When I am told (ad nauseam at this point) that there is no evidence that first-reflection points on the floor matter, I don't erroneously conclude that first-reflection points on the floor don't matter. My hope that the pandemic would make us all Bayesians has not been borne out!this logic doesn't make any sense to me at all.
your comment seems to insinuate that it is all for nothing if the floor reflection is not addressed. as if the rest of the room is "incompetently treated" simply because the floor is not? do kindly explain the logic in these statements.
the user could have simply had visual design requirements for the floor that superseded acoustical. or perhaps it is a mixed-use room where blockage of the floor is unwarranted.
none of which negates the other treatment that you seem to carelessly dismiss.
First-reflection points on the sidewalls, the ceiling, and the floor all matter, and when one listens to a system that images extremely well, this becomes evident.
The room in the photo of the fancy system has bass traps in the corners and absorbers on the sidewalls--all of which will help. The concert-hall-style reflectors on the ceiling are not substantially helping the room for audio listening purposes, and the fancy diffuser on the front wall between the loudspeakers is there for show: the front wall is where audiophiles tend to place their most expensive room treatments. A single Persian rug on a hardwood floor will attenuate a small amount of high-frequency energy but will otherwise leave the floor reflection intact.
This is obviously not a mixed-use room: it is a purpose-built audiophile listening room. Yet I agree that considerations other than acoustics played a major role in the design of the room. Such considerations frequently outweigh acoustic considerations in determining audiophile preferences.
I just would have thought that, with the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on gear in this system, more attention would have been paid to the room.
Here's a more egregious example of audiophile gear lust overcoming basic acoustic considerations:
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