Garage into listening room?

Charllee,

Just looked at a map.  Turns out I’m about 30 minutes NW of Tacoma.

Ft. Lewis has changed so much.  Bet you wouldn’t even recognize it nowadays.

Given the choice between a garage and an open floor plan, I’ll take the garage every time.

@ audiodwebe

You live about 30 minutes west of Tacoma? Wouldn't that put you in the Pacific Ocean, or the Puget Sound? I was up there in the early 70's as a GI residing at Ft. Lewis, so my memory of the area has faded a bit.

@ skids

Who cares about all this audio stuff. Tell us about the 64 Corvette!!

@mahler123 

Thanks for your message. No need to apologize. A lot of crazy things going on out there for sure. Would be nice to meet with you. Will message you when we are planning our next trip. 

I don't usually need to bundle up much. It's only about 15 steps between house and garage. I will grab a raincoat when needed. Will need one today!

I did see the OP's last message. I think when someone thinks about using their garage for other uses they tend to only see a large room that's always cold or hot with a big door or two. Difficult to see how that could be made comfortable for a music room. 

Take care!

@ernstmach 

hey, I’m sorry if I was snarky in my comments.  The state of the world has me in the dumps right now, and re reading my response to you made me cringe just now.

I appreciate the civility of your response.

  I am from Michigan originally and we go there several times a year.  Perhaps on your next time in town we can meet at a record store or something and have coffee.  Send me a private message if you’re interested.  In the meantime, since we have the same weather, do you bundle up inthe winter to go to the listening room?  It sounds like the OP s having second thoughts!

I think this plan will be on hold until I decide to actually build a room into my garage.  I had forgotten just how cold (and hot) my garage can get.  I stepped out there a few days ago and thought it'd be difficult to heat that entire space to even a remotely comfortable temperature once it starts to get cold.

I'm in the PNW, about 30 minutes west of Tacoma.

Thanks all.

@mahler123

Seems we share the same weather patterns. I'm in Michigan so we just wait for the weather to head east across the lake.

The garage is a few feet from the house. A patio connects the house and garage together. Easy to keep the snow cleared during winter. We use an old phone with intercom when the need arises. Mostly just walk back and forth.

Chicago is a great city. My wife and I travel there several times a year.

I can understand your concern about neighbors. We live in a small town and have more space between neighbors and the natives are friendly. Not much sound gets out, so the neighbors never hear anything.

Seeing photos of expensive audio equipment set up in a living room is very nice but trying to get the most out of it when there are restrictions from our better halves or open floor plan and vaulted ceilings usually means big compromise. I know many don't have other options.

While my room is nothing fancy and there is some compromise with also using it for home theater, it works. Nice for those Saturday dinner and movie date nights. 

"Now are you getting insight into “why more people don’t do it”?" Yea, I get it but there are ways to do it.

Thanks for your response!

@ernstmach 

Is the garage attached to the home?  If not do you live in a warm climate?

I live in Chicago.  Even if I had a heated garage the thought of trooping out to an unattached garage with my galoshes and multiple layers of clothing in winter would definitely cut down my listening time.  My wife wouldn’t be to thrilled about bundling up if she needed to tell me something.  And no telling what friendly neighbors with firearms I might encounter as I trudge back into the home.

  Now are you getting insight into “why more people don’t do it”?

I refurbished a small garage that was on our property. Seemed like a good size. 14X19X8 inside. Heated, airconditioned great year round. Constant temps and humidity keeps things comfy. Cheap to heat and cool too.

No issues with waf. No issues with having audio equipment in our living room. No decorating compromises, only considerations like what's needed for best SQ. 

Considerable amount of work but kept cost down by doing all of it myself. I can listen as loud as I want any time I want. Not sure why more people don't do this. 

@audiodwebe ,

just go for it. I did. My shop is 30x40, 12' ceiling, 16' in the lift area. Fully insulated and sheathed. Temp controlled.

When i met my now wife, got married, and she moved into my house, I lost the privilege  of listening to my system. I had to comprise, so I built two shops. Is it treated? No. I final assemble/restore classic vehicles, so my system is in a ''clean'' area. Treatment right now consists of a 64 vette, 57 shortbed, and the remainder of shop stuff. I do take time out to do some ''critical'' listening, but usually just position my speakers where i'm working to get the best results. I welded up some speaker stands,roughly three feet tall, on full swivel rubber casters. Klipsch Forte III, modified, ARC Ref 5se, Ref 75se, Aurender A15, ethernet, muon filter. I love it.

Do it. Enjoy it. Listen to the music and live. Life can be short.

good luck

OP

approximately where do you live?  Is the garage climate controlled?  How hot will the summers be and how cold the winters?  If you are going to have to open the garage doors to tolerate weather then it doesn’t matter what sound treatments you do.  And even if you drive prosaic cars, leaving them outside will cause them to age faster.  Squirrels and mice love to nest in engine blocks and chew on cables (I know several people that have to park outside that have encountered this).  And then there is the most dangerous mammal of all, the car jacking homo sapien.  Parking outside makes you a more vulnerable target.

  In short, a terrible idea, imo.

Thanks, everyone for the suggestions and info.  It's just an open garage with no pillars.  Since I sold my BMW 650i Coupe, none of my other cars are worthy of being pampered.  They will live outside and be happy.  

Not sure if reverberant outhouses would be so great.  Man, that "splash" sound must have echoed!  

Depends, you want to park your vehicles outside?

Plug in the numbers and have a look.  Just one tool.

https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=20&w=25&h=18&ft=true&r60=0.6

As @ghdprentice said.

I'd set up in there as you described, have a listen, and if possible get some measurements. With a REW sweep you could see what the clarity reverb times are in there at various frequencies. That will give you some idea of how much acoustic treatment will be needed in there. 

It's a nice big space with reasonable dimensions. Does it have any support pillars? I have a similar sized garage with a support beam smack dab in the middle, which complicates any plans I might make for doing the same as you are thinking. It's partially drywalled, and there are a lot of things in there so it doesn't sound cavernous in there at all. Any empty space will tend to sound cavernous even if it isn't that big. If you have lots of shelves and some furniture and various items all over like I do it calms down pretty quickly. 

Speaking of small reverberant spaces, I was up on the Cascades to Palouse trail this weekend. The outhouses along the way are basically bare walled concrete boxes. Small but amazingly reverberant, which is great for singing! There's also a 2 mile long unlit concrete tunnel to ride or walk through. Also quite reverberant and good for singing in the dark. 

I suspect you would need lots of treatments. It would likely sound cavernous, the cement floors would need thick carpet. You would probably end up moving the speakers to near a wall, and treating the walls. The 18’ ceilings could be a problem, as reflectors. 
 

By all means, try it. Maybe at really low volumes it would sound ok.