I was thinking of small rooms with limited options for speaker placement. I guess you I could try, but in tight spaces with bookcases, speakers in places of differing heights, some offices, Bedrooms, dorm rooms, etc. My first real stereo was in a bedroom, then dorm room, and I wonder what it could have sounded like in a decent room.
A stupid question for which there's no sensible answer.
I know, I know. At least I've labeled it properly.
Here goes: of the following elements of a system, how would you rank their influence on the sound? In other words, generally, which would someone want to upgrade or prioritize, and in what order, if all of the following pieces were inferior to an amp/preamp and speakers they were happy with? Power cables, connector cables. speaker cables. streaming source, music source, dac (I vote for this one as #1), room treatment, speaker placement, type of chair, earwax quotient, what you ate for lunch, etc.
I hereby give my permission for everyone to tell me this is an idiotic question since the real answer is: it depends. (But I did put a "generally" in there somewhere). Anyway, I prefer that we debate this based on what we've experienced when we've tinkered. So I guess I'm really interested in anecdotes.
Here goes: of the following elements of a system, how would you rank their influence on the sound? In other words, generally, which would someone want to upgrade or prioritize, and in what order, if all of the following pieces were inferior to an amp/preamp and speakers they were happy with? Power cables, connector cables. speaker cables. streaming source, music source, dac (I vote for this one as #1), room treatment, speaker placement, type of chair, earwax quotient, what you ate for lunch, etc.
I hereby give my permission for everyone to tell me this is an idiotic question since the real answer is: it depends. (But I did put a "generally" in there somewhere). Anyway, I prefer that we debate this based on what we've experienced when we've tinkered. So I guess I'm really interested in anecdotes.
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Anybody that has lived through an acoustical room transformation personally KNOW that most upgrade before that is often a lost of money... Alas! all the sellers wanted to sells.... And most people had no idea that the acoustic is the main point in audio, not the particular design of an amplifier or of a dac and not even of speakers...Any relatively good gear will sound marvellous in a good acoustical settings and bad in a non controlled small room... Before i worked it i have also no idea, and it is way more easy to think about buying the illusion and elusive perfect new gear to be satisfied than thinking about acoustic... It is complex yes, but ANYBODY can listen and move or install something and improve one step at a time.... An equalizer is a good tool yes, but even without we can but on a long period of listening taking the time to figure it all... Keep hope if an ignorant and uncrafty man like myself can, anyone can.... |
@mahgister, we are on the same page. @669326 Dear OP, it does not work like that. You are going to continue to get 'advice' and most of it will contradict itself unfortunately. In my experience only a very small percentage of those keen on reproducing music bother to treat the room, even fewer bother to try and understand the 'how and why' For example: I have seen it stated that you should just cover all walls in egg-crates. This represents narrow-band absorption, and narrow-band thinking! So what will happen? The frequency that has the same wavelength as the depth of egg-crate will be absorbed and because there is so much of it that music info will be missing. GONE. The rest of the spectrum will carry on reverberating around your room totally unaffected. The above situation happens because some well intentioned ignoramus puts that out on the forum. It also exposes him as someone recommending something he has never tried but is merely regurgitating what he read elsewhere, because anyone who has egg-crated the whole place would upon hearing the result, immediately rip it all out. My best advice is to educate yourself. Get on the net and read articles by those who know what they are talking about. For the cost of a cheap interconnect cable you can buy a mic. This cable will make no real difference (the room won't let you hear the tiny change) The mic. however will allow you to significantly improve your sound. Your choice. |
@OP, when I suggest searching on the net I do not mean a forum like this. There are groups specifically about acoustics. Here are 2 links to get you started. https://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/ https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=73.0 Famous acousticians sometimes pop in to advise. Here is some fun stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLNFrxgMJ6E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPYt10zrclQ |
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