2. misc-audio
  3. 1036941724

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
jadem6's avatar
jadem6
1,074 posts
 
GLASS, always a problem.
High frequency glare and fatigue.
Deep bass with good imaging.
These have tended to be my issues and solving them has taken a lot of trial and error with both room and equipment modifications. A consultant who could give me a short list of things to try would be great.
aball
2,016 posts
 
I found that just putting paintings up in the room helps a lot. My roomate paints prolifically on large canvas and in 2 minutes I covered each wall with a good size painting (it is not a dedicated room - it's the living room) and was impressed with how much better the stereo sounded - more natural bass and cleaner highs mostly - and the paintings look great to boot. Surprised few ever mention this idea. I think it is great and works great. Arthur
davebachmann
94 posts
 
Like several here, I already have a dedicated room (and would require one in any future home), so the WAF is not an issue, but the overall sound levels are. 100% is 2-channel, altho there's a 27" TV for the occassional football game.

The first priority for me is basic functionality - is it comfortable for me to use - room for gear, easy access to source material, good lighting/ventilation/etc. Second comes ease for others - it's hard to listen if your significant other is always yelling for you to turn it down. Thus, good soundproofing is mandatory. After that I have to look at my wallet for what I can afford. Current environment is spacious and I still enjoy my ML SL3s, so about the only significant need is some bottom end extension.
dovetail's avatar
dovetail
29 posts
 
Rives, Flat frequency response, great soundstaging & precise imaging are very important to me, but if I were planning a dedicated 2 channel listening room a would expect more from it. The space would have to take advantage of the property's natural views and light which means incorporating windows and doors into the design. I don't want to listen to music in a space isolated from my surroundings. The room should blend with the existing architecture. The listening room would be used for family & friend gatherings so this space would have to be safe,warm, very comfortable and inviting. It should be a place that could inspire the soul and relax the mind. The only audio equipment I would want visable would be the speakers and their cables. Electronically, the music's path would be as short as possible and as simple a configuration as possible (no electronic tone controls). All the room dimension ratios, acoustic treatments and tweaks would be there but seem effortless and unimportant and go unnoticed to the casual observer.
rives OP
953 posts
 
Thanks again to everyone. It's very helpful to understand the thoughts on the room from those that have not used an acoustical engineering service. Dovetail in particular--that is the room I like designing. There is so much more to the room than JUST the acoustics. The acoustics should disappear and blend with the surroundings so that it all seems effortless in achieving great sound. And of course, if it's designed right, you don't need tone controls--it's only when we are stuck in sub optimal rooms that parametric (not really tone controls) adaptation is required. Anyone that took the time to post here, I appreciate it. As such, if anyone who posted here has any specific questions about their room please e-mail me. No, I'm not going to do room design for you, but if you have a specific question about an aspect of your room, e-mail me and hopefully I will have some suggestions for you to try.
More to discover