best room for sound

going to buy a new house, one of the key priorities is a good room for the hifi.

I think I know the kind of size/shape I want... but am less sure what else makes for the best listening room.

what do you know for sure (no guesses please!), and who are the best people in the industry to ask for advice?

Elberoth, if you're reading this who did you use? - answer by PM if you prefer?

Thanks!
Chris.

 

It depends on how serious you are. To get some idea of what the "best listening room" might take from an acoustics point of view, take a look at:

http://www.acoustics101.com/common/acoustics101v3_0.pdf

 

isn't the 'room within a room' idea really for recording studio's - where the task is to isolate the sound, rather than a hifi situation where you want the right combination of isolation and room gain?

 

Hi Chris,
Some basics: avoid square rooms, avoid wooden floors, avoid rooms with plenty of smooth hard surfaces (ie glass/big windows).
Have a look at http://www.cara.de : if you've got the time to learn the software, it WILL help sort any issues out, I've used it several times and it hasn't failed me yet.
Good luck with the move!
R

 

Get a big room with min. 10ft ceiling!

You'll experience more linear low-frequency performance (less modal "stacking") and a more diffuse field at your listening position (generally).

 

hi all..

problem I'm having is getting ALL the elements right... houses seemed to be designed for anyone other than audiophiles... damn their hides!!.

so I've got questions like..

is a concrete floor really the best thing?.. is it more important than a high ceiling?...what if you had to choose? are partition walls really bad things to have?.. how wide do you have to have the speakers to be sure of a good stereo image (or what's a good 'minimum' room width to look for?

I know I can play with acoustic materials and positioning and the like .. but for now, it's ... 'get the basics right!!'.

 

some real world examples from the shortlist.. you'll see what I mean...

this one has high ceiling, nice big size (23x20), but wooden floor..?



this one has concrete floor, nice size (22x17), but low roof (about 8ft) and the rear wall is attached to a neighbour (oh dear!)



this one is 29x15, and has an odd shaped roof - it's mezanine at the far end.. and about 7.5-8ft elsewhere slate over concrete floor.


finally this has a massive space - 20x30 - concrete floor, but again a low ceiling. probably normal 7.5-8ft.




of course the 'listening room' isnt the only factor, but its a major one..

oh.. and of course the room WILL get a carpet and underlay, rugs etc.

 

that little selection is the result of looking at about 200 properties on-line.

My eyes are bog-eyed, and thats the best of the bunch !! (so far)

 

I like the first picture.

The diffusion off that ceiling will be mega!

Second one looks OK too. Nice dimensions and you can live with an 8ft ceiling.

Not liking pictures 3 and 4.

 

in terms of interconnecting spaces... the bottom one has a stairwell, the next-up a mezanine level, and the top one a stair well...!

the only ''room'' with nothing interconnected is the 22x17 room which is 2nd.

How important is that aspect when compared to other aspects?

this does my head in...!

 

Good levels of isolation offers the huge benefit of lowering ambient noise - and in domestic circumstances can allow the rest of the family to get on with their lives.

You can control "room gain" (which actually covers a multitude of sins) and isolation seperately. Setting aside cost and aesthetic issues I can't imagine it's possible to have too much isolation.

 

You are taking it toooo seriously

With your speakers get the biggest room you can - full stop....

Something the approximate shape of a cinema would be best

Richard

 

I personally think you could get away with an opening to a stairwell as long as the opening is not too big compared to the total floor area (picture no. 1 comes to mind).

Bacially, the smaller the relative opening size, the less sound power flow that can occur between the two spaces, i.e. less delayed energy flowing back into the listening room and screwing with the rooms natural reverberant field.

Is there any way a potential owner would let you demo gear in their house, seriously it's the only way!

 

it's just me - so no lowering of noise leakage doesnt matter ! (apart from places which aren't detached!.. don't want war with the neighbours)..

room within a room is at a level where the value of the property would be detracted if I should sell, which is a very big step too far too..

 

The problem with a room of that volume is going to be pressure loading the room to get good bass. It's going to take big boxes, big drivers and large amount of power and EQ.

 

I ..ermm ''like'' the house with picture 1 the best, but if it's a lousy acoustic room, I won't get it. The object of the move is a good 60% to get better sound from my music.

 

oedipus, I'd like to build some horn loaded bass bins .. so that wont be a problem.. but is the room good ?

..this is an example...


http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/TubaHT.html


I just want the basics as right as possible..

 

It's definately not a room for 2-way stand mounts

I personally don't have experience with timber floor domestic listening rooms (I assume the floor is joists?) so will leave that to others.

I just think the dimensions of that room would be ideal for the kit you're packing!

 

you could say I have 2 way standmounts....




I'd like to eventually get some large horn-based sub cabs as above.

 

I've lost track, what do you own now. How long before the bass bins are unleashed?