How would you rate your listening room?

Dhougg; one thing I am considering re speakers is Vand. 5s which have built in subs and are room tunable for bass. Craig.

I have temporarily moved into a new home in order that my wife finish school. She decided that a career change was necessary and so we moved. Having said that, my room sucks! I am unwilling to part with my Maggies. In another year we will be in a new home at which time I can enjoy an appropriate sized listening room. Currently, I am in a 13x11 foot room with 8 ft ceilings. I have my speakers firing down the long end and have had to place the tweeters on the inside. This compromises the sound stage but give me a more flat tonal perspective. With the proper speaker the room may rate as a C. However, as set up it rates as a D. Although, the sound I have coaxed out of it is a C+.

C - Just the family room. I am moving soon, so I may do something more this time.

when i hear about albert's upcoming room, it makes me re-think my ratings - perhaps a "b" is in order for my room. jeez - copper shielding - i've only seen that used in mri facilities i've designed/installed at the nih! :>)

craig, good luck w/the vandy-5 thing - i agree that tunable bass in full-range speakers is desirable, but i think it's nice to have the subs totally separate from the rest of the output, so the monitors (even full-range ones) can be optimally placed for soundstage/imaging, w/no concern for low-end response. good luck in your search for a steal on some vandy 5's! :>)

regards, doug

I recently remodeled my family room which is dedicated to entertainment. The room is 26x13 with 7 foot ceilings. On one wall in front of the existing drywall I placed standard 2x4 wall framing. I rewired with 10 guage copper used 5 different circuts for the hospital grade outlets I installed with the closest circut dedicated to my amp. Next I packed in 7 inches of unfaced fiberglass & over this I screwed in inch thick Tectum 2x4 acoustical tiles. From a distance these look like standard ceiling tiles but they aren't. They are constructed of strands of shredded wood & the surface is painted white.The tiles provide good dampening but it is the fiberglass behind this that really tames the gremlins. I also studded up half the ceiling with 2x6s & placed in 6 inches of fiberglass & again screwed in the Tectum panels. My initial impressions were that the midrange & highs were just what I was trying for. The bass was somehat muted but after moving my main speakers & subwoofer around I was able to dial this in as well.The soundstage is now uncanny in how close it is to the real thing. I went to an acoustic folk concert this weekend & playing the performers latest cd afterwards gave me a great reference. With certain types of well recorded music with good gear in a well desiged room you can get very, very close to real event. Personally I think that the listening room should be considered as important to a good system as your speakers,amp, cables etc.Since I did the work myself it cost me approximately $800 to do. I don't have exact figures because I gutted the adjacent bathroom & hallway & remodeled those at the same time. The project could have been done for less if I did't do the ceiling which depending on your speakers & volume levels may not be needed.