2. misc-audio
  3. 163813-155965

Help me set up my room

<edit> having trouble working out how to post pictures!

Hi all, I need some help setting up my room and balancing the sound with the other practical uses the room needs to serve. I’ve only been in this house 10 weeks and have had the system for about eight. I am hoping for your input.The room is the ground floor living room, small (3.6m by 3.15m) and of solid brick construction all round with a fireplace and chimney breast and a shallow bay window.
The room is currently set up to serve both listening and working (I’m a single parent and the boys - 11 and eight - don’t come into this room); I’ve worked from home for the last 10 years so having a working space in the house in not temporary.
The room is currently set up as follows:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/geetee1972/7m35gh

https://www.flickr.com/gp/geetee1972/41iKTY
There are two considerations for change, one is improving the listening experience, the other is making the room feel more comfortable as a living room. Currently I have one small arm chair in it but have a ‘snuggler’ coming (basically a much wider arm chair cozy for two, spacious for one). Ideally I would have both seats in the living room so that I haver somewhere comfortable with guests (when we’re allowed them again).
The challenge is fitting everything in without it feeling like cluttered. The following layout looks like it might work (the drawings are all to scale and are real measurements that take into account the space needed behind equipment to pug cables in etc) but it is very close to being overwhelming.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/geetee1972/1J0XgS

The other consideration is whether to give up on the desk being in this room altogether, which would achieve the feeling of a comfortable space. However, I am very extroverted and the desk locations is a very good way of remaining connected to other people and feeling energised (which what extrovert actually means). I do have another great location for a workspace up in my bedroom and the original plan was always to put the desk there. But having it located here in the window of the front room, aside from the slight ‘red light district in Amsterdam’ feel to it, has felt really positive and I am loath to give it up. But then again, I’ve just spent 15% of my mortgage borrowing on a hifi and feel I might be compromising the listening experience by laying it out this way. Removing the desk would result in the following:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/geetee1972/8aZX9M

From a sonic perspective, on certain tracks I am getting a standing wave/resonant frequency in the lower bass registers; the bass can bloom and thicken and becomes very smeared. It is only a problem on a few recordings and is cured by plugging up the rear ports on the speakers but this is achieved by taking out a little too much of the bass response.
Complicated post with a number of options, hope you’re happy to read and comment and I look forward to your thoughts.
geetee1972
4 responses Add your response
dadork
632 posts
 
I gave up some bad habits and developed some that my wife can approve of more readily. I'm on my first decent system and I think with a few room treatments I'll be more than pleased for the rest of my life. It's a bit more modest than what you have but for me it's an extravagance that I was happy to indulge in. Who knows, maybe I'll hit the lottery! My kids are of the 4 legged kind, 4 cats who rule the house and we are getting a lab puppy in May from a friends litter.

My system consist of a Parasound Hint 6, a Carver Sunfire Cinema Grand 5, a Denon AVRX3500 receiver B&W 606 S2s for my mains augmented with a pair of Rel t7i subs. I run 2 channels out from the Denon to the Parasound and while it is in theater bypass it drives the mains in conjunction with the Sunfire powering my center and rears which are Polk RTi7a. For 2 channel everything is off except for the Parasound which is sourced by a Bluesound Node 2 streaming Qobuz.

  Enjoy your system but more importantly enjoy listening! Hint- play some things your kids like if you don't already, not many good choices but then again I may just be a fuddyduddy!
geetee1972 OP
3 posts
 
You didn’t mention any of your gear but it looks quite impressive, especially those monoblocks! Pretty hefty for a small room. Are the boys allowed to come in and enjoy or is it that they just don’t? Sure wish my parents had had such nice equipment to listen to when I was a kid. It sounds like you need to make a decision of whether you want a living or a listening room if you have other options. You are going to need some room treatments for your bass issues as it has to be fun putting baffles in each time you listen to change a song. This will further ’clutter’ things.

You make a good point about the ratio of room to kit! This is a new set up to me and has come at a time in life when I am recently separated from a challenging marriage where I was previously ’obliged’ to give up music listening as a hobby and sell all my equipemtn. After the marriage broke down I promised myself that when I was finally established in a new house I would buy myself the best system I could justify and this is it.
It consistes of the following:
  • Custom LDMS Mini music server by Lukas Audio Labs
  • Lampizator Golden Gate DAC with volume control
  • Silvercore 833c MKII SET monoblocs
  • Horns FP10
  • David Lagoba Emerald USB connects the server to the DAC and then HFC CT1-U RCA and speaker cables do the rest
  • Graphit Audio cones and pucks isolate the speakers, stands and the DAC
The real jewel in this system are indeed the Silvercore monoblocs, which use the huge 833c tube made famous by Wavac but rated at 20 watts of Class A power. The speakers are horn loaded and easily driven by the amps, which have silver wound transitors.
The results are sublime and far beyond what I had before, which was a pretty dull and predictably tiring to listen to Naim system with Shahinian Arc speakers. When I started auditioning, I initially was convinced I would build the system around a pairf of Shahinian Obelisks as these were always my dream speakers. I even found a current model pair ex-dem and heavily discounted at a reasonably local dealer. I asked to audition them with the Rega Osiris integrated and a Naim NDX but it sounded awful! That dealer introduced me to the joys of SETs via a demo of an Audionote system and here I am now with something very different to what I imagined but unbelievably happy with it.
Yes the boys are indeed allowed in the room (if they are careful) but they aren't really interested just yet. The older one is old enough to be intertested but is more interested in Fortnite and the younger one is a bit too young to have any interest just yet.

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
with guests (when we’re allowed

Have you checked to see if you are allowed to rearrange your furniture?

dadork
632 posts
 
You didn't mention any of your gear but it looks quite impressive, especially those monoblocks! Pretty hefty for a small room. Are the boys allowed to come in and enjoy or is it that they just don't? Sure wish my parents had had such nice equipment to listen to when I was a kid. It sounds like you need to make a decision of whether you want a living or a listening room if you have other options. You are going to need some room treatments for your bass issues as it has to be fun putting baffles in each time you listen to change a song. This will further 'clutter' things.
Log in to respond
More to discover
80x80
ANTICABLES Level 1 Classic Series
80x80
Gingko Audio Cloud 10
80x80
Paradigm Persona 5F