[JoshK]

Unfortunatly, the room is by far the most important. If I was building a dedicated room for my system, I would build the listening room about 20x20 with a 30 foot high ceiling of glass windows and the floor of stone. I put together a lot of systems back in the 80's and that was by far one of the best I ever heard. Not the best, the better one was in a million dollar home.

In that 20x20 room, the system was backed next to a solid wall with a very wide doorway going into another room. The owner had some fairly large 3-way dynamic speakers called Goetz and a Revox receiver. It was highly reflective surface everywhere. The imaging and soundstage was top-notch, no signs of hardness. I have heard several $100,000+ systems that was not near as good because of the room they were in. That room was probably $95,000 to build and the owner had $5000 into his system. I was shocked to day the least.

People tend to over-damp their room. Carnegie Hall with high reflective surfaces everywhere sounds much better than the Avery Fisher Hall that was way over-damped and over designed.

IMO that has a lot of do with the type of music you listen to.  If you like a type of music that is recorded in halls then a room that is large with longer reverb time and somewhat reflective will match that type of music well.  If you are a fan of smoke filled jazz clubs, this type of room probably won't float your boat. 

That is to say, the problem lies in the fact that there is no standard to the recording, even in studio recordings.  So matching your room to some standard isn't possible, it depends on way too many variables you can't control. 

But I agree, Carnegie sounds WAY better than Avery Fisher hall, but that is a given.

[K Shep]

You can fix a room, but not speakers. 

Great point.  A pair of speakers are constant.  Speakers sound different in different rooms which is why IMO the room is more important. 

I've added bass traps and absorption to my room recently and my room is close to sounding (with the help of treatment) as good as it will sound.  The sound of my system is changing but the only thing I've changed is my room.

[Jimna]

Great point.  A pair of speakers are constant.  Speakers sound different in different rooms which is why IMO the room is more important. 

I've added bass traps and absorption to my room recently and my room is close to sounding (with the help of treatment) as good as it will sound.  The sound of my system is changing but the only thing I've changed is my room.

^^that.  ive read reviews over and over again of speakers I will never get the privilege to play even once, that sound terrible because of the room not the speaker.  almost every time a major audio show happens we all get reminded of how much the room matters, and the subsequent lack-luster performance that follows from industry staples that still make quality products. 

if 70k speakers sound bad because of a room, Ill take a room first......

[satfrat]

^^that.  ive read reviews over and over again of speakers I will never get the privilege to play even once, that sound terrible because of the room not the speaker.  almost every time a major audio show happens we all get reminded of how much the room matters, and the subsequent lack-luster performance that follows from industry staples that still make quality products. 

if 70k speakers sound bad because of a room, Ill take a room first......

Using that logic, you might as well go buy yourself a set of Bose speakers and spend all your money on room treatment, lots & lots of room treatments. You polish that turd up real purty now, ya'hear.     
 
Cheers,
Robin

[K Shep]

Using that logic, you might as well go buy yourself a set of Bose speakers and spend all your money on room treatment, lots & lots of room treatments. You polish that turd up real purty now, ya'hear.     
 
Cheers,
Robin

Bose or Odyssey Audio Lorelei's.

[eclein]

Robin is right about Bose..I disconnected mine yesterday nothing I did to my room or setup could compensate for the thin sound...I may be jumping OFF of the room's more important bus and transferring to the speaker's side of this discussion. The speakers give us a baseline sound to adjust, and that consistency is more important than the room...there..I said it!!! LOL

[macrojack]

I'd rather have a home and no speakers than have great speakers and be homeless. In that regard, it seems clear that the room is more important.

What we are really discussing here are limiting factors. Speakers that are innately limited will only be able to achieve a certain level of performance no matter what room you place them in or how well you place them or how you treat the room. By the same token, the finest sound system will not excel in an echo chamber.

So, while I can see where it might be handy or comforting to follow strict rules on this topic, unfortunately there aren't any. All the fun is in getting there anyway. That's why, once we achieve our goals in this hobby, we start looking for new problems to overcome.

Don't make a religion out of hi-fi. If you do, we won't be allowed to talk about it.

[Nuance]

All the fun is in getting there anyway. That's why, once we achieve our goals in this hobby, we start looking for new problems to overcome.

Don't make a religion out of hi-fi. If you do, we won't be allowed to talk about it.

I agree that it is fun achieving our goals, but I never understood those in this hobby that continually try to find new problems and ultimately end up changing things out forever.  I guess there are just some that prefer the thrill of the hunt more than achieving audio nirvana and just sitting and listening.  To each their own.

[Wind Chaser]

Since the goal is obtaining the best sound possible, I'll take the uncompromising position that they are equally important.

[JLM]

I have an audio man cave ala Cardas and custom commissioned speakers (with DEQ), so I believe that at this level both are important.  But what I do find on the net is many folks spending way too much on speakers (and all equipment) based the crummy room they're using them in.

That's the key question here, at what level of audio performance are we talking about?  For the sake of argument I'd assume that we're not into the range of being ridiculous.  Unfortunately I've not seen a recording studio that isn't crummy on both counts, speakers and the room (set up).

Another key is how the particular speaker design interacts with the room.  Small sealed speakers versus K-horns or bi/dipoles are completely different stories.

So I don't believe that you can provide a simple answer to this question.

[decal]

The room,no ifs,ands or buts.

[Nuance]

So I don't believe that you can provide a simple answer to this question.

You're right.  I never said it had to be a simple answer, though.    I intentionally never specified a budget, either.