Bill, I have similar taste, even though I’ve never lived in a grand house. And I don’t like small rooms either.
Last year I got lucky to rent a big 1800 sf two bedroom two floor apartment in a late 19th century building for a reasonable price. It was almost incidental, I was not really looking for so much space. The living room along with the kitchen downstairs are huge, but it would be inconvenient to have my system there so I put it in bigger bedroom upstairs. I can play music at moderate level in the middle of the night, nobody hears anything, the construction is quite good.