the Listening Room


Many of you may know us, we design listening rooms. While we offer fixed prices for different levels of consultation, no two listening rooms are the same and some vary wildly. I am interested in hearing what you all want to get out of your listening room. I have my own biased opinion, that the listening room is often the most important component of any system (and unfortunately frequently ignored to a large degree). Let's suppose that you could get an acoustical engineering group like ours for free, but you still had all other constraints. You could a great deal on materials to impliment the design but you still had whatever other considerations you have in your life (I don't have space for a dedicated listening room, I can't have ugly acoustical treatement in the room, I can't move walls in my house). Try to be qualitative rather than quantitative. I'm not really that interested in hearing about the specifics of rooms--I'm more interested in hearing about end result goals, such as: I need sound isolation (I like to listen loudly at night and don't want to wake up my wife), or my room sounds dead--I feel like I have a head cold when I walk into it. The other aspect that would be very helpful, at the end of the post, please put a percentage of 2 channel vs HT or multi-channel you listen to. You may even be in the camp: "the room doesn't matter much, I like buying new pieces of equipment instead" That okay too--I'd like to hear from you as well. Some people may not understand the importance of room interaction on the sound, that's okay too--if you had free consultation what would you do or ask in order to get a better listening room.
rives
Hi Rives.
I may not be representative of the typical case, but I would go for the maximum result regardless of convenience or decoration factors. I don't have anyone here but me and my pets, so we can accomodate anything that makes better sound. Cost is a factor, because I am frequently broke from buying audio equipment, and still paying for the usual life expenses.

My specifics wants, would be to tailor the room to an appropriate level, which would not be so absorptive as to rob my low-power system of the needed SPL that I have very little of. I am using 2 watts now, with 100db Lowthers, placed 4' out into the room. And the room is large, with high vaulted ceilings, so every db of SPL output is very precious. My listening position is fixed, and doesn't require any latitude.

I think that ensuring that there is a control of the most offensive reflections, and control of any peaks in the response at my listening chair would suffice for me.
I, OTOH, have lots of power available, a reasoanbly large room and no UPstrairs neighbours (they're down). So, I would like to:
a) fix the imaging & ambience (with little aesthetic compromise) &
b) also be able to play normal-a bit loud (~90db) after-hours.

If I can't have it all, "a" is more important than "b". Cheers!
Rives,

I have a dedicated listening room. I can have ugly acoustical treatments. I can't move walls in my house. My speakers only go down to 50hz and I don't have an over abundance of power feeding them so maintaining my bottom end is a must. While I don't have any major complaints I will list my ultimate goals:

1. Best imaging.
2. Best stage depth.
3. Maximize detail.
4. Maintain perceived volume.
5. I listen at night and don't want to interfere with my wife's sleep.

100% of my listening is 2 channel. I don't enjoy buying more equipment. I hope this is what your are looking for.

Patrick
Rives,
I live in California. The preferred architectural style in this area is the open floor plan. It is quite difficult when house hunting to find suitable audio rooms with four closed walls, and you can't change the walls around without reducing the resale value. If you can work on ways to define and treat an 'audio area' without having to build a separate room (impossible anyway with small lots), you would provide real assistance.
Just a thought, needs ingenuity.