How can Fremer and Guttenberg listen with all the clutter

Seriously. Both have the audio rooms that look like a Goodwill storage closet. I don’t see how anyone can get proper speaker set up, let alone, evaluate music/ components in such an area. Fremer has these super exotic turntables and they look like they are stored in a junk closet. Michael Lavorgna, on the other hand, has a nice thought out listening space in his “ barn”.

Am I the only one who notices this?



Michael Fremer's system from Stereophile

 

As a long time subscriber to SP I only see one of the three names you provided as trustworthy writers, Michael Lavorgna.

 

They look like work spaces. I think Fremer has mentioned this.

 

I get that. Just a bit cluttered for critical listening IMO

 

Mike Fremer's listening room circa 2009

 

Looks like the speakers were placed according to Cardas method. I bet he has a fantastic soundstage.

 

Less reflections?

The both live in the greater NYC area so space is at a premium, no room to build a barn in Brooklyn unless you’re a billionaire. That said neither seems to be much of a neat freak.

 

From Fremer's YouTube videos, he lives in a house somewhere in New Jersey and all of his records and audio equipment are in the basement.

Obviously, both Fremer's and Guttenberg's listening space is not exactly conducive for more critical listening with all that clutter lying around. That would make most neat freaks go nuts.

 

I see lots of diffusion and a paucity of reflective surfaces. Not impressive compared to a preciously-staged system glory shot but should work well from an acoustics standpoint.

 

You mean 6-foot-high shelves of plastic storage bins and a Christmas tree of headphones is not the ideal design for acoustical space?

 

As a music lover and the owner of audio equipment which cost me a total of @ $700.......I can’t relate. Although as a struggling minimalist, looking at their respective messes makes me uncomfortable. But it’s their world, they get to shape it.

 

I'm not a neat freak, but I'd go nuts working in that sort of disarray. Can you say claustrophobic?

MF says he hears great depth in that room, I'd love to verify that claim. I can't imagine though, Wilson Audio would've left the speakers where they are if they didn't work properly. It looks like the Audio Note method for corner speaker placement.

 

I'm sure their rooms are functional enough to develop working opinions and proper comparative analyses. With that said, I couldn't stand for my work or living spaces to look like theirs. At work and at home I feel like I'm more focused, more relaxed in a tidy space that feels professional and undistracted.

 

The caption to the video at the link provided is probably the funniest thing I'll read all day: "Can someone post this on Whirlpool so i can have some entertainment, i can't becasue i am banned."

 

Is Michael Lavorgna back? I really liked the website he set up independently and was disappointed when he shut it down. He said he was shutting it down anyway.

 

Here is the thing, to make a valid test or comparison all you need to do is establish a baseline or "control". A better performing component will perform better in that room compared to what it replaced in that room. Certainly, it's fair to say a component doesn't reach its full potential in a weirdo room like that but at some point you are reviewing the room and not the component.

 

Looks like his house was ransacked.

 

I will say that I liked his work much better when I only knew him as an author. The YouTube videos really lowered the bar on my opinion of his work.

 

How these spaces might sit with anyone is largely defined by where you are and what you’re accustomed to. What you are accustomed to largely sets one’s expectations as to what seems ‘normal’. Both Fremer and Gutenberg are situated in the NYC Metro area which certainly qualifies as NOT an area where acreage is no object. So what looks like insufferable clutter to some, and yeah by any even enabling definition of ‘clutter’ those guys got clutter, might be perfectly livable to an urban mindset. Looks normal to me. Maybe not ideal but hey, ya gotta live.

In fairness too, stuff has away of creeping up on anybody especially if it is stuff that you like. As long as it doesn’t turn neurotic by the stuff owning you rather than you owning stuff, then it’s all good.

 

I’m a naturally lazy man and content to let things sit rather than stress out about organization. That is a disastrous mind set for a person in this hobby. Once the “to file” pile gets beyond 50 lps, or you run out of space to properly organize things, you are at a significant disadvantage. You have to stay on top of it and if you don’t everything suffers.

I don’t get how someone can obsess over details about sound and then have no regard for the details of their space. He seems like a crazy person and I’m not big on Opinions from crazy people.

I’d say you can make an accurate review of equipment in nearly any space you regularly use but the reviewer is suspect if their space is a garbage pit.

 

I live in a small studio apartment in NYC with my girlfriend and have a lot more empty space around my speakers than these guys have.

 

Yes, I’ve wondered much the same. It’s quite possible for rooms to be too dead acoustically. I had a relative whose hifi rig was in a super clutter room like above. His acoustic was as lifeless as a funeral parlor.

 

If that's the case, then this calls into further questioning Guttenberg's reviews since he practically gives praise to all kinds of equipment from low-end junk to near unobtanium expensive products.

 

I'm subscribed to Steve's channel and I trust his judgement, clutter or not.

 

Guttenberg needs views on YT to make money. Lower end stuff and ultra-high end stuff generates clicks and views that middle of the road, mid-priced equipment doesn't. It also helps if he "reviews" stuff that's the current flavor of the month or a newly released product. Pretty much all the popular, click-bait type YT reviewers do the same thing.

RE: their listening environment, I'd be less concerned about that than the other things at play, not to mention age-related hearing loss which these guys surely have.