Room or Speaker what s more important?

Duke, a couple of those honking SoundLabs in a closet could be a very interesting proposition. Kind of Stax to the nnnnnth degree. Add floation for the sensory deprivation effect and we'd really have something. ;-)

The speakers are the most important. You give me any room, except a closet, and with the right speakers and room treatment I can give you musical sound. But many, many speakers out there will never sound musical no matter what room you put them in, or what you do to the room. Think about it - do we judge whether or not a live piano or acoustic guitar or human voice sounds convincing by the room it is in?? Of course not! The question never even enters our minds.

Slow thinker that I am;I have finally been able to elaborate. I guess in my minds eye,I was thinking "system" and responding to "speakers". Ok, I guess my "Rad.- Shack" system is = to "metal room";as examples of what we're NOT talking about.Also,we're not talking about speakers placed with their fronts to the wall,or any other such nonsense.Deep and wide soundstage created by lesser components is not as satisfying as the "not-so-deep and wide" SOUND from quality components. ???Those of us relegated to L-shpped rooms are painfully aware of what we don't have...And what we do have.

Jkphoto is brief and very much to the point, IMHO. But "the room" is ambiguous: does it include acoustic treatment or not? If the room "measures up" half-decently, in that its main resonant modes (its three main dimensions) aren't too close together, acoustic treatment can make the difference between great sound and really annoying and fatiguing sound. See F. Alton Everest's books, "Master Handbook of Acoustics" 4th edition and "Sound Studio Construction on a Budget", and I've heard Robert Harley's book is good on this too. If you can do any DIY, acoustic treatment is a LOT cheaper than a fancier pair of speakers, and does at least as much good. I have designs for Argent Room Lens clones and RPG-style diffusors, if you're interested in taking the DIY route.

SPEAKERS SILLY!

Quality components in an optimized room will sound better than world-class components in a bad room.

I've got friends with mediocre systems, and decent rooms. But speaker placement in a given room is just as important as both issues mentioned. Separation is one topic which comes to mind. And if they need stands, by all means LIFT 'EM!

Example #1. Friend has a nice old H/K receiver and some garage sale Klipsch Hereseys ($50 score for him!). He has the speakers sitting on the floor, both in the corner of the room, side-by-side. This puts the horns at shin level. Not worthy. And you can imagine the lack of imaging, being side-by-side.

Example #2 (woman this time): She has a decent mid-fi HT rig. And she insists that the (tower) main speakers "look better" flanking either side of the stereo cabinet. Maybe so. But the center channel speaker is on top of the TV, to the right of the left and right speakers that are sandwiching the stereo cabinet. GGGgggrrrrrrhhhhhh!!!

Obviously you see the problems with both of these scenarios, and both have simple remedies. PLACEMENT WITHIN A GIVEN ROOM is the best place to start. Then consider changing rooms or speakers. Just my $0.02

Good Point I will keep that in mind.

Boy,do I have an opinion, and your title needs a bit of clarification./ Properly driven must be assumed/but this is not always the case.I go to friends houses with rooms worthy of hi jacking. None have great systems. So the sound coming out of a given speaker can be bettered in a good room. If the room is bad enough you can always listen nearfield. You wanna listen to "Bozo" speakers driven by a Rad. Shack receiver in a great acoustic environment/ not me.

Yeah, but a GREAT pair of speakers in a metal room will sound like they are from Radio Shack. So you can guess which I will vote for,

I'd rather have a good pair of speakers in a bad room than vice versa.

Hi Tireguy; It's almost always easier to change the speaker(s) than to change the room, not counting acoustic treatments of course. So, what really is important is to match the speakers to the room. If you have enough money you could match the room to the speakers, but for us average bears, it's much more practical to do it the other way around. It is the "match" that is really the important thing, IMHO. Craig