Optimum size for music room?

Hi Tiger,

Wow! Now that's a room! Unfortunately, I live in the Silicon Valley where an ounce of dirt costs more than an ounce of gold. I am just lucky that my house sits on a pretty good size lot (in Silicon Valley terms) that would allow me to build a dedicated room.

FrankC

Thanks for all your input guys! good stuff! I will check out all the site/s mentioned. S'funny but the room I am listening to my speakers at present is 27'L X 13'W X 7'T. Being in a basement the room needs a lot of Improving to equalize it but as I maybe moving to a new place with no room in the new house (1000 sq ft), hence the 'new room question'.There is an amble space of 7000 sq ft of rear yard. WAF may come into play somewhere along the way.
Another question should the foundation be a concrete slab or would a suspended floor do the trick?
Many thanks again for all your input!

I have imagined a suspended floor with individual concrete piers under the speaker areas and the equipment rack. You need to make them large enough to be able to move gear around on them especially for speaker placement. This arrangement would eliminate mechanical feedback completely, I think, but you still have the earthquake threat in your neighborhood.

I've also noticed that listening rooms often have low ceilings and concert halls never do. Tiger's room mentioned above seems to have been an inspired design.

The concert hall at my local college has the stage at the narrow end and the ceiling over the stage is at the lowest point in it's arc. In fact, the way the walls fan out and the floor and ceiling rise as they move away from the stage, seems to mimic a horn to a certain extent.

The question is: how much of this design was created to optimize acoustics and how much was put in place to maximize seating area? Anybody know?

The acoustics in there are very good and there are room treatments built in to the decor.

Strangely enough, for concert halls, the 'fan' shape is not a very good for acoustics, but is good for putting more people in the hall and not be too far from the performers. The classic 'shoe-box' large enough to hold about 1500 people is best - especially if the sides are lined with balconies.

Home listening, of course calls for completely different parameters.

Bob P.