I agree that room treatment is extremely important, and as I've mentioned in other posts, I feel that a $2,000 system in a correctly treated room will, IMHO, almost always sound better than a $20,000 system in an untreated room.
I know an Audiophile that claimed that while he "knew" that the room was important, he was always too busy upgrading his system to get around to it. When he finally felt he couldn't go any further, he decided to do the room. This fellow is what is often referred to as "extremely anal" and is as unsparing with himself as he is with others. He quite frankly told me that a couple of hundred dollars worth of Acoustic Fiberglass, area carpets, etc., produced the sound that he had wasted years and tens of thousands of dollars trying to achieve. His advice: do your room first before you spend any money on real equipment.
A couple of members of our club (Pacific Northwest Audio Society) decided to skip room treatment and went for purpose-built listening rooms. Everyone that has been to either, or both, of these rooms has commented on how good the music sounds in them. One common element seems to be that the music is played at lower levels than is normally the case as the noise floor is so much lower and room modes (eigenmodes) are drastically attenuated.
I happen to feel that these are two of "The Best Listening Rooms in the World" and luckily, one of them is just over the hill from me and the other is just a few miles further up the mountains, plus I have a standing invitation to both :^)
Now, before the comments start about "the rich guys," etc., let me say that both are very nice people, modest and very supportive of DIY audio. They have, what is often referred to as, golden ears and both have served as judges at every one of "The Puget Sound! DIY Speaker Contest" that's been held.
Here's a couple of links. There are also further links within the article's themselves that are worthwhile as well.
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue7/maroom.htmhttp://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/lavigneroom.htmBest Regards,
TerryO