Beautiful listening rooms

At Cedia I spent about an hour with MBL in their booth. Hands down, that was the most realistic music reproduction I have ever heard. I have never been more impressed with sound quality than I was there.

Yeah they are wow factor, but their sound lived up to the looks.

 

Nice.
But not to many rooms I see as comfortable listening environments. But, great idea for a thread though Brian.

 

Ran across this writeup Mike did about building out his room. Thought many of you would enjoy...

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/lavigneroom.htm

 

Great article! I would love to hear his room. I learned something about my own room that has bugged me. I have a rectangular room and my null point for base is at my listening position. If I stand up or move a few feet it improves but it is the most practical spot. I wish I had a barn!

 

I don't understand?

 

Reflections galore!

 

That was an enjoyable read; a very thorough explanation of the process. It left me with only one question. What was the cost? He says in the article, "Was it worth it? Yes." I can understand that leaving the monetary costs aside, it was worth it. But I'd like to know the monetary cost as well.

 

Mike is a pretty accessible guy- I'm not sure if you asked he could give you an exact account of the "cost" of the room, for several reasons. I think he did much of the construction work himself. Although some of the materials are "audio-centric," my suspicion is, at least insofar as the room goes--leaving aside AC power or 'mains'--the cost will vary considerably based on locale, simply due to construction costs. It is far costlier to build something in NY metro, for example, than it is in a small town in Texas. Mike used Rives as an acoustic design firm; there are a number of different acoustic design firms who do major installations, like concert halls; probably less so for residential listening rooms. The fees are probably a small fraction of overall construction cost. If you read Mike's more recent accounts of his room modifications, he has tweaked the room, and changed or eliminated some of the elements Rives included in the original design as built out. Many of the "done" rooms I've heard --i haven't had the pleasure of visiting Mike-- tend to be over damped. One of the things I like about Mike's room, aesthetically, is that much of the room 'treatment' is 'built in' to the design rather than having lots of stuff hanging on the walls or standing free of it. With proper design, this may actually be cheaper than buying commercially available diffusers/absorption panels as an aftermarket add-on. But, you are stuck with them if integrated into the room design itself (unless, like Mike, you are willing to modify or undo some of the elements).
There are some code compliance issues with balanced power (i think Mike still uses his Equi=Tech balanced power system) which is fairly costly; you can buy the components to set up a large isolation transformer for far less. (Don't ask, I have the big Equi=Tech panel sitting in storage awaiting my next room). Some of the tricks he employed-- like the air conditioning being 'quieted' probably don't cost much more than installing standard central air conditioning, but it is a matter of implementation.
Short answer, I suspect if you cost out the construction of a room in your area, add aspects like double thick walls, floating floor, etc. you've pretty much got a sense of cost. The rest-- all not 'cheap' but you can go as far as you want to go. My plan --once I relocate- is to do a build-out but not treat it heavily- solid construction, some basic help from an acoustician and electrical contractor- but I don't know that those fees are necessarily greater than the cost of hiring top tier architects and subcontractors. Best short answer: ask Mike.

 

More a curiosity really. Years ago I could've seen myself attempting a build, not on that grand a scale though. I would've done a lot of the construction myself also. I'm now at a stage where such things are no longer feasible. The next home I purchase will be much smaller and built for retirement. Although, if it had a basement with an 8 foot ceiling, I'd still be tempted.
I've been looking at Mike's room progress on Audiogon for years.

 

Often these indoor photos are taken with an extreme wide-angle lens, which exaggerates the distances and proportions. If you could be there in the room you'd see the listening positions aren't quite as distant as they appear in the photos.

 

Hopefully the setup here is just for the camera, cause there's just no way that room sounds good with all the hard surfaces and windows.

- Buck

 

Agreed - it's a staged environment for an advertisement. No speaker cables.

 

Small can be beautiful and comfortable...

 

Nice room. Cool murals.

 

The title of this thread is "beautiful listening rooms" but frankly I find the majority of these rooms to be sterile, anal, exclusionary and uninviting. It's not envy or a desire to put down the efforts or expense of others; I just don't find them 'beautiful' or an ideal for me to strive for.

My idea of a great room is one with lots of records or cds and that's cozy and welcoming to both the other family members and visitors.

 

My idea of a beautiful listening room relates to the sound that emanates from the system and reaches my ears.

 

...and wireless speakers, apparently...

 

You can wire them under the floor, but only if you are REALLY sure you have them in the best spot.

 

Here's a pretty cool room with a huge built in bass horn.

 

His system is featured (also) at theanalogdept website; lots of cool Thorens TOTL TTs.

 

Is this a scene from Being John Malkovich?

 

Indeed - quite well known (in our world).