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Speaker setup / placements accounts for 50% of how they sound. Some speakers have tweeter or more adjustments. Too many people and too much "audiophile" music at shows. Wierd stuff: magikal ~6" 2-way speakers selling for $4000 or $8000?, things that look like they are from Space 1999 or Doctor Who, etc. that sound like crap. I've always liked a lot of the Thiels and Vandersteens. Haven't visited a Hi-Fi shop in years, so maybe I'm talking out of my ass and their speakers sound super bassy bright now because of the home theatre craze? Other than price-busting exotic new materials and crazy internal reinforcements, speaker technology hasn't made any giant leaps. I still love some of the old JBL horn and dynamic driver stuff. Just that most of it is too big to fit inside a living room. Built a JBL horn + 15" woofers and put in my garage a few years back. Not exactly "Hi-Fi" but more dynamics than most of current garbage passed as "Hi-Fi."
Convergence to better: less driver resonances, less peaks, smoother more linear FR, extend air. I think few would argue with that. There shouldn't be a reason why we have to pay $2000 for a LCD2 to get a smoother treble. We won't get better until we demand better. I was an early critic of the ringing / unsmooth treble and unit-to-unit variability on the LCD2. Of course most LCD2 fans just showed me FR graphs and told me to ****.
Speaker setup certainly is important and I'd think that goes without saying to anyone who is at the level exhibiting at a show. I'm pretty sure Richard Vandersteen knows how to optimize his speaker placement. Those guys spend hours setting up those rooms. None I know of (and I do know a few) just go in and throw down a system where it is convenient. That said, I'd agree that many rooms do indeed sound poorly...or not as good as they could. There's a combination of reasons, and I doubt speaker placement is among those. Much would have to do with the rooms themselves not being ideal acoustic venues, both size, contents and proportions. The other is crappy power which is a constant problem at the shows. Large hotels in major metro areas do not have ideal power delivery. I recall at CES one of my clients was telling me the power was fluctuating more than 15% at the wall over the course of a day. Also many of those systems are manufacturers who are coming together on that weekend to throw together a system from components based on mutual respect and occasional listening. I do know some systems are formed that way and it's not always ideal. Most, thought, have enough familiarity with the synergy that it's not as much of an issue, but it is one other thing to point at.
I've heard $8K two way speakers that justify their price, and I've heard them that make me just shake my head. Whether or not they look like a space ship seldom has anything to do with it as I've heard some that look weird that have sounded amazing (as well as those that don't). One of the best rooms I heard at RMAF...no wait, two of the best rooms...had speakers that looked "weird"...yeah, very spaceship like. Oh, and one was a $7K two-way speaker.
I completely agree - too much audiophile music at shows for sure. When I get out of there, depending on what year you're talking about, I'd be delighted if I never hear another Diana Krall cut, or Norah Jones...or if I'm to date myself, Brothers in Arms or DSOTM. In defense of the use of that crap - well, a whole lot of the people buying the stuff there are familiar with it and some even play it over and over at home. Technically it does make the systems sound there best, IF you happen to enjoy that music (and that's a big if for some).
I don't believe I've ever heard tell of anyone supercharging their speakers to exhibit at a show and then selling a different product (not sure if that's what you are implying). As far as catering to the Home Theatre market, you'll see hear far more of that at CES and not much at all at RMAF. The former is a larger show that expand to electronics technology as a whole. If you stick to Audiophile targeted manufacturers I don't think you'd hear much of the stuff you complain about.
Horns are certainly king of speed and dynamics and a well-assembled horn system can be a wonder to hear. I agree. I also think it's really easy to make a horn system sound like an ear-piercing, room-clearing, shouty waste of $. Synergy is everything there. There's amazing horn loaded speakers that are not that large (AudioKinesis makes a remarkable such system). But I share a love of a well-assembled classic horn system. It is by no means the only way that works, but it's hard to match that speed and dynamics when its done right.
Speaker technology has advanced in terms of driver materials as well, at least to my ears - especially with some of the exotic material being used for tweeters. Some of it's BS, and there will never be a shortage of folks riding that wave for sure. Cabinet materials, design and bracing also have a significant impact on how speakers have advanced. No, the leaps and bounds are not like one might see in digital audio - different technologies for sure. But progress has been made and one can take the very sound (pun not intended) foundation of a classic design by Paul Klipsch, and improve on it significantly using those very advances - John Wolf's Classic Audio Design speakers do just that. I'm a big fan of Classic Klipsch by the way - but I know first hand how significantly you can take that design as it was built 40 years ago and improve on it. Still, even that 40 year old speaker can sound great today and that is impressive.
Convergence? Sure you can throw a bunch of arbitrary aspects of what speakers do to create the illusion of a performance and say that if they do all those things "better" that makes for a better speaker. It's a circular argument - who's to judge? What specific qualities in what balance and combination make for a "better" speaker? Playing what music in what room? But most of all, who is the judge? I'd hazard a guess if ten of us were to hear the same speakers in the same room with the same music we'd all come away with varying perspectives on how we liked or disliked them. Here I diverge widely with what I'm taking is your thinking on this - I do not believe in any absolutes where any of this is concerned. It is entirely subjective. It is not about being an engineer and needing tools that are predictable and linear and neutral - it is about enjoying music as a listener. And to that end, to each their own. This is exactly why so many different manufacturers who's products sound so different can all make a living selling speakers/headphones. There is is enough variety in taste to support them. I'm not arguing for more crap products - some certainly make you wonder. But convergence? Come on.
