (1)
  someone who's settled in an will not likely move any time soon, if ever. Someone in that postion can afford to pay less attention to the room and focus more on gear.
  One of the big reasons that I'm a fan of starting with a reasonable room is that I know I won't be in my current house for more than another year or two, and then I'm moving on. If I don't pay attention to my room first, and start choosing or tweaking my equipment so that it sounds good in my current room, what am I gonna do when I move and the same gear doesn't work in the new room because the new room's character is different?
  I'm not disagreeing that sometimes the answer lies with the gear and not the room, but part of the reason you start with the room is to remove any question of where the problem lies. I feel that trying to tune a system before the room issues have been investigated (not necessarily solved, but at least investigated), is somewhat like a person with poor vision trying to focus a projector without his glasses.
  No amount of room treatment will fix a hardware or setup problem - I'll give you that. All gear that I have played with has exhibited a range of performance, and how close you come to the maximum performance of a piece of gear depends on how you set it up.
  A well treated room has an additional benefit - I greatly prefer to spend time in my treated room than others when I'm NOT listening to music. Every other room in my house, although it's a small house with things hanging on the walls, sounds boomy and. in a way offensive to me. Being in the listening room feels more relaxing than the other rooms, even if I'm just reading. It's also great for conversation.
  -Pete
  - Re: Your perspective seems to be one of..... - kavakidd 06:53:07 12/21/04 (0)
    "I'm not disagreeing that sometimes the answer lies with the gear and not the room, but part of the reason you start with the room is to remove any question of where the problem lies. I feel that trying to tune a system before the room issues have been investigated (not necessarily solved, but at least investigated), is somewhat like a person with poor vision trying to focus a projector without his glasses."
    See - I think that's backwards - in order to get the room treatment right, you gotta have the good "glasses" to start with. That means, to me, the purest source but then, I've always been a "source first" kinda guy.
    Some room "fixes" may be obvious but others - IMV - can only be determined by the interaction of your specific gear with the room.
    I guess I opened a can of worms with this one since all I was trying to do was express a kind of surprise at the extent to which a couple of minor tweaks mirrored what I think would have required considerably more effort in room treatments.
    Obviously, neither can exist in a vacuum and, yes, I have been in the same room for 20-years (hopefully 20 more) so I am intimately familiar with my environment.
    
    "Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain

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