Detailed Speaker Setup and Optimization

[sbo6]

Dispute acoustic science as applied to high-end audio? I just might if somebody could sufficiently articulate what it's all about. That aside, I wholeheartedly dispute the overemphasis / high priority often assigned to acoustic science.

Regardless, if the acoustic science as applied to high-end audio is legit, then shouldn’t it be a no-brainer for perhaps any serious student of acoustic science to…

1. Identify the unnatural hollowed empty-coffee-can-like and/or the room sonic signature found in so many playback presentations and in-room videos?

2. Explain why these oh-so-common unnatural room-related sonic signatures are present even though we’ll never ever hear them when attending live performances?

3. Suggest sufficient remedies to minimize or even eliminate these rather unpleasant and unnatural sounding sonic signatures?

4. Articulate why one ought to promote acoustic science to a level of importance perhaps over and above all else?

If a student of acoustic science is unable to sufficiently respond to the first question, then I'd venture the other questions are moot anyway? If a student of acoustic science is unable to sufficiently address the other 3 questions, then exactly what kind of science are we talking about here?

At the very least it would seem if there’s any legitimacy to acoustic science as applied to high-end audio, then shouldn’t those not following the science suffer far more from their playback presentations and in-room videos?

There’s much to be said about this topic, especially since it bleeds into other performance-limiting topics. But I’ll stop here by posting an in-room video of an average-engineered recording, performance, and playback system to substantiate my position that the importance placed on acoustic science is, if nothing else, greatly exaggerated and hence, to some degree akin to chasing windmills. Even though certain aspects can provide outstanding sonic benefits.

Perhaps a follower of acoustic science can point out my many acoustic anomalies. Better yet, maybe they could post their own before and after or at least after in-room video to substantiate their position while also showing how far short of the acoustic science mark my video must be since I’m not a true follower of the science?

I think it was sbnx who said, the best way to evaluate the benefits of acoustic science is to listen at higher volume levels. So crank my video all the way up. It’s also got some great guitar in the back half.

You seem to have a binary approach to your supposition - Acoustic science diehard / experts and those that are not.

The reality is different - you can espouse to what you call Acoustic Science or I'd call it Acoustic Engineering principals which can be applied to 2 channel systems' rooms, however the limit(s) of applied theory and analysis is commonly WAF and budget. At the end of the day, we all do our best to make do with what tools, time and $ is available to get the most out of our systems and rooms.

 

[Believe High Fidelity]

Been spending a lot of time in setup over the years and especially in the past year with and without adding acoustic treatments.

Having a few interesting designs come through my room and while some have worked really well others have highlighted major struggles playing in the room. The takeaway is the with a lot of absorption you have to push the speakers harder as they are less efficient and placement of such treatments (both absorption and diffusion) can make major differences in location. It doesn't surprise me in the least, listening to so many rooms and systems over the years, that some have had great success and others have not. I do agree that large rooms usually sound better as they mitigate a lot of modal issues in their virtue of increased room boundaries.

I would say that a treated room is going to reveal deficiencies in your speaker design and system performance more than a live room ever could. When you get direct sound, and the room is no longer contributing its color, you may realize your system performance goes down and not up. Dynamic speakers may sound more rolled off or tonality and harmonics start to suffer.

So many factors once the room is tamed than just is it better or worse.

For room setup for those who do not have a lot of time, money or experience I find L.O.T.S to be a great resource to teach as well as optimize your placement

 

[stehno]

When you get to the destination you no longer require the directions!

Hopefully, I completely misunderstood your post because otherwise, sometimes you guys can say the darnedest things. Like you or anybody else possess the expertise to determine when any part of any playback config has arrived at their supposed most optimal operational destination. The implications of such statements are numerous. For example.

- It implies that you already know / understand everything there is to know / understand.
- It implies that you’ve sufficiently addressed every potential shortcoming and in only the most superior rather than inferior way.
- It implies that there’s nothing more to discover.
- It implies you’ve arrived.

If I'm reading your post accurately, that’s pretty darn worldly if not downright arrogant (and naïve) if you ask me.

I’m sure such mindsets exist elsewhere but I don’t recall ever seeing this type of mindset in other performance-oriented industries yet, it’s seemingly a daily occurrence in high-end audio.

For the record, It’s impossible for any of us to determine whether or not any part of our playback configs have reached their ultimate destination because they never will. Like any other performance-oriented industry, performance is truly a journey and never a destination.

You could possess the absolute best sounding most genuinely musical playback config known to man. But it’s only the best until the next more superior component is released or the next individual takes an effort to the next level. IOW, there's always tomorrow.

And if I’m right (I am), then isn’t this arriving at some imaginary destination mindset really nothing more than a performance-limiting self-deceiving mindset?

 

[Elliot G.]

And if I’m right (I am

Perhaps if you read my comment in context to my conversation with Jim Smith you would have understood rather than make wild assumptions. You do what they say about those that assume?

is that I'm right a "ONE MAN SURVEY"

 

[stehno]

When you get to the destination you no longer require the directions!

Perhaps if you read my comment in context to my conversation with Jim Smith you would have understood rather than make wild assumptions. You do what they say about those that assume?

is that I'm right a "ONE MAN SURVEY"

Silly me. It was probably the "When you get to the destination you no longer require the directions" thing that threw me off. Boy, do I feel dumb.