The cheapest lesson came after the dearest mistakes

By the time I started reading about room acoustics, I had already paid for the course. About $10,000 of it, spent on gear that was supposed to fix problems my room was creating. The lessons themselves cost nothing.

My first real system cost about $10,000 and went into an awkward room of 10 by 7 metres, and I was proud enough to keep inviting people over. Then the problems started, and every annoyance sent me back to the shop. The bass was boomy, so maybe a new amplifier; the vocals were distant, so maybe new speakers.

My first real influence was Paul McGowan and his channel, followed by many other people giving that advice free and online. Speaker positioning first, then the first reflection points, then the bass. None of it required a credit card, and it did more for my sound than the boxes I had bought to solve the same problems.

And you know what? That is exactly why I do this now. The most expensive education in this hobby is the one you buy at the dealer, one component at a time; the cheapest is someone telling you what he did wrong before you do it too.

I paid full price for lessons that were available for free. Read before you buy, not after.