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Here is another viewpoint. When I started reviewing, it was very difficult to secure review pieces, even the low cost ones. Nels who? You write for who? We will call you back. Some did- most didn't. Some agreed to a review, and the sample never arrived. Now, I can pretty much get whatever, within reason. Currently in house is approximately $14,000 worth of gear, that is getting boxed up and shipped back- not because I don't like it, but because you can't buy everything.With your $10,000 speaker example, it doesn't mean the reviewer has limited experience with speakers at that price range, it could mean that no manufacturer offered (or sent) speakers in that range before. Just because the reviewer hasn't written about $10,000 speakers doesn't mean he has limited experience with them. That is an assumption.
And how about the reviews of room treatments where it turns out the reviewer simply has none to begin with?
So if you are the kind of person that will only take a reviewer seriously if they have the big expensive room, etc – than please –start a donation drive and start sending us the money so we can appease you! I’m not above accepting donations!
“everyone is an expert”.This is a problem that faces every community, be it audio, photography, cars, computers, etc. In each of these gateways hides people who, with self appointed knowledge, sit atop this idea that they have been endowed with great insight regarding all things audio (or interest of choice). These people “know” just exactly what an ideal room should be, they “know” exactly how to treat every transducer on the planet, they “know” what electronics go with it and even “know” the best tweaks for getting the most from a system. Ignoring these individuals can be difficult because they have a bug far enough up their keester to where it rests comfortably on their vocal cords which cannot and will not remain silent. The bottom line is that there are next to no absolutes in the subjective world of hi-fi audio. While I feel everyone has a right to take a peak into a reviewers lairs to see where all the listening and evaluating magic happens – it is far too easy to glance at a picture and then sit back from afar and critique what you see from the comfort of your own chair. I say all of this specifically in reference to acoustics.On one hand, it is wonderful to see such heightened awareness in regards to the importance of taming those acoustic nastys going on in your listening space. But how can you, baring obvious circumstances, can you claim to know – let alone judge a persons room before even stepping foot inside it? Perhaps a person lacks acoustic treatments because they found treatments to be more detrimental than helpful. Does that sound crazy? Well allow me to stand up and say “hello – I’m one of em’”. At this point I have treatments from Eighth Nerve and GIK Acoustics, and while they are fine products – I’ll let you in on a little secret… they actually made my untreated room sound worse. Yep! That’s right – worse! They effectively deadened the sound to the point of it being uninteresting. Is that saying anything against the products? Absolutely not. But it just so happened that my small listening space, as un-ideal as it may appear in picture, sounds pretty damned good all by it’s lonesome. Well, I guess I just effectively shot my credibility (was there any to begin with?) to the floor! While not my intention – these comments are meant to illustrate that looks can be deceiving, and judging something without really experiencing it for yourself is well – just plain not-smart!
That's another excellent point, familiarity with what you listen to... If you are constantly flipping gear in a reference system, it's hard(if not impossible) for it to be a reference.
If you think that the treatments make the sound "worse", then you probably like boomy bass and overblown midrange.
Unfortunately, a number of manufacturers do not necessarily feel the same way.
Without you knowing what my listening space looks like - let alone never having stepped a foot inside of it - how do you *know* without a shadow of a doubt that there is overblown (at least to a damning degree) mid-range and bass? What about the high end? Do you know how large my listening space is?
they actually made my untreated room sound worse. Yep! That’s right – worse!
I will say I've never seen a room that didn't need bass traps and first reflection treatment. --Ethan
Ethan,While my listening space is far from ideal and carries with it many limitations – it can sound pretty good by itself without acoustic band-aides. And for the record, the panels had virtually a zero audible effect on the bass and mid-range. Instead, it was more related to the high-end. As it turns out, I just like a livelier presentation.
I consider the room and speaker / listener positions within that room to be the first major component of any good sound system. That places the benchmark sonic signature on all of the other components. It really pays to get that as correct as possible. I am fortunate to have a nice dedicated listening space (my links are below). The dimensions were good acoustically to start with, but that was not enough