How isolated is your hi-fi?

Your way works for me. Other thing is that many of us are multi-tasking at heart.

What's wrong with peace and quiet? I bought a large screen TV a few years ago and innocently installed it in my sound room. I thought everybody could enjoy watching it. My wife and daughter almost never go down there, but my 21 year old son spends gobs of time there watching TV or playing those awful totally loud and often violent video games. What's wrong with peace and quiet? The thought that he would install all those game consoles in the sound room never occurred to me.
If you are an avid music lover an isolated, as you call it, dedicated listening room with a music only system is the way to go.
So now I have a second system in the living room that I enjoy, but still the big rig is in the basement sound room so I always feel that I’m only getting a half serving when listening upstairs. One thing I will surely do when I move out of the present house is to have the sound room at ground level or higher with good sized windows giving me some sense of connection to nature. Oh, I may be moving to the Eastern Townships in the spring and wouldn’t mind having a view of a nice valley from a mountain top house.

I agree that some environments look pretty cold and uninviting. A semi-religious shrine of sorts => cold, austere and meticulously laid out with gear with no sign of life.

Other shared rooms look great and comfortable until you notice giant speakers that look anomalous or out of place in proportion to the room....like the "obelisk" in 2001.

Others are music themed and you have Elvis LPS's etc on the walls - I like these rooms a lot!

Perhaps it is all about balance - a pleasant place to spend an afternoon or evening rather than a cave.

I chose to hide all my gear, including speakers as I don't need to see it and I don't plan on changing stuff each year. The room I chose is a play/family/rec or den room - it had a pool table in it when we moved in, which I removed and now it has children's toys over the floor. The advantage is that it is large and is one of the only carpeted areas in the house plus it walks out into the garden so it is a pleasant place to sit. The only drawback is I have to share it with the kids sometimes, which is a great pleasure, as, after all, there is nothing more important in life.

We're empty nesters so I don't have to share with anyone or anything. Well, except my pool table. My wife and I are much happier having our separate spaces to enjoy what we each enjoy. We're not worried about growing apart since we still do plenty of stuff together. We watch a lot of sports together and dine out often. After 32 years of marriage, who else would want either of us anyway? ;-)

I am starting to address the "man cave" look. A few LP covers in frames, lots of wood since I've build my own racks and speakers. But I am starting to consider some color. The off-white drywall is getting old and the room could use some new curtains.

My room is dedicated...but not isolated. It has a music system, hometheater system, and computer. It's also a good place to read...and dance, (mostly, the grand kids do the dancing, and we do the watching....age 2 and 9).

We have a TV in our living room, and the bed rooms...no TV in the dedicated room. (exceptions made for hi def sports!)

Dave