In your opinion which is more important: the room or the speakers?

Nuance · « **Reply #20 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 10:11 pm »

This has been a great discussion thus far. Now you know why I started this topic.

Keep 'em coming.

sharper · « **Reply #21 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 10:23 pm »

Room. It's the foundation for everything else.

All it takes is one visit to a hifi show to realize what a struggle it can be to get good sound from great equipment in a poor room; whereas, more modest gear in a decent room can sound quite good by comparison.

SwedeSound · « **Reply #22 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 10:31 pm »

If you listen in an average room that's used for other purposes -- like living -- then better speakers will make a bigger difference. (I speak from experience.) Granted, those same speakers would sound better in a better room. However, crappy speakers are not likely to be improved much by better room acoustics. GIGO. That said, if you can start from scratch, build a good room and fill it with good speakers.

EDIT: I would also hasten to add that speakers can be moved -- from town to town and house to house or apartment to apartment -- whereas, if you sink all that time and effort and planning into a room and suddenly you have to relocate, well ... But I still believe the room is a primary consideration. Just perhaps not the highest until you know where you might be for good.

eclein · « **Reply #23 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 10:31 pm »

I never in all my years have ever heard a producer, engineer or Artist say "lets go record there because they have great speakers"..its always "got to hear it in that room..." or "I wonder what it would sound like in the room at..." I have several friends who own studio's and its always,always about the room. That being said it ain't my room thats for sure!!

satfrat · « **Reply #24 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 10:33 pm »

Speakers, they are what they are when built and that's all you'll ever have to work with. A room on other hand can be dealt with, either with room treatment or with room correction gear which is being made more available than ever before. There's many ways to deal with a room's signature. But w/o a quality set of speakers, all you're really doing is polishing a turd which can be made to sound good but never audiophile great!

But I could probably maybe quite possible be wrong, I suppose.

Cheers,
Robin

Duke · « **Reply #25 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 10:51 pm »

Quote from: eclein on 11 Mar 2010, 10:31 pm

I never in all my years have ever heard a producer, engineer or Artist say "lets go record there because they have great speakers"..its always "got to hear it in that room..." or "I wonder what it would sound like in the room at..." I have several friends who own studio's and its always,always about the room.

(emphasis Duke's)

I don't doubt your experience, but the "it" they're referring to is what their focus is on. "It" (presumably musicans + instruments) has to sound fantastic on its own before a better acoustic space is even of interest. The monitor speakers are tangential - it is the musicians, they are the sound source.

In a home listening room, the speakers are the sound source.

In a studio, the musicians are the sound source and the speakers are an evaluative tool that really has no equivalent in a typical home audio system.

Nuance · « **Reply #26 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 11:16 pm »

Quote from: satfrat on 11 Mar 2010, 10:33 pm

But I could probably maybe quite possible be wrong, I suppose.

Cheers,
Robin

I remember that one time when you thought you were wrong, but it turns out you were mistaken. Does that count?

nathanm · « **Reply #27 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 11:39 pm »

The room is more important, but it's also the most expensive and most frustrating to deal with, which is why you give up and buy cool speakers anyway.

low.pfile · « **Reply #28 on:** 11 Mar 2010, 11:54 pm »

Quote from: Nuance on 11 Mar 2010, 10:03 pm

Well, since most of us don't have dedicated rooms, lets say a living space with an audio system. Either way, does it effect your answer?

The answer I gave was in the context of my living room.... as I know the room will not change in the way of acoustic treatments. So I have/will always focus on the speaker.

Yes, I acknowledge that I am not getting the full potential from my system. but I am OK with that. This is also the reason why I wouldn't go out and buy $15k speakers; I would be utilizing even less of the system's potential given that the untreated shared room is the constant.

cheers,
ed

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #29 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 12:16 am »

I'd have to say speakers. Great speakers will not only provide a valid reference when upgrading the upstream components, but when fine tuning the room.

TONEPUB · « **Reply #30 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 01:14 am »

If you ever really want to hear what your room sounds like, take your speakers outside....

Affordable$$Audio · « **Reply #31 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 01:41 am »

Quote from: TONEPUB on 12 Mar 2010, 01:14 am

If you ever really want to hear what your room sounds like, take your speakers outside....

But check the weather outside first

K Shep · « **Reply #32 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 01:42 am »

I would prefer a purpose built, acoustically designed, 2 channel room.

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #33 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 02:23 am »

People can uniformly pick a good loudspeaker from a bad one even in poor acoustical settings. So I'd say the loudspeaker is the most important thing to have correct but these questions are always too general to give anything but vague meaningless answers.

Most people are stuck with a given room and the best you can do is proper placement or acoustical treatment. But buy good loudspeakers... it is more important than anything else in a system.

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #34 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 02:26 am »

Quote from: Affordable$$Audio on 12 Mar 2010, 01:41 am

But check the weather outside first

Actually... we are used to listening in reverberant (reflective environments). The recordings are mastered in a room and late reflections can actually enhance the spacial ques. The bass is what suffers the most from the room.

Bigfish · « **Reply #35 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 02:32 am »

Quote

Most people are stuck with a given room and the best you can do is proper placement or acoustical treatment. But buy good loudspeakers... it is more important than anything else in a system.

I agree!

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #36 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 03:37 am »

+1ⁿ re: vagueness. And the idea that you can't take the room with you when you move. So:

(B) the speakers

I haven't read all the posts, so if I duplicate...

A great room with bad speakers is worse than a bad room with great speakers.

mjosef · « **Reply #37 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 04:37 am »

Screw the room...speakers for me, when I have to move, can't take the room with me. Besides if the room is crappy and it's untreatable, I can always listen close-up, sorta like take room (or most of its effects)) out of the equation.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #38 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 04:46 am »

Speakers are important....good room treatments will add to their enjoyment.

Both go "hand in hand".

Sonny · « **Reply #39 on:** 12 Mar 2010, 04:52 am »

well, I think the ROOM is IMPORTANT...for NO room, means no speakers...first you have to have a room for your audio stuff,

but once you have a room, then the speakers are important...because even with the best room, if you have a shitty pair of speakers, then you'll get shitty sound. but if you have a great pair of speakers, then you can at least get descent sound and then tune the room, right?
T