Acquired Wisdom

[Dan Banquer]

The following is a quote from a critic in "High End" Audio when responding to questions on reviewing style and relevancy.

"Room interactions: The biggest load of baloney ever used as an excuse. Unless your room is an absolute abomination, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Room interactions mean nothing in terms of reviewing. If a speaker is bright, it's bright in every room you place it in. Same for every component one can buy. If a preamp is slow sounding, it will sound slow everywhere you put it - the room means nothing."

What do the rest of you folks think of this statement?
d.b.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Nonsense. 4 bare walls and hardwood flooring without plush furniture versus a carpeted room, thick plush furniture, tables, pictures, etc... will render a totally different sound. What these guys do is place their two stereo towers 6-8 feet apart and 6-8 feet away from their chair. At that point, it doesn't matter as long as they have some dampening behind their listening position. They listen to two channel music. They take courses in speaker setup. With surround sound, it's a different ballgame. Room acoustics play a vital role in how a system ultimately sounds.

 

[Audioholics]

If a preamp is slow sounding, it will sound slow everywhere you put it

Well, there's part of your problem right there.

Audioholics was founded to combat ignorance and bad advice. This kind of stuff, thankfully, doesn't get very far as the sites and publications that put out that misinformation don't get much circulation.

Not only is that statement measurably wrong - it defies almost anyone's practical experience who has ever walked into their garage and clapped their hands.

The above person, I assume, also believes a subwoofer will sound the same at every location in the room, too? Since there is no room interaction it must not make a difference, right?

 

[sjdgpt]

If a preamp is slow sounding -

Electronics are sounding "slow"? What is happening? The value for the speed of electricity varies depends upon the manufacturers patent? Or is the country of origin that makes that difference?

 

[mtrycrafts]

The following is a quote from a critic in "High End" Audio when responding to questions on reviewing style and relevancy.

"Room interactions: The biggest load of baloney ever used as an excuse. Unless your room is an absolute abomination, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Room interactions mean nothing in terms of reviewing. If a speaker is bright, it's bright in every room you place it in. Same for every component one can buy. If a preamp is slow sounding, it will sound slow everywhere you put it - the room means nothing."

What do the rest of you folks think of this statement?
d.b.

I guess it doesn't take much to be a High end reviewer. As long as it pulls in the gullible audiophiles, the magazine doesn't care. Ignorance is bliss. Ignorance rules

 

[Dan Banquer]

"Nonsense. 4 bare walls and hardwood flooring without plush furniture versus a carpeted room, thick plush furniture, tables, pictures, etc... will render a totally different sound. What these guys do is place their two stereo towers 6-8 feet apart and 6-8 feet away from their chair. At that point, it doesn't matter as long as they have some dampening behind their listening position. They listen to two channel music. They take courses in speaker setup. With surround sound, it's a different ballgame. Room acoustics play a vital role in how a system ultimately sounds."

Hi Buckeye; If only they would take courses in loudspeaker set up! Believe it or not most of them don't bother to damp the walls behind the loudspeakers. To take it one step further they don't even bother to get an RTA analyzer and a pink noise source to get an idea of what the room & loudspeaker is doing.
This is one of the major reasons why there is literally no consistency in stereo reviewing.

BTW: How did the added fans work out? Can you now go into "frat party mode" without problems? or do we have to wait until you hold the next one to find out? Speaking of frat parties, when is the staff and technical contributors of Audioholics going to be invited?
d.b.

 

[tbewick]

Come on, give the guy/girl a break. Just because a distortion in an pre/power amplifier isn't measurable, it does not mean that it does not exist. There are non-steady state (and hence not covered in THD ratings) distortions that may be produced by the amplifier/equipment.

This website doesn't even perform quantitative tests for speakers in an anechoic room to measure their accuracy. No wonder people just go on how speakers/amps sound rather than going on the specifications.

Would you rather buy a new set of expensive speakers or get acoustical room treatment using that money? I know what I'd do.

 

[Tom351]

He does at least acknowledge that room acoustics are a factor by saying "unless the room is a complete abomination", but then goes on to say that any non-abomination rooms don't make a difference. I think that this reveals how unspecific his reviews must be- yes, a bright speaker may be bright (overall) in all rooms, but he should have a lot more to say than just "it sounds bright".

 

[Tom Andry]

I've been trying to stay out of this (and other similar) discussions but I have to through my 2 cents in.

Far be it for me to downgrade the importance of room accoustics (see my article here), the statement:

Unless your room is an absolute abomination, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference.

is absolutely accurate.

Hold on, hold on.....hear me out.


There are two ways researchers deal with bias in experiments:

1) Reduce/eliminate it.

2) Control for it.

#1 is self explanatory. #2 means that the researcher knows that the bias is a problem in the experiment and makes every effort to minimize its effects.

So, for example, if children tested at the beginning of the day are known to score higher on a test as compared to children tested after lunch, a researcher would make sure to test all the students at the same time of day (either time, doesn't matter as long as all are tested at the same time).

In the exact same way, as long as the same room is used to test every reviewed pair of speakers, then the room effects will be the same for all. If the room accentuates the highs, it will accentuate the highs for all speaker set in the room, if it has a 60hz bump, then it will have the same bump for every reviewed pair, etc. Now, if you review a pair of speakers in a room, add room treatments, then review a second pair of speakers, this would be adding bias to the experiment instead of holding it constant for all.

 

[mtrycrafts]

If only they would take courses in loudspeaker set up! Believe it or not most of them don't bother to damp the walls behind the loudspeakers. To take it one step further they don't even bother to get an RTA analyzer and a pink noise source to get an idea of what the room & loudspeaker is doing.
This is one of the major reasons why there is literally no consistency in stereo reviewing.
d.b.

Why would they invest in all those usefull tools? After all, they know what they hear and they trust their ears. Just ask them
They must be right. They get paid and people believe them