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I'm never going to hear a megaspeaker in a good room am I?

Was thinking about something. There’s a thread about good $40K speakers which made me think that honestly despite hearing a lot of them at shows, I’ve never heard one in a decent environment. Now, perhaps we can argue:

If it doesn’t sound good anywhere, including a hotel room, is it really that good a speaker?


But let’s not go that route. But I am thinking to myself, in well treated rooms the best speakers I’ve heard were merely mid-range Wilsons and Magicos. I say "merely" because they were under $40k, not because of performance. The two best speakers I’ve heard, in medicore rooms were the SF Stradivari and Snell A/III, and top of the line Vandersteen.

All the $40K + speakers I’ve heard have been at shows, and either very badly treated rooms, or in halls so big the first reflection point was like a mountain echo. Am I ever going to get to listen to $40K+ speakers in great rooms anywhere again??

As a result, I’ve developed a severe bias against the performance of mega speakers, because I only ever hear them in terrible rooms and have not heard one I’d spend money for, and honestly that's unfair to them.

erik_squires

Showing 3 responses by mijostyn

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
@erik_squires I guess we haunt the same vicinity. Goodwinn's High End in Waltham is the area's most esoteric Hi Fi store. I have not been in a while. I always got good service because I drove up in a 911 Turbo. If you drive up in a Golf you couldn't get the time of day. Never bought anything from him. 
These store hang everything everywhere because they sell it and you need to buy it if you want your room to sound good. Total and complete BS (IMHO). You use enough to do the job and no more adding a one set at a time. This can be done inexpensively with acoustic tile. The stuff Goodwinn's sells is hopelessly overpriced but his clientele are extremely wealthy and they do not care or know enough to care. They are the set it and forget it crowd.  
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Duke, I think you explained it better than I could. I almost bought the Snells. I think I wet my pants the first time I heard them. I wound up buying the Sound Labs 845 immediate spiritual ancestor 
We are all stuck using residential size rooms. Choosing the right speaker is the most significant "room control" you can buy. It can also save you a lot in extraneous room treatment items. 
The problem with many of the most expensive speakers is that they are more omnidirectional which makes them sound worse in hotel rooms.
But, they have exactly the same problems in residential settings. A speaker that can sound good in a hotel room can sound good anywhere.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Erik, when I get my $50,000 speakers I'll invite you over so you can have a listen.:)
roberjerman, headphones provide a good datapoint for spectral balance but that is about it. If the system is so bad that you need to resort to headphones you have a lot of work to do and wasting money on headphones is not going to get you there. 
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