[JeffB]

I was just in Good Guys to demo their speakers at lunch today.  Everything sounded aweful.  The bass was extremely thin and weak and thus the highs were very bright.  The speakers were  Klipsch RF-7, Energy Veritas, Monitor Audio Bronze B6, Mirage Omni.  None of them sounded good.  Now, I am sure these are all fairly respectable speakers.  In fact, I have heard the Klipsch F-7(at Best Buy) sound much, much better than this RF-7 and in a less than favorable environment.

I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts on the reasons for this.  My first thought was the room itself.  It was almost a cube, which is, the worst of all possible room shapes.  One edge of the cube was sliced-off though.

The room had a good amount of dampening material on all walls, except one wall was glass.  The ceiling appeared to be treated with something and the the floor was carpet.  It seemed like a very dead room.

I thought it might be the receiver, but we switched receivers, with essential no real change in the sound charactertic.

I thought it might have something to do with the switching electronic box they use to switch speakers and receivers that you are listening to.  Maybe it was the way the speakers were wired to this switchbox.

I post this, because if it is the room, then the room becomes a much bigger factor than I could possibly imagine.  A $50 dollar speaker in an ok room would sound 1000 times better than a $10,000 speaker in this room.  I have no doubt.

On the other hand, if it was wired wrong, just how bad could it be.  Both speakers +/- reversed should be ok.  Only 1 speaker with +/- reversed.  Not great, but I still think it would sound better than what I was hearing.  Is it possible to get sound if only 1 of the + or - is connected.  I don't think so, but I never tried.  

I wonder if there could have been a high-pass filter in the circuit for use with a subwoofer.  I doubt it.  Even crossed over at 100Hz, I think the sound should have been warmer.

Oh well, who knows why.

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[Carlman]

I post this, because if it is the room, then the room becomes a much bigger factor than I could possibly imagine. A $50 dollar speaker in an ok room would sound 1000 times better than a $10,000 speaker in this room. I have no doubt....

I completely agree with this statement and it's great that you have learned this early in your search.  The room is more important than the gear, unfortunately.  Until you hear a really bad room, which it sounds like you have, it is hard to convince someone of the analogy you made.  But, I have found it to be very true.

My room determines my gear and speakers.

All that being said, you listened to what I consider some of the worst speakers for the money on the market today.... at a place where they sell brands and not sound quality.  If you can get to (a locally owned if possible) hifi shop with someone who's willing to help you find what you're listening for, you'll have a much better experience.

I have spent a lot of time listening to speakers at various locations only to learn a couple of things; I was often listening to the room as much or more than the gear, and that a good salesman in hifi is very hard to find.

The chase is fun, keep listening/auditioning and you'll find something/someone that clicks.

Best of luck,
Carl

[nathanm]

I had almost the exact same experience in a big retail chain store. (same speakers at least)  I don't know what the hell they had going on there, but it was really a rotten sounding demo.  Maybe they had some funky settings on the receiver or something.  I felt bad for Klipsch, because I knew (or hoped) they couldn't be THAT bad.  Anyway, I walked out of the room after about two minutes, my impression of "high efficiency" speakers a bit tainted.  Luckily I had even worse experiences with high efficiency speakers in my own house which put some perspective on the unfortunate chain store demo!

If one side was wired in reverse it would be really easy to tell, it wouldn't be a subtle "gee I don't like this" kind of thing it'd be a "something's broke" kinda thing.  Did the sound shift all over if you moved your head?

[JeffB]

The sound did not shift when I moved my head.  It also didn't sound broken.

[John Ashman]

I'm surprised that you're suprised

[JLM]

Think of it this way:  

With most speaker designs there is actually two speaker cabinets.  One is the cabinet that comes with the drivers/crossover.  This one receives the backwave and tries to boost the mid/bass.  The second is the room itself.  Since you're in the second one and will hear nearly the entire frontwave, it's the more important one.

[Jon L]

Um.  You guys are actually trying to seriously audition speakers at GoodGuys    Have you seen the IC's, speaker cables, power cords they use, not to mention the sorry-ass speaker "selector" box and source selector box?

It's difficult to properly audition speakers even at the super-duper audio boutiques.

[Carlman]

Jon,
I've heard good speakers in a good room sound excellent using 30+' runs of cheap speaker cable, free patch cables, etc... It's all about the room.  I'll take a good room w/ cheap or even free cabling over multi-thousand dollar+ cabling in a bad or even 'average' room ANY day.
-Carl

[bikeman]

Have you seen the IC's, speaker cables, power cords they use

 

David

[Steve]

I agree with Jon L. Speaker switches, cables, lengths etc affect the sound. From my experience, the better the room acoustics, the more noticeable these passive components become.  

If given a choice, I would first get the room right, then work with these passive parts.

[Captain Humble]

I totally agree with everything you guys are saying about the room.

Question:  Of the speakers auditioned, is it possible that the speaker that sounds best in an acoustically poor environment might not be the best sounding speaker in an acoustically good environment?

I beleive the above statement is true which supports the generally accepted principle that you really don't know what you're getting until you fire it up in your room with your equipment.