Short of building a room from scratch, designed for an audio system, you have to be pretty lucky to get a room of the right size and dimensions to start with; I have had dedicated listening rooms in several of my houses- the best actually involved the least tweaking-- it was in an old brownstone with high ceilings, real plaster and lathe walls and wide plank, very sturdy floors. At that time, I had Crosby Quads running, and they didn't energize the room the way the horn speakers I currently use, do.
My current room, while 'dedicated,' is itself a compromise- oddly shaped walls and eaves in the ceilings- it is a room at the top of an old house- and I have had to add bass traps, corner traps, a diffuser along one wall and all of it has made a difference, but the room is still not ideal.
As to equipment fixation, I think you are probably right- otherwise, most of the postings here would be about music, not about whether the X unit is better than the Y unit. I admit to being an equipment junkie- but, whatever the budget, there is no question that 'tweaking,' 'positioning,' cable 'dressing' and all the other major and minor things that go into setting up and 'adjusting' the system are the key to getting the most out of this stuff. I enjoy that part as well...
My current room, while 'dedicated,' is itself a compromise- oddly shaped walls and eaves in the ceilings- it is a room at the top of an old house- and I have had to add bass traps, corner traps, a diffuser along one wall and all of it has made a difference, but the room is still not ideal.
As to equipment fixation, I think you are probably right- otherwise, most of the postings here would be about music, not about whether the X unit is better than the Y unit. I admit to being an equipment junkie- but, whatever the budget, there is no question that 'tweaking,' 'positioning,' cable 'dressing' and all the other major and minor things that go into setting up and 'adjusting' the system are the key to getting the most out of this stuff. I enjoy that part as well...