Question Is expensive hifi worth it today?

[Al ears]

I used to use lead shot, as you don't need much and it's less messy than sand. It's so expensive these days and there are very dense alternatives, but still not cheap.

Not too sure lead shot is available anymore, at least in the UK

 

[npxavar]

Which is exactly why the world needs DSP....

Will a pair of floorstanders with an AVR that does room correction sound good in a small room? At least in terms of frequency response.

 

[npxavar]

The NAD C399 inclues the Dirac Live software and allows you to upload correction curves. DSP is arriving to stereo, at least on class D amps.

 

[abacus]

Will a pair of floorstanders with an AVR that does room correction sound good in a small room? At least in terms of frequency response.

Depends on the room and speakers, as while DSP is good it is not a silver bullet and you should set your system up as best a possible before DSP is applied.

Bill

 

[Gray]

while DSP is good it is not a silver bullet

Absolutely it is not.
Dirac, Shirac, no DSP would have cured the specific (flutter echo) problem in my room.

 

[npxavar]

Absolutely it is not.
Dirac, Shirac, no DSP would have cured the specific (flutter echo) problem in my room.

Would room treatment help?

 

[Gray]

Would room treatment help?

It did 👍

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Which is exactly why the world needs DSP....

Or just a bit of care!

 

[Gray]

Or just a bit of care!

...and no hard, bare floors.

 

[twinkletoes]

Why wet sand .... a few weeks of being in a house it'll be dry sand anyway?

Force of habit, I mean cheap all-purpose sand from the diy merchant, communally referred to as wet sand back in the day.

Place it in a bag so the salt content doesn't corrode the stands.

Cats will have a very hard time getting in there.... unless you one of those micro things....

anyhow, who cares 125 comments on and the Op has vanished like a fa#t in the wind

 

[WayneKerr]

I have heard that rice is good too. If white is too stark then brown gives a more organic sound

 

[SteveR750]

Will a pair of floorstanders with an AVR that does room correction sound good in a small room? At least in terms of frequency response.

Maybe, partly.

Absolutely it is not.
Dirac, Shirac, no DSP would have cured the specific (flutter echo) problem in my room.

I feel your pain, but it helps!

Would room treatment help?

That's the real answer. Build the perfect room and not try to correct a poor one! However, that's not always (almost never) practical for domestic arrangements, so DSP is the only feasible mitigation strategy. It comes "free" with Roon, unless like me it's the sole reason for subbing to Roon.

 

[AJM1981]

Maybe, partly.


I feel your pain, but it helps!



That's the real answer. Build the perfect room and not try to correct a poor one! However, that's not always (almost never) practical for domestic arrangements, so DSP is the only feasible mitigation strategy. It comes "free" with Roon, unless like me it's the sole reason for subbing to Roon.

I care for a good studio, but not that much for a room that is treated like a dealer selling audio equipment with panels everywhere.

A lot of of audiophiles who come up with their advice and starting to treat walls, start placing whatever they come across behind the rear of the speakers. You often see them on youtube. When not having bidrectional or omnidirectional loudspeakers, that wall does by far the least in measurements. It looks good on camera or interesting to some (look he is a real expert.. ) to have a pair of speakers and something on that spot, but apart from that. There was someone who bolted a diffusing panel behind the rear of his speakers, I don't know what that serves for in that position. He also didn't hear much of a difference.. for obvious reasons

Vinyl on the record player, vinyl on the floor, Pair of curtains, shaggy carpet, seats, an average amount of plants, and all common things that a living has on the wall is more than enough to dampen it under normal conditions. Eventually maybe go for one panel if you really have a big problematic spot.

As an expert in room treatment mentioned. Search for the sweet spot between 'too much reverb' and 'dead as a brick' and you're there. Loudspeakers are meant for living rooms, always have.. always will.

 

[npxavar]

Vinyl floor, curtains, soft furniture and high ceilings (12ft) produce 'dead as a brick' acoustics in my 170 square feet listening space. One of the unapreciated perks of renting really old real estate!

And I believe slightly non-parallel walls have something to do with it too.

 

[AJM1981]

Vinyl floor, curtains, soft furniture and high ceilings (12ft) produce 'dead as a brick' acoustics in my 170 square feet listening space. One of the unapreciated perks of renting really old real estate!

That is a different challenge. So you could create more reverb by taking things out and get rid of the curtains (?). But well, if you like that off course. Sometimes accepting that things are like they are is not that bad, a little dead room over an echo chamber is a plus above the other.

I think it is important when going outside of the standard audiophile response (treatment outside the home deco stuff) , reality plays a role. When you live together rooms already have a purpose. When you live alone, you can do crazy things with them, mancave stuff.

Mostly the rooms people present as problematic are meant to share, maybe have tiles on the floor and are minimalistic in what's inside, so they kind of like to keep them as complete reverb chambers. If those are for living together I would suggest to make them more cozy so the female side maybe agrees. But if ones girlfriend / wife wants to keep it minimalistic, small chance that panels will be accepted, so dsp all the way

 

[npxavar]

That is a different challenge. So you could create more reverb by taking things out and get rid of the curtains (?). But well, if you like that off course. Sometimes accepting that things are like they are is not that bad, a little dead room over an echo chamber is a plus above the other.

Actually, I consider myself very lucky for the acoustics and I don't get why people are fond of reverb. Reverb machines remind me of over-the-top clubs.

 

[AJM1981]

Actually, I consider myself very luck for the acoustics and I don't get why people are fond of reverb. Reverb machines remind me of over-the-top clubs.

totally agree.

 

[SteveR750]

Personally, reverb is something for musicians to add, I don't want it in my lounge, irrespective of my musical system needs.

 

[Gray]

I'd recommend an experiment to anyone that doubts the the harm reverb does:

If you can, take a good quality wireless speaker and carry it with you whilst listening to music (or even just speech).
Note the feeling you experience as you move between a bathroom and a well damped room.

It's as if a weight has been lifted from you.
The sound becomes focused - all effort to hear the detail has gone - a feeling of relaxation and relief (real relief).
Now you might ask who'd be stupid enough to listen in a bathroom.....but have you seen some of the listening rooms in people's photos?

As has been said, if a recording has added reverb, fair enough - but your music needs as little reverb added from your environment as possible.
(Your speakers were likely to have been designed, if not tested, in an anechoic chamber - somewhere with no reverb whatsoever - no such thing as a listening room being "too dead" as far as I'm concerned).

Back on the subject of the thread:
Is expensive hi-fi worth it?
In the wrong room, no, it's money wasted (unless looks mean all to you).

 

[npxavar]

If the wrong room is dedicated to listening and nothing else, then given enough money, knowledge and experimentation "high-end" nearfield performance is certainly feasible. Unless the room is hopelessly bad, ofcourse.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Now you might ask who'd be stupid enough to listen in a bathroom.....but have you seen some of the listening rooms in people's photos?

Indeed. Sometimes when they've spent a bomb as well...

 

[npxavar]

Indeed. Sometimes when they've spent a bomb as well...

In which case speakers function more as extravagant furniture rather than as audio reproduction medium.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Or as status symbols.

 

[npxavar]

Or as status symbols.

Sometimes I think that there should be a luxury tax in hi-fi ...

 

[Al ears]

Sometimes I think that there should be a luxury tax in hi-fi ...

You mean there isn't??