I Might Be Dispensing With A Dedicated Listening Room..Gasp..

Actually I have enough gear for 3 complete systems..one will def. go in the master bedroom.

 

I waited five years after buying this house to renovate my basement. It's acoustically superior to the room I've been using for five years. It's also fairly isolated/a man cave. I couldn't wait to finish it.

Being honest with myself, I use it way less than the other 3 stereos in my house. Sounds great, but the isolation is unrealistic to my daily life.

 

Your situation is exactly what I was talking about..great system..great room....but isolated and a bit like an audiophile prison. Not your fault..this is what we are pressured to do.

 

I'm about to renovate a space downstairs that could function as a man cave/main listening space, but I'm just going to move a simple system in there to begin with and see how much time I actually spend in it. If it turns out (as I expect) that I'm not using it all that much, I'm sticking with one of my cheap and cheerful systems, probably a 2 channel based around my Paradigm Phantoms. If I'm using it a ton, well, then I may invest in something more serious.

 

Very smart way to go about it.

 

After a few years of shopping for a house and having in the backs or our minds that we might build a new one, we've begun construction. The new house will have a man cave, but the living room gets an audio system, too.

 

Doh, I really hate it when there's a 3" speaker turned to 11 with about a 200 watt amplifier behind it. 99% distortion, and you can't turn it off.

 

That sort of speaker listening has amused me. It's like a room size headphone. Listening for one. Weird. I can't deny dreaming of having a dedicated listening room with an ideal sweet spot and little concern for how it sounds out of the sweet spot. It's the sort of dreaming of "if I won the Powerball lottery I'd do it cause it needs to be done". But what a strange listening experience it would be.

Room friendly speakers in the living room. A speaker system in the master bedroom. And headphones for when you need to listen without bothering others. All seems like a more reasonable and social way to go.

Headphones and headphone amps have been improving in recent years. If you need to retreat to private headphone listening to avoid annoying others there are some amazing headphone and headphone amp choices available now.

I'm cranking Sunn O))) right now at 12:30 am (I find Sunn O to be relaxing and meditative, and I'm getting ready for bed). Audeze headphones. Cavalli headphone amp. It's awesome. I couldn't do this if I had speakers. Even a dedicated listening room would need some serious isolation to keep this from leaking.

 

Never had a separate room for music. I grew up in a working class family in a small two bedroom flat. Just my mum, dad and me and we always had music on. Radio, records....locking myself into a private room for something that is such a social experience would be kind of weird now. My kids are now listening to my stuff at times when they come over. It all passes on down the line.

 

You mean they've got sense?!?

 

Although I agree music is very social it doesn't have to be. Let's not forget that composers and musicians lock themselves away for hour apon hour each day, and in that way it's a very selfish pursuit.

Bottom line is I like both. When I come home from work (a job where I'm literally surrounded by thousands of people every day) I NEED an hour or two in my own private space. Once I'm mentally recovered I join my family and any further listening is done in the living room, which is also wonderful. So to me, having both is a real and important luxury.

 

I miss having my primary audio system in the living room. Having moved into an unused upstairs bedroom I find I'm ready to seek out companions after just a few record sides. After all the trouble and expense setting the room up and buying furniture I can't tell my wife I want to return to the living room. Lucky I have young twins who share a room. At some point one of them will want a bedroom of their own and I will make my escape. Having this listening room has one real advantage. My equipment and records are secure from little hands.

 

I rather have my dedicated music room and hate listening when other people are around. The presence of other people results in talking sooner or later (during the song) and that is not what I want when listening. I do not feel this strange need of "spreading my music around me onto other people".

There are so many possibilities for satisfying social interaction and I usually am the "soul of a party/family", so by no means a wallflower, but listening to music is something else, at least for me. It is something that is only for me and my spiritual benefit.

If I was to be meditating, which I don't, I certainly would do it alone in a clearing in the woods and not sitting around in a circle with other people.

 

You nailed it when you say it really room sized headphones.

 

I think your upbringing was common. How common do you think it is today for a family to be all in the same room listening to tunes? I think not very.

 

Very good point about needing personal downtime.

 

Yes, a dedicated room is certainly and hopefully pet and child proof!

 

We didn't really. The radio was on in the background or I played my folks records. It was that music filled the house almost by default than it being a focused activity. You couldn't help but soak up whatever Radio Luxembourg was playing, or the like.

Today, people are different but not so much under the same roof as family units.

 

I would say that was pretty much the default when I was growing up, too. Music was present but not the focus (at least in an audiophile sense) except live music: like many other homes at the time, we had a piano. It was quite common for someone to play when entertaining. Now that I think of it, probably the piano was in use just about as much as the old console record player my parents had.

 

Today every one, even 5 year olds, have their own smart phones, tablets, and laptops. They are together physically only.

 

Yes, and we had headphones as kids, I spent a lot of time in my room but it didn't make me a hermit to my family. And having two kids of my own who have all this stuff, well, you rule the gear not let it rule your family life. Simple really. We are together physically and enjoy music. This is not difficult and it is not unique or even remotely unusual.

 

That is awesome..some people do find it difficult to create a cohesive entertainment situation, but my hats off to you.

 

I have no use for a dedicated listening room. I really don't enjoy sitting around and just listening to music for long periods of time. If one really needs a dedicated listening room, i wonder if they might be better served investing in a top notch headphone rig instead of amp and speakers. I prefer to be able to listen to music while reading, cooking, cleaning, eating, or watching sports on TV. Of course, most systems look tacky and I can see wanting them out of the living space (or not being allowed to have them in the living space).

 

Can't like this post enough.