Choosing speakers based on room acoustics

[MrBoat]

When I got into buying my own audio I was a renter and moved every few years. I could never tell what kind of house I would be in. Nobody else in my family cares about audio as much as I do. I just made sure to choose speakers that could perform well in the near field. When nobody was home, I could toe in the speakers and situate the EQ where I could sit close up and pretty much ignore the room.

I still like listening like that better than any other way and opens up a lot more speaker options, with near field being the salvation of a less than ideal choice, instead of having speakers the room won't let me use at all. Some speakers I have don't particularly like near field, but others that work well there, make me not willing to trade the experience for more conventional, room interactive setups. I discovered that all of my bookshelf types can deliver adequately near field, even if they are mediocre otherwise. I can even set them up on a makeshift table and get higher quality sound than headphones, at least.

Back in the day we spent a bit of time having to do commando audio in garages, workshops, patios, what have you. This taught us how to eek out quality sound in what amounted to semi-portable situations, having to set up a system and then put it away when done. I think people now give up too easily sometimes and depend too much on ideals.

If the house I am in now had no place for good acoustic performance, I would have no issue living with a semi-portable system on a table I could cram my face in between when I needed a session.

I've put my 8 inchers up there before, as well, and lived it up. My main system now is a large desktop 2.1 with 12" speakers on stands and two, 12" subs and it is addicting to listen to. Problem now is, good songs keep coming on and make me late for bed.

What this has turned into is, I can bet more accurately on a speaker brand's published FR and pretty much tell right away if I can make good use of it. After that, it's adequate headroom, and what the distortion levels are at my highest expected level of performance.

 

[Bobby Bass]

Looks like a great desktop setup. Are those speakers your own build?

 

[MrBoat]

Looks like a great desktop setup. Are those speakers your own build?

Those are a kit I bought a few years ago. Paul Carmody's "Speedster" design. I built the crossovers and the cabinets. They are nice sounding little speakers. I take these with me when I visit relatives. My cousin reminds me to bring them when I go to visit. We have even set them up outside where we sit and have beers.

I guess my main point in a nutshell being, that often times, the room is given too much importance at the cost of satisfying sound with trying to keep to a certain aesthetic. When all else fails, and you can't get the audio experience you want, this is a great option. While it may not win any audio system photos of the month, it's a great tactic that all audiophiles should have in their audio playbooks. When I used to audition speakers in person, I would have them arrange them near field with a chair. This way, in spite of what their showrooms inflicted on the sound or what my room may do to them, I could always tell if I could make them work at least like this so it would not be a loss.