it doesn't take me much convincing that we're not listening to our stereos, we're listening to the interaction of the speaker and the room. ---room treatments are essential. friend of mine is in a dedicated room w/ 6-figure gear (!), and it never amazed me, til he put @ $4k into room treatments--best $ he ever spent IMO, and a world of improvement for him. me, i'm in a small room (15*11*8.), but its mine, so i cram as much absorption as i can in:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1046967958&openfrom&34&4#34point to this post: the rear wall is only 1' from my ears. i had OC 703-based traps lining the entire rear wall at the junction w/ the floor. the only thing i changed was going from one 2" panel per trap to three 2" panels per trap, so now its 6" thick. the additional thickness did wonders for reducing bass boom, resulting in much better detail & articulation in the midrange and mid-bass, while reducing mid-range colorations. in my experience in small rooms, you cannot have too much bass absorption.
even my wife heard the difference.
