Everyone overstates the affect rooms have and I have to constantly repeat this so my apologies to those who have read this before.
Rooms DO have quite an effect. I'm sorry to make you repeat this statement again.
As Omegakitty says....
when I removed all my side wall treatments there was a significant difference in the amount of smearing I was hearing leading to low level resolution loss.
No one has suggested that rooms produce spikes or midrange resonance. Also, of course they don't have the same problems as headphones because they're not close to the ears.
However, headphones don't contain room resonances. (Well, I suppose they have 'mini' room resonances) But the 'room' that you're listening in is consistent. That's basically why I said that headphones are easier. Self contained and consistent room plus (as you say) their own inherent problems.
Speakers themselves could be really flat in FR (measured in a chamber) but the room will alter (again, as you say) the bass response that you hear. I once had a room with nasty flutters higher up as well btw.
At higher frequencies the room still has an influence, but resonances are less of a problem since it is much easier to get absorption at higher frequencies.
Most rooms have their fundamental resonances in the 20 Hz to 200 Hz region with each frequency being related to one or more of the room's dimensions. These resonances affect the low-frequency low-mid-frequency response of the system in the room and are one of the biggest obstacles to accurate sound reproduction.
With a typical room, and say 10 reflections there are over 1,500 images in 3-dimensions, so changing a room size and material is going to have an effect. This doesn't even take into account, reverberation times which could cause some nice smearing in the perceived sound.
A frequency sweep would point out room resonances for you and is a measurable thing rather than assuming what you hear is flat.
Not such a big deal if you're using near field monitors plus you and the speakers are away from walls.
We're talking about flat response and Ringingears brought up:
Each speaker was voiced in an anechoic chamber at the factory to be about 20 to 25 KHz flat + or - 1 db. Or so the claim. Even though the speakers I have are 6 feet tall, sealed and quite large, I really feel that they were designed for a medium sized room and not the large room I have them in. The recommended placement is on the long wall as well, and that is a problem with the shape of my listening room.
The speakers that he has are very good but he was concerned that he's not hearing as flat a response as he thought he should. Could be the room.
Interestingly, measurements are taken on a routine basis here on Changstar and they really give an accurate indication of 'on head' response. People go to great lengths to imitate a real head so that the response is 'real world' and 'accurate'. We don't do this with speakers to find out the 'in room' response because of the inconsistencies. The speaker you hear in the shop on the same source may well not sound the same at home.
The makers have a recommended placement for a reason.
I think it's probably easier to get clarity, resolution, dynamics with headphones, and much easier to get smooth FR and clean response from speakers.
I agree. It can be very difficult to eliminate room resonances with speakers though, unless you use near field monitors and stay clear of the walls - therefore almost using speakers like giant sized headphones. (Like on a monitoring desk)
I guess speaker listening is easier for us since it tries to replicate a performer in your room and your brain adjusts for the room resonances very readily. Record the sound from your seated position with a microphone and listen to that on a headphone and you'll often become so much more aware of what the room does to the sound.
Each to his own in the speakers v headphone ring ......
