Can reflections significantly ruin sound?

[audiowarrior]

I have a couple 8000 towers as surrounds and they’re placed in the corners of my room.

 

This room is poorly treated. Hard wood floor, hard walls and ceiling. 
 

certain instruments in classical music and jazz sound great. But once I test out rock, electronic, or hip hop, certain instruments sound really harsh… like scraping a chalk board.

 

Do you think it’s the room’s acoustic that’s causing this issue? Reflections?

[Khornukopia]

Room surface reflections can cause problems. An easy way to check is to aim your speakers at an open doorway, turn the volume up and then walk several feet into the other room. Turn and face directly line of sight at your speaker(s) and listen to the difference compared to the in-room sound.

[audiowarrior]

I do notice the sound is better in the other room! Great test, thank you

[Peter P.]

Absolutely. In fact, in my opinion, the room's acoustics are more important than speaker choice.

 

Room dimensions, reflection, diffraction, slap echo, and whatever else I forgot; they all make for crappy sounding rooms no matter how much you spend on your speakers.

 

Rooms with predominantly hard surfaces are the worst.

[audiowarrior]

Thanks guys!

[OO1]

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[wuzzzer]

Rugs, curtains, etc all will help.