STOP Buying NEW Audio Gear to 'Fix' Your Problems!

In this video, I discuss why you shouldn't just run out and buy new audio gear with the hopes that upgrading your existing equipment will automatically guarantee you better sound. There are many factors that govern sound quality in your listening space that should be considered BEFORE making new audio purchases such as your room acoustics, seating locations, speaker placement and calibration. Fixing problematic system set up can often be the BIGGEST upgrade in sound quality you could make. NEVER try to fix the sound of your system using unproven audio tweaks, especially exotic or overpriced audio cables.

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[northeastcorals]

I'm a member of a certain high end speaker group on facebook & the photos people post of their HT set ups blows my mind. Most of them have over $150k in speakers & AV equipment shoved into a normal type family lounge with no sound treatments, speakers having to be placed badly around furniture/plants, misshapen open plan architecture, right up against walls etc etc. If I had 150k to drop on my HT I'd rather spend half of that getting a space for my HT sorted properly, rather than just shove high end gear into a bad space.

[DAVID-ionj]

Part of the urge to upgrade is because it is a HOBBY. Buying the newest shiny gadget is a joy in itself. If it was just about the sound, really the differences between top quality components are small.

[guidojanzen]

Thanks for this excellent video! Here is my home cinema story:

I build my house in 2006. Looking at the plans I realized that my living room will never have good accoustic properties: too much glass, granite flooring and due to it's shape an accoustic lense. So I bought some warm sounding speakers for background music and nothing more.

The home cinema equipment moved into my basement. A 35m² circular room with cotton plaster walls, wodden floor, a curved DVD rack at the back, heavy curtains spanning 180° (minus the DVD rack) concealing some doors. No windows, but a ventilation system. The seats are placed about 1/3 of the diameter from the back.

Four identical and perfectly aligned 30 year old speakers by T+A plus a Velodyne sub and some electronics by Pioneer was all I needed for really nice home cinema sound. In 2020 - just before Corona hit - I upgraded to 4.1.4 and a Trinnov Altitude 16/Amplitude 8 still keeping my good old T+A TB160 speakers. The result is all I ever dreamed of.

[rwilcox_]

I really love your channel. I will gladly watch an hour of video where you'll go in-depth with technical speak about sound and be completely lost yet come away with a decent understanding because of your way of explaining. This particular video is a no nonsense explanation that is easy to understand. I know next to nothing but am the only member of my family that even attempts to improve and enjoy the nuance of home theater! Thank you for continuing to put out this great content!

[drde]

Really enjoy your program because I admire how you not only measure some gear but most importantly listen to gear. My friend's room has tons of bookshelves with lots of various books. It looks nice and works well.

[welds]

Thanks, Gene, for again reinforcing your consistent message of working on your listing and viewing environment one of the most effective methods to improve your listening and viewing experience. I started with a living room system, then moved to a family room and now, I have a dedicated room. The funny thing is that I still am using some gear that is now pushing 20 years old (my B&W CDM NT series speakers and a 20-year-old Hsu sub for example) and it is sounding better and better as I pay more attention to the room acoustics. Moving the speakers out from the wall, experimenting with toe-in, calibrations with REW (I'm in the camp of less EQ is more), assembling eight DYI sound-absorbing panels and placing them in at the first reflection points and, lastly, getting two additional subs (for three total) have paid off greatly. The center sound stage, detail, and bass response are like I have never heard before with these 20-year-old speakers. I know not everyone is as lucky as we are to have dedicated rooms, but like most, I had to wait several years for my situation to change and get my room. Thanks again and congratulations on 25 years of Audioholics!

[zarg]

i think we all learn the hard way....its the room not the equipment

[Chrisspru]

my room is a tiny 12x14x9 ft box.

acoustic curtains for the two doors & window, acoustic drapes on the window, well filled bookshelves, decorative cushions, ceiling acoustic tiles, a fluffy full room carpet, corner placed angled bass trap dampened closets, a "mother in law seat" couch and a generous amount of room plants make for both a nice room and a surprisingly good acoustic space.

"forest clearing acoustics" is kind of the natural space behavior i seek. not dense, not dead. my room does not achive it as well as other rooms i was in, but well enough to be in comfortably equalizable ranges that does not require too much dsp black magic.

even for nearfield like this, room acoustics are essential.

[RobZelinka]

This is a fantastic video. The advice you offer is very helpful. More so, a consultation with you would be money well spent.

[kewlbug]

I have to say, I love topics like this and how you've embraced the Youtube sphere. The channel has definitely matured over the years.

[leepuddefoot-attackanglego]

Always appreciate your input. I have a family room open to the kitchen that is challenging, but upgraded to a Pioneer receiver with Dirac and made a difference.

[walterpen]

Excellent and right to the point. The room size and shape / dedicated room
or open spaced really does matter.

[blueriverlore]

When setting up my dedicated room I applied the same philosophy as buying a house 'location, location, location'. I ran Ypao and it came back with 'weird' results' so I went the manual setup and it made a HUGE difference. The only upgrade I did was get a better center channel since a LOT of the sound (dialogue) comes from that bad boy. Great video Gene!

[micbrd]

I'm moving house this month, I've planned out my new theater room. i'm not spending a any money on new equipment, what I have spent on is the around $2300 in high quality acoustical treatments to bring the rooms RT60 down. I'm sure will sounds great.

[martinmares]

The family room is our Home Theater room, 16'x13'x8', left side open to main entry' restroom halway and kitchen. The open wall is close to the feont wall so getting good frequency response from my subs, LCRs is challenging. MLP is 22 inches from the back wall. I convinced my wife to add a few GIK acoustic panels (Absorption and diffusion) to treat first refelction points. The bqck wall is treated with a thick drape and absorption panels. I was able to get an RT60- Decay of 300ms-400ms. My system 5.3.2 ( RSL CG25/CG3/RSL Speedwoofer 10S/SVS Ultra Center).I can proudly say that my system sounds great. The key to good gound, seat to seat consistency is good speaker placement and a little bit of room treatment.

[timothyfreeseha]

I think your approach is logical. When a patient goes to a docter with a new issue, it probably makes more sense to look at what their current lifestyle includes, along with their current medications, before adding yet another medication to the mix. It might even be appropriate to offer a drug holiday.

[thomaslutro]

I'm in a multi use room, scraping the surface of how little can be done, and how much.

I use Klotz wires, no improving on those, or Mogami, Canare, Belden, van Damme or similar. This is true regardless your budget and what the sales pitch of the day is.

Though there are some things that will make a difference.

Speaker radiation pattern. A dipole will significantly reduce sidewall reflections. A cardioid will significantly reduce any problem caused by front wall reflections. Horns tend to have narrower dispersion patterns than traditional boxes too. All these will push the balance towards more direct and less reflected sound. Any speaker with a constant directivity will provide a better balance between direct and reflected sound, and work better with EQ. These issues should be top of your list when buying equipment for a difficult (reflective) room.

DSP room correction may not be able to solve all your problems, but boy can it make a surprisingly positive difference (best results with single listening position, though).

I've heard great hifi in "impossible" rooms.

It is never about the fancy High End kit, though.

[BobbyBass-xi]

Gene thanks for the video. Good advice for consumers. I agree with the room, seating and equipment setup and the dual subs. I added one sub and it sounded better. Then I added a second and it was excellent. I have a dedicated listening room and it’s setup for my seat since I do almost all the listening.

[Hossmcpizza]

We get it dude you’re shredded af with that thumbnail

[alexlopez-ui]

Great video Gene. Dont have a dedicated room but made me think about positioning speakers where i have symmetry with the walls.