Enter to Win: Rives Audio Test CD 2

[Tom Andry]

Rives is giving away five (5) Rives Audio Test CD 2 this month in our dedicated forum contest.

To be eligible to win, you must: 1) Be a registered Audioholics forum member, 2) Have USA or Canadian Residence 3) Answer the following questions in this contest thread:

Contest Questions:

1. What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)
   
2. In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments.

[Read more about the Rives Audio Test CD 2]

Note this contest ends on December 31st 2005. Winners will be drawn shortly thereafter

Have fun and good luck!

 

[jaxvon]

1. I'd estimate about 50-60%.

2. Nothing so far, as I don't have the budget. But that will change....that will change

 

[bpape]

I'd say 40% for the room, 30% for speakers, and 30% for the source material.

As for budget, well I built the room from scratch specifically for this purpose. I AM an acoustical consultant so I got me cheap . I'll add in that I'm a serious DIY guy so all the treatments are homemade. That said, room and treatments is rougly 1/2 of my equipment investment. If I had to pay someone to build the room and do the design - it would likely be as much or more than my equipment.

 

[kakdla6]

I'd sadly say about 50% for the room (you gotta have one); 25% for the speakers and 25% for other components. Speakers need to be da bom!

 

[majorloser]

1) The room is about 50 - 60% of all accoustics. Can make good speakers sound bad and cheap speakers sound good.

2) I'm still paying for the room since it's attached to the house (damn mortgage). I never really thought of the architect and the construction as part of the home theater expense (you just depressed me). It was about 40% of the total cost so far. Accoustic treatment and decor are still in process.

Now if my wife read this and adds these costs into how much I spent, I'll never be able to buy new equipment

 

[Mr. Lamb Fries]

About 50% for the room & treatments

Have not built a dedicated HT room so i havent put any money into design, treatments, or consult

 

[Randos]

1. I'm going to go along with the 40-50% approximation for room acoustics. It's truly amazing how different the same pair of speakers can sound in different rooms.

2. Nothing yet as I'm moving very soon but I intend to do some of my own room treatments in my new apartment (I'm still in college so my funds are a little low)

 

[varkeast]

i'd say a room makes up 60% of sound quality, think of the differences between an anechoic chamber and a solid glass room, with speakers 25, source 15

right now i havent done much to the room, but i am thinking about making some DIY absorbers soon once i move into my new place

 

[JohnA]

Contest Questions:

What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)

I would have to say 50-55% for the room, 25-30% on the speakers, and the rest to equipment.

In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments.

I wish I had money to spend on treatments...it will still be about a year before I start on room treatments.

 

[jcPanny]

Audio Budget.

1. I think a typical budget should be devided into 30% room, 30% electronics, and 40% speakers.
2. Unfortunately, I don't have the option of designing and building a seperate HT room so my room budget will be limited to <10%. I will attempt to tame the room through the use of carpet, rugs, couches, drapes, bookcases and other furnishings because acoustic pannels have a very low WAF for the HT room that doubles as the family room.

 

[talannar]

What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)

The room is at least 50% of the overall sound quality, with the speakers coming in at about...I'd say 30%-35% with the rest of the equipment filling out final difference

In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments.

I haven't spent any money on treatments...it's bad, I know.

 

[Bobby2x]

Well I think that Room acoustics make up about %30 importance and then your speakers have to kick, so I'd say %40 on speakers, %25 on eqip. %2.5 on source and %2.5 on earwax removal kit!

I have been forced to spend about $150 on sound dampering to keep the neighbors off my back! Plus a really UGLY wall of Egg cartons to stop the other neighbors from calling the police!

 

[beta5alphamu]

1.I'd say about 50-60% on room, 30 percent speakers and rest on equipment


2. nothing so far as my setup is in an apartment, but when i get a house that will change!

 

[Bryce_H]

I tend to agree with the trend here, but might bump it up to 60-65%. I think the statement that a good room can make bad speakers sound good and a bad room can make good speakers sound bad is right on. I have built a dedicated HT in the basement and spent an enourmous amount of time designing the room to as close to acoustically "correct" as possible. So total cost of my room (materials only, since I did the research and construction) would be about $10,000 (this includeds lumber, resislant channeling and clips, screws, glue, drywall, doors, hardware, carpet, paint, chairs, etc). So this ends up being about 50% of the cost of my whole theater. I haven't tuned the room yet with acoustical treatments, but it sounds great now, and will probably need minimal treatment.

In terms of the other equipment (I'll work off a remaining of 35%), I think it is evenly split between the source, receiver, and speakers (11.66% each). A weak link in any of it can destroy the whole effect. I.e. a bad source equals garbage in, garbage out. A bad receiver is going to introduce errors in processing, delay, etc. And bad speakers are not going to acurractly reproduce the signal from the receiver.

A component that is not considered is the user. I.e. what sounds good to them and the ability to set up their equipment correctly. If it is not set up[ correctly, then you can spend all the money you want on room and equipment and it is still going to sound lousy. so maybe the answer is 75% user and 25% other (of course you can't put a cost on the user, but interesting to think about)

 

[PSU80]

I'd estimate the room impacts 40-50%. $0 spent so far because of budget and WAF.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

1. What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)

My view differs from everyone else's. I think source material (CD, DVD, phono) is 10%, amp is 20%, speakers are 60% and room is 10%.

2. In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments.

Nothing was spent on the room. I firmly believe, that the room has negligable effect.

 

[Rutlanda]

Rives

1. I think I will agree with the masses and say 40 - 50% for the room.

2. We planned to sell our home (I'm military) when we bought it, so I haven't put much into room treatments...just a few rugs.

 

[howie85]

Contest Questions:

What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)

In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments

I guess the importance of the room depends on how happy you are with what you have to some degree. I had never really considered it to be 50% but then again I have only been a Audioholics member for a fairly short time..

I am currently in the process of a complete redo of my HT room. Mostly just equipment. Room treatment is on the schedule but I have not tackled it yet. I think I will probably be spending around 1500 or so on the treatment products and more on installation and setup of a Projector/mount/screen etc... I figure it will probably be around 20-25% of the total cost for design,consult,and treatments if I include the install maybe more

 

[Sheep]

1. 65 - 70%

2. Nothing yet, Yet

SheepStar

 

[corysmith01]

1. I think treatment, if we're breaking it down to percentages, is probably more like 30-40%. Just my opinion. There's a lot of people here dedicated higher percentages to that. I know it can have a significant effect, but for most people, there's going to be some sort of treatment (furniture, carpets, etc.) I'd say the majority are setting up their rigs in rooms that aren't empty, cavernous rooms with concrete floors. Sure there are things that you can do to further it...I've heard it myself. But I still think a larger "percentage" of your sound is the money you put into your speakers.

2. I haven't spent a penny on it. But, that's unfair taken at face value. I'm a renter, I don't own, so I can't make changes really. Or if I do, I'm faced with starting over, in a new room, with different needs, a year later. So, I just haven't bothered. All apartments so far have been carpted, I have things on the wall, and there's couches, arm chairs, etc. However, I can say that when I do buy, I do intend to make a concerted effort to treat my dedicated theater/music room.