Would you move to a bigger house if you could just to have a better listening room ?

I have been moving the overall dimensions of my homes footprint and room sizes around for some time, with the intention to decide if a Space is able to be incorporated solely for Audio Purposes as the design, but also have allocation for other functions within the home.

The outcome being I could get the Room Dimension Ratios that were adequate for Audio to my knowledge.

There were other requirements that then presented their own difficulties to blend in. Light requirements and the Window Apertures created layout issues.

The additional layout for the other functions to be attributed to the room, added to the complexities to keep the room optimised for Audio purposes. 

The above seemed too much of a compromise.

The homes foot print was increased to solely incorporate a space to be solely for audio, meeting all requirements I understand. The outcome being, the layout of the space within the home, becomes a space in the home that is not really attractive through the location and as a room being used within a home, with the appearance  of the finished design.

I abandoned the room within the home idea, and am now intending on producing a standalone outside of the home structure, with design to be optimised for Audio purposes, with the room also intended to be a Audio / Visual Space, as well as a outside of the home entertainment area.

For me this is win win, as the space is additional, it does not compromise the internal layout of the home and this is important when designing home renovation. , Producing a external to the home room, has plenty on offer to be found attractive. The Space will be seen as a real bonus to the property, and anybody inheriting will have a space that will be capable of being useful for numerous purposes.

As the footprint of the main home is not substantially increased, the annual charges levied against the home will also be kept to the lower side of the scale. Resulting in  approx' £500 - £700 per year at present rates is being saved. These Levies are always incrementally increasing, in a few years a £1000 a year can be saved. Over 10 Years maybe £10K-£12K can have been kept in the coffers. I would Like to think the Outside of the home room is built to being Watertight for £3K-ish.

In my part of the World, using an outdoor space generates only the cost for the structure with no further assessments to produce new levies relating to the  properties value, there are many many Mancaves in the UK, a sanctum where Wifey type comments carry very little weight. 

Maybe this is worth investigating by others who have such a desire for a dedicated Audio Space.           

@hikerneil stated " If you had this new house, and could design your own perfect 2-channel music room - how would you size it? "

There is a few Thousand Years of History where the human has developed disciplines for controlling sound. This has evolved continuously, as a result of careful study of the most efficient methodologies. 

Amphitheatres go back to BC, which one could call the earliest Audio Visual sound system 😎.

Auditoriums arrived much later and will usually be seen as an enclosed space, die to the Roof Structure. I would take a Punt, and say this is when controlling reflected sound become a new area of science, as the musical experiences to be had in a auditorium, would have been available to quite well off educated individuals who were paying good money for the attendance at the location being suggested as being the ultimate of acoustic controlled environments??  

Today there are University Departments that have done extensive studies, and shown the merits of what can be referred to as Traditional Room Dimension Ratios, in comparison to modern conceptions for a Room Dimension Ratio.

Additionally, there is enough known through research about how materials used for a structure and the structure itself will impact on the sound, i.e Solid Concrete Floors, Suspended Timber Floors, Solid Brick / Blockwork Wall, Studded Dry-Board Walls and Density of Cavity Insulation plus Insulation Density itself.

Much of this is Science and not the easiest to break down into layman terms, but fortunately due to the popularity of the Subject, as a result of Recording Studio Structures and Home Entertainment Spaces along with Music Replay Interests, there is plenty of basic description to be discovered.

My own room, which is to be a outside of the home room, is now recently changed with altered ratio dimensions, as a result of a new discovery of work undertaken and is to be produced using dimensions produced by Richard Cox from investigative works carried out at the University of Salford.

With the want to increase the floor space in the main home, the Main Structure is increased in size, with the intention to add to the spaces suitability to be multitask. With a consideration for my Wife, the main homes space for a Gym is now relocated to the New Design Structure where a Gym /Sauna is to be put in place at the North End. Abutting the Gym Room will  be the Audio Equipment Space, that will be created to be a very secure storage, of a dimension easily able to be kept at a suitable temperature and humidity.

The Wall that separates the Main listening Space to the Audio Storage, as a resuly of speaking to friend who designs/builds speakers is to be air sealed cavity of a yet to be determined Volume. This will allow for a Insertable Panel to be used to allow for different drivers to be tried out as a Speaker. This could work out very well for Audio Purposes as an alternate Speaker to ESL's, but will certainly be quite useful for Audio Visual Movies and the like.

The main space outside of the Secure Space for Audio Equipment will be created using dimension ratio's from Richard Cox, once complete it will be a Blank Canvas to undergo treatments to create the most attractive end sound that can be achieved for Stereo Replays of recordings. Audio Visual will be the poorer cousin in relation to creating the ideal end sound.

Recent impression made through experiencing different Speaker designs has brought to the forefront a new desire for the long term used Audio System to be introduced to a wide selection of Speakers from a range of designs such as my  ESL's being used for their first time with Subwoofers and possibly a Upper Frequency Driver as well? vs Horns vs Cabinet Types and even a DML design. Having a space such as this, will take a little getting used to, as the Audio Equipment has always been nurtured within the home.

The Space will lend itself much better than the home space to having such a speaker collection at hand and will be more reassuring in relation to the Valve Equipment no longer being within the home, especially the 845 Monoblocks, with the risks these and other Valve devices pose as a Audio Device. 

My wife will also benefit, as a listenable throughout the home SS based audio system will be put in place, to give her a musical experience as she would like to regularly experience.