Speaker positioning: why do audiophiles neglect this so much?


Went to a recent seminar featuring Jim Smith, well known author of the book  "Get Better Sound"  and hi fi set up guru.

The basic gist of the discussion was that the most important elements of a high end stereo installation are listening position and speaker positioning, in that order.  The actual hardware (speakers, amplifiers, source, cables etc) are of less importance relatively speaking.

Yet it is clear from this web site and it's contents, that set up is discussed much less than the actual hardware.

When I look at the Virtual Systems page on site, I'm estimating that, maybe, 10% of the systems posted are close to well set up.  Thus, hardly any of the featured hardware is performing close to it's maximum potential.

Shame, and why is it so?  Not sexy enough to talk about system set up in depth?  Lack of knowledge?  Or is it simply too hard to do and too complex a subject?

Just my 2 cents ...

bobbydd

It seems rix know me better than myself !

For sure like true friend knows us...

You make me smile thanks.... 

@sharri - thanks for the de-escalation :-)

LoL @ebm .  Im only limited by my rooms and wallet.  I don’t give a s… about anything else.  Great sound is my number 1 priority.  Form follows function but it can be beautiful too.  

“A good way to check for that is to listen to a mono recording, and mono recording will do.”… agree.  If you have a bluesound node, you can go into the settings and select mono signal.