Listening Room


Hello to all,

I think this is a situation many audiophiles find themselves in: That being your listening room is NOT a dedicated room that your expensive audio system resides in. You do NOT have a chair that is perfectly positioned in between speakers to optimize your listening enjoyment. Why? The room simply cannot accommodate a chair in the center or, most likely, your wife and/or significant other will not allow you to place a chair where it's supposed to be when listening.

Having said that, you listen to music from everywhere in the room. How does one go about speaker placement? How do you increase the sound stage? Are some speaker brands better than others when you do not have a dedicated listening room? Thanks for your input.

lovehifi22

Headphones....the dedicated listening room with a built in perfect sweet spot!

 

Both kids moved to LA after graduation and left all kinds of rooms vacant in the house. Built my wife a killer home office on floor 1. French doors open out to the sun deck, Peleton bike and all her goodies fill her space; room is terrific. I then took over a floor 2 bonus type room where the kids used to entertain friends, sleepovers, gaming stations, etc. I moved my audio systems into that good size room both digital setup and analog/vinyl. Figured it'd be a spot to stash all my gear and if it got messy, well, just close the door. Not the case - I found myself buying all kinds of vintage MCM furniture, art, rugs, and other cool things to surround the space & make the room intimately mine. Even bought a bad-ass chandelier, but havn't hung it yet, lol. Showed my wife how to turn the system on and now she uses the room too when she wants to unwind after a long day or just take a break from her stressful routine. Have even cought her showing off "her husband's music room".

So boys, keep your space neat & tight, put a little pride into it and share your music with the person you share everything with anyway. I see some of these pics of guys selling their gear with photos from their listenig chair... some ratty Lay Z-Boy recliner with your gross ass feet in the pic. STOP, if that's all you've got, a $20K system and $50 dollar yard sale chair & frat house furniture, there in lies your problem. Just my opinion...

think flexible use:

In your case, I would plan on how to temporarily move a chair where you want it, just for listening when alone, then back to please the wifey! You get the advantage of a multi-functional space.

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My Listening Room is the main room in our small house: one open space, dining/listening one end; living/video other end.

other end, spin the two chairs around

That end is the small 5.1 video system

Windows; daylight; fresh air spring and fall; art; plants. I have friends with dedicated listening rooms, for me they lack ’life’.

Prior home: same open setup; prior college days similar long open space (parlor floor in a brownstone, Brooklyn).

I listen with the wife, listened with my kids (gave them a proper musical education with music from the 60’s/70’s) they had their friends over, listened, our parties, the kids parties .... big annual picnic, lots of people moving thru the space.

In my case, I turn two chairs in the middle around, one direction for listening, other for conversation/video.

my virtual system

also, I have flexible alternate toe-in; speaker positioning; listening chairs positioning, I gain a lot of flexibility with my speakers on wheels.

Toe-In Alternates

 

For some odd reason I can't full explain, this reminds me of a quote a read a while back:

"If you find our dogs annoying, we'll be happy to lock you in another room."

 

In the 70s my dad had a great system; huge Bozak speakers, Marantz, MacIntosh, etd. Living/listening room was well treated w heavy wool wall to wall carpet and heavy drapes. Then my Mom bought a canary. That canary loved listening and singing at the top of his lungs to the music. We tried a variety of things, like putting a cover on the carary's cage to no avail. He had to get used to it.