the Listening Room

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.

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.

Hope its not too late to post but this is a fascinating area and one I think which limits my systems sound and probably many others. A number of very good points were made but I have a bit different perspective. We rennovated our main family room/dining room which has vaulted ceilings and opens into at least 2 other rooms. It was only afterwards that my wife, who loves music, suggested it ok that we put in a new stereo. The 2 channel system (we have no intention to go to home theater) plays music throughout the house and really removes any need for considering multiple speakers or other systems. The big issue with us is that a piano also sits in the room, and 'crowds' the stereo, limiting speaker positioning, but it can't move till we do another reno. Other issues that are important and affect the sound quality are a bay window (you comment on this in your web site), lots of hardwood (even with a rug) and proper positioning of a listening chair. I am reluctant to consider a formal consultation because I think there may not be much that can be done currently till we move the piano out (ie there may be good suggestions but they will be hard to institute because of poor WAF). I think that a dedicated listening room may not necessarily be an ideal situation because having the set up the way we do now lets us enjoy the music a much larger part of the day. By the way, the subject was very interesting and I think not enough attention is given. Thanks for doing this, I hope to be in touch when we start thinking about new renos in about a year to see what we can change with advance planning. Sorry if this seems like idiotic rambling.

Hi Rives. I have a spare room that is in the process of being converted into a 2 channel only "listening room".
The room is 10'8" X 13'4" and has a 6' closet door on 1 long wall and the short walls have a door on 1 and a double window on the other. The other long wall is all sheetrock/plaster and butts the living room. I have the speakers along the short wall with the window for now. I can't put the speakers on the closet wall or door wall, but could put them on the other long wall.
2 questions.
1. Short wall or long wall speaker placement.
2. sound isolation and control without making the room look like a recording studio. Only time I can listen to music at the volume that I enjoy ( sort of loud ) is when the house is vacant.
System is: Monitor Audio 8i's
Bryston 4b pro
VTL 2.5 with MC/MM Phono
Music Hall mmf 7 TT
Music Hall mmf cd25
Synergistic Research Master Control Center
Synergistic Research and Acoustic Zen cables
Sorry for the long email, but I thought too much was better than not enough in this case.
Thank you very much, your expertise and suggestions are greatly appreciated

Gajgmusic: While your situation is unique--it is not so unique. Everyone has certain things about the room they can not or will not change for one reason or another (WAF, kids, aesthetics, etc.) This is very normal and must be considered in any type of design. I think this is one of the main barriers to hiring an acoustical design group, and something that I really feel compelled to respond to. In any group that is worth their salt there should be several important stages in the process. The first is the "discovery" stage. That handles what we are dealing with, what is the room like, what does the client want, what things can or can not be changed. The second is a preliminary concept (or ate least understanding the boundaries and the possibilties within those boundaries), i.e. "We can do this, but you might need to move this or add a rug etc". This stage is just to see if the client is willing to do what is necessary to get a rewarding listening environment. At this point either there can not be a good compromise to get good acoustical results, or there is agreement on what needs to be done. If there is agreement in principle, then it is time to come up with a full plan including a budget, schedule and payment. If not, then nothing else is done, and no one has paid anything. What I am basically saying is that you should have nothing to lose in giving a acoustical group a design and saying "can something be done to help me?" They might say, "Yes if you move the piano"--which you aren't willing to do and thus they may not be able to help. We use an "application form" to start our design processes and the reason is so that we can understand if we really can help our client--if not we let them know.