Need Help Designing a Dream Room

albert: i've absolutely no doubt that your sound room will rank among the most sonically pleasing i'll ever get the chance to experience. oh, i did tell you, didn't i, that i'm planning a little trip to dallas to participate in one of your tuesday night get-togethers, just as soon as you've got things all cranked up and dialed in? i have never heard anyone take more care than you in designing and overseeing your new soundspace. ozfly would be wise to emulate you. BTW, where are all those digital pics of the construction process you've taken with that whizz-bang new nikon? -kelly

ps- the chord electronics url in my last post won't work unless you leave the period off "htm" sorry. -fks

Albert, an "rf cage" can only be achieved by doing what is called a "screen room". This is a room that is COMPLETELY covered in a tightly meshed conductive screen that is grounded, much like some "avid" ham radio operators do when building a "ground grid" in the yard around their house. In order for this to work properly, you would have to do the floor, ceiling, all walls, doors, windows, etc... Shielding certain areas between adjoining rooms or the floor above a basement MIGHT help if there were nearby devices producing low level RF, but since RF propogates by "floating", anything less than "blanketing" the room with a some type of ground shunted "shield" is just about useless. The RF will simply "float" around, above, below, etc... the shield and find its' way into the circuitry and wiring. Sean
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My previous floor was Terrazzo, and it's design employed metal strips embedded in the stone as a decorative trim, separating it into large squares. Under this floor was a network of what looked like chicken wire. I assume it was nailed to the original sub structure to provide strength, much like rebar in a foundation pour.

I had a huge problem with a particular radio station getting into my phono. I tried literally everything. Ferrite shields, moving cables, swapping cables, attaching and removing every ground from every piece of equipment. Even running dedicated grounds for the stereo only.

I could pick up this station so clearly that I could make out announcements. Finally, in a test where I went under the house and attached a ground rod to the metal in the floor, the problem was totally eliminated!

I could literally turn the radio station on and off by removing and reattaching this single wire to my floor. No other ground in the system had this effect, nor could they eliminate the problem. This experience leads me to believe that a ground should be attached to ANY metal installed in the floor of a dream room, least it become a nightmare room like I had.

Your definition for a RF cage is probably more accurate than the application I just described, none the less this trick does the job. This should be applied to one's dream room regardless of the name used to describe it's ability to potentially clear RF signals from the music.

Kelly, I did not mean to ignore your comments. If you are serious about a visit, I would be pleased and excited. I am willing to do anything to make this a reality, including finding you accommodations and picking you up at the airport.

On the photography, I have a good number of photos during tear out and reconstruction. These have all been with my new D1X Nikon. The quality is there, but the subject matter is downright ugly. The exposed earth visible in most of my living room makes for a less formal look than I am accustomed to.

I tease with my contractor we need to mop up, and he says the has tried, but he mud just won't come up. It's difficult to maintain a sense of humor crossing this area each morning to make coffee in our kitchen. In the end it will be beautiful, I just need to keep reminding myself.

The good news is that there are a lot of great ideas here. The bad news is that I'll have to spend some serious, but fun, time following up on them and learning. The tricky part will be sharing this with my wonderful wife --- "Remember when we talked about the right room dimensions and corner treatments ... well, there's a little more to it than that ..." Oh well! Thanks for all the great advice. It'll take some time to research it but I'll follow up down the road with an update and would certainly be happy to invite you all to Charlotte for a listen once this is done.

Always happy to get more ideas, so keep them coming.