Some of the best advice i got was to put my system in the basement.
Love to hear about your unorthodox room treatments.
I use Yogibo bean bags as my bass traps...
Unfinished basement listening room
I tried setting up a listening room in a small bedroom, then the living room. My homemade open baffle speakers are too large for both spots. For a while I'd been thinking of a basement listening room so as not to have to move the speakers back to the wall in the living room every time we had company. I finally did it and I'm quite pleased. Now all I have to do is take a seat and turn stuff on. Instead of trying to take my 80 pound Primare A32 amp to the basement, I'm using my Tandberg TR-2060. It takes me back to the 70's. Love being able to adjust things to my liking. Who ever thought an unfinished basement space could sound so good. I've done some room treatments that are shockingly cheap and unorthodox. I'd probably be criticized as less than a audiophile for these room treatments. I also reinstalled all my tweaks (Synergistic Research HFT's, ECT's, IsoAcoustic Orea's and Ingress Rollerballs). Anyone else listening in what would seem to be a less than ideal space and loving it?
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My room in the basement needed a lot of treatment to sound good. After treatment, it sounds better than any room its size (12.5 x 20 x 7 ft) has a right to. Big bass traps in 4 corners were key, in my case. A little absorption with binary scatter plates helps. The low noise floor down there makes a huge difference. |
@twhitezzz I bought 3 large rugs and placed one each on the the back and front walls and the 3rd on the floor in front of my speakers (the rug reaches a foot behind my listening area). I had 4 Aurelex Geofusors and placed 2 (stacked) about 3 feet behind each speaker. That's it. My music is meaty, spacious and voices and instruments are focused. I hear music to the sides of and behind my speakers (depending on the recording). The bass is tight and authoritative. I just ordered a reclining barber's chair with a small headrest as my listening chair. My house is 9 years old so the walls are cement blocks with rolls of fiberglass insulation between studs. I initially tried using absorbers to the sides of the speakers, but they sucked up the mid frequency so I removed them. I only have corners on the left side. The right side is to open space. Now all I need to do is make sure my sump pump is working at peak performance :) Those Yogibo bean bags sound interesting. @mike_in_nc sounds like all your investment and effort has reaped great benefits! |
@jjss49 you've got enough equipment to open your own store. Must be a ton of fun and then some listening to it all. @ghdprentice, your systems are breath taking. I know they provide you with hours on hours of top notch entertainment. I don't want to jump the gun so I'll work on posting some pics after my chair is assembled and in place :) It'll look a lot nicer than the stool I'm sitting on right now. |
Cool. Nice. Looks like fun. You have done quite a few treatments. The unfinished aspects may be working a bit in your favor. I would definitely haul your heavy amp down. A dedicated area that you can change is much better than big compromises in my book.
There are also additional opportunities for additional treatments… bass traps. absorption on the left wall to help balance with open area on right. Looks like a great place to experiment and tune. Congratulations. |
@ghdprentice Thanks for the positive feedback. But why do you suggest I try to get the 80 lb. amp downstairs? The Tandberg is doing a great job. If the Primare goes down, it'll probably never go up again |
Well, I always want the best sound possible. My experience has been every decade has seen notable advances in sound quality of most components. The Primare sounds like a more contemporary, higher powered and likely better sounding amp.
I am an old fart. I went through a transition that took about a year from I do all stuff myself to I get someone else to lift anything heavy… and for that matter to do anything I don’t want to do. So, I don’t pay attention things like weight. I don’t see my Chiropractor much any more… while I liked seeing her, I am saving a lot of money and my back is in better shape. |
