Thank you both, bunches. I’m learning a lot already.
Eric, the room is semi-anechoic, not anechoic. The floor would have to be treated as well, which it most certainly is not.
In my last home, I did the room this way and it worked very well. The room doubled as a library, and as I added books to the walls, the room became brighter: the books were the way to control room acoustics.
I started out building my own Dyna 70 and Dyna PAS when I was 14 years old, but since then I’ve otherwise never given too much technical thought to how to design a better system other than to substitute new components.
I’ve had the components I have now for 30 years on average, and with the new home (the wife and I leave this home feet first only: I came close 8 weeks ago, I got double bypass surgery after the discovery of a completely blocked Widowmaker, 😂. The surgeon says that after I complete recovery, I will be better than new! 🙂) and new listening room, and with my amp engineer who has worked on many home audio systems saying that he has heard only one other system that sounds as good as this one, I’m not gonna change the components, my thoughts have turned to how to get more out of what I have, so that means returning to thinking more about the science of these things. The weakness of the Altecs and of the Futtermans are convincing extension at the bottom. They are really good right now, don’t get me wrong but something does nag at me in this area. The cabinets are solid for their day, but there is some resonance there. They do allow for port size adjustments, but it’s just unscrewing a block of wood and sliding it up or down! Maybe painting the interior with a material that will stiffen the walls? I don’t know, and then it has to be reversible because what if it doesn’t work. A friend built beautiful new cabs for his Tannoys but he is top shelf carpenter, works for Broadway, I can’t afford him.
Maybe I need to change the subwoofer. But I don’t want to spend a lot of money either. The current sub crosses at 70. And maybe I just never found the right spot for that sub. In the new room, there will be lots of room to fool with placement.
configuration is
Cartridge: Koetsu Onyx
Tonearm: Sumiko MMT
Table: VPI HW MK IV with SAM
Step-Up Transformer: SHURE A86A
Preamp: Beard P505
Phase Alignment: BBE282ri sonic maximizer
Subwoofer: Velodyne ULD-15
Amps: Julius Futterman OTL3s, converted to triode by Jon Specter
Crossovers: Mastering Lab
Speakers: Altec Lansing 604C coaxial studio monitors
Semi-anechoic room design and treatment: by architect C.B. Wayne
cables: whatever
https://www.theaudioatticvinylsundays.com/about
Oh, and as for rock wool, it is used in a lot of commercial and audio acoustic panels. I use it to insulate my home because
- it’s the best thermal barrier
- it’s far and away the most fire resistant. Fiberglass, fire-resistant cellulose, etc burns by the time you hit 375 degrees This stuff doesn’t melt until you hit 2,000 degrees. An important consideration in historic buildings, of which all the buildings we have restored to date are
- it has excellent sound absorbing properties
My architect had done a few recording studios. He said that in my audio room, don’t sheet rock the walls Just cover the rock wool with burlap and then I will have the equivalent of a high quality recording studio for 1/20 of the cost, for the amount I was spending to make the thermal barrier anyway. Safe health wise also.
I don’t like using headphones
Thank you again.