Room Acoustics & System Synergy

Many people underestimate the effect of room acoustics on choice of equipment. However this is a fundamental influence and accounts in large measure for the differences of opinion among reviewers and manufacturers on various products. From years of visiting dealers, reviewers and Hi Fi shows, Origin Live have observed the effect of variables and a brief distillation of this experience is set out below.

The key variables are:

• Size and shape of room - Larger rooms need more treble and upper midband output. Wide rooms are similar and tend to favour bright sounding equipment. Long rooms tend to develop better low frquency bass. Higher ceilings tend to favour slightly higher treble levels.
• Listening position - The closer you sit to the speakers the less treble you will prefer.
• Type of furnishings - ( live verses dead rooms) The more soft furnishings, the more treble in the balance will be preferred. There will be a loss of reverberation and sense of life in dead rooms.
• Temperature of the room - some speakers sound very slow below 20°C. Also at lower temperatures electronics can sound hard and edgy. Speakers need around 4 hours to warm up to normal room temperature from a starting point of 10°C - this is because of the large metal mass contained in the magnet assemblies. This in turn affects the cone and suspension mechanisms.
• Length of time the equipment has been switched on - most equipment sounds better after a "warm up" period which varies greatly, depending on the equipment concerned.
• Lenght of time the equipment has been "run in" - Cartridges, motors, turntable bearings, cables, amplifiers and speakers all need in excess of 40 hours to sound at their best. Run in improves some products massively while others are not so affected.
• Quality and character of associated equipment - All equipment has a tonal balance - usually described as "forward" (more top end frequency like sitting in the front row at a concert) or "laid back" which sounds more like being at the rear of the concert. When you listen to unknown equipment it is simply impossible to know the character of the individual components - all you hear is the system. For example, if the speakers are bright then to get a more balanced sound the tendency will be to partner them with "laid back" ampification etc. There are other factors that affect system synergy which would be the subject of some very long explanations. All you really need to know is that it is usually safest to evaluate a product in the context of your own system and room acoustics.
• A-B comparisons - Dealers sometimes offer to demonstrate product A against product B with all other aspects equal i.e nothing else changes - same room and same system etc. This would appear to yield a fair degree of certainty of a fair comparison. This method certainly can tell you a lot about some aspects of the performance but still does not answer the problems of environmental variables and unknown system synergy effects.

It is not our purpose here to promote uncertainly or endless indecision. The outline "Assesing equipment" will go a long way to evaluating the key aspects of most equipment when it enters your own system. This article helps in virtually all circumstances and particularly if you can find a dealer who can produce a good sound in a room similar to your own listening room and carry our A - B comparison.