Would tubes help a bad room?

[highfigh]

Another thing to remember- at some point, it becomes time to just listen to the music instead of the equipment.

 

[Lordoftherings]

^^^ +1

 

[Chu Gai]

I can't see tubes helping you out any more than a pair of out of focus eyeglasses helps out with dealing with an ugly girlfriend. If dealing with the room is daunting for any number of reasons, then perhaps the solution for personal listening would be to buy a decent set of headphones.

 

[lsiberian]

That is the whole issue Chris. Music was never intended to be reproduced in the padded cell of a recording studio! In all my years making recordings, I always sought beautiful ambient spaces and never needed an echo machine.

I agree. This is why I don't treat rooms for music.

But movies are intended to be heard in a treated room. Because that's what a theater is.

Still some rooms are hell for music.

 

[Lordoftherings]

^ Well, Music rooms also need acoustic treatments.

 

[Jason Lopez]

My NAD integrated has tone controls. I never used them because 1) I never really had to because of other rooms my system was in. And 2) the taboo surrounding tone controls and EQ's by purists. NAD claims their tone controls affect only the frequency extremes, leaving the critical mid-range unaltered. Anyway, just for kicks I experimented with adjusting the tone controls. I ended up boosting the bass a tad, and backing off the treble a tad, and bumping the balance just slightly to the right channel...and you know what?...it actually made a difference. Not huge, it didn't totally fix my problem by any means, but it has made my system more enjoyable to listen to. It sounds a little more smoothed out and balanced. I remember back in the day (before i became a "hobbiest") my Dad and i bought a TEAC 20 band EQ. 10 bands for each channel. It had a cool LED dispaly in the center, and those tri colored vertical lights would boogie like crazy to the music. We spent hours adjusting and tweaking until we got it to sound good with MOST of the music. Then, after i moved out and started to build my own system, the idea of tone controls and EQ's were a no no amongst HI FI stores. I know the idea of HI FI systems is to reproduce the music the way the artist intended for you to hear it...but what if THAT doesn't sound GOOD? Are we supposed to just except it because that's the way it's SUPPOSED to sound?

 

[highfigh]

I found out, by accident, that my Sony ES integrated amp's controls are all passive. The video ins/outs need it to be powered up to watch anything but all of the audio source switching, volume, balance, tone, tone control bypass, etc is all passive when I turned it off before my power amp and the music kept playing.

Not all tone controls are garbage but many use the wrong turnover points and their effect is fixed, which means that the band they affect can't be narrowed or widened. This is why parametric EQs are a good thing. Live gigs use those and graphic EQs, studios use them and many don't expect consumer gear to be as good but some pieces don't kill the sound.

 

[jostenmeat]

I agree. This is why I don't treat rooms for music.

I think there is at least a little difference between a fully padded jail cell, and some treatments for first reflections and corner trapping. Ya know, just a wee bit.

However, some people talk about leaving the side points untreated if the speaker has really superb off-axis response, for a wider soundstage. I first learned this from avaserfi. However, I doubt very few speakers would fall into this category.

NAD claims their tone controls affect only the frequency extremes, leaving the critical mid-range unaltered.

There are 5 NAD products that use Audyssey, three of which are specifically MultEQ XT. Not only that, they go a little further in adding yet another target curve, designed with the aid of Paul Barton of PSB fame. They are the T175, T785, and T775.

 

[highfigh]

If the room has carpet, drapes between the speakers and is fairly symmetrical, with a lot of objects between the speakers and back wall, it shouldn't really need much unless it's extremely small and high SPL listening is the norm. If the room has bare wood floors, bare/mostly bare walls, blinds and a lot of windows, it's not going to sound good at high volumes unless you happen to use speakers that are complimentary to the acoustics (in a room that reflects mids strongly, speakers with a distinct lack of that range sill sound better than speakers that have strong mids. The same thing goes for highs and lots of glass. Uneven surfaces help but the size/depth of the unevenness matters. Smaller/flatter/harder/smoother reflects highs better than course, rough surfaces. Ceiling tiles are an OK way to tame some issues but the ones with a more flat surface and small holes don't do a great job. In fact, as soon as someone paints them, they lose a lot of their absorption. The really rough, heavier ones do a much better job, in a wider section of the sound spectrum.

That said, in an extremely bright room, a tube amp (or SS, for that matter) with a warm sound will sound brighter than in a dry/warm sounding room so in that sense, it may sound "better".

 

[KEW]

Just as a consideration, potted plants, wall hangings (Ideally, a tapestry, but paintings-canvas - without glass or plastic cover), and heavy drapes can do a lot to tame a room if you want to avoid formal "acoustic treatments".

 

[Lordoftherings]

Just as a consideration, potted plants, wall hangings (Ideally, a tapestry, but paintings-canvas - without glass or plastic cover), and heavy drapes can do a lot to tame a room if you want to avoid formal "acoustic treatments".

Very true.

* You can use glass (judiciously) as a diffuser. Best for that are glass tubes, as in large wine or beer or champagne or cognac glasses.
Also, books, albums (LPs), CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and a bunch of good friends and girlfriends, can be use as excellent room acoustic treatments.

Bob