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

I think that's great if your situation allows for you to spend time in your main living room listening to your music whenever you want. Why not set up your best gear there and get the most mileage out of it then.

That's not my case however. My wife enjoys listening to music in our living room so long as I'm playing it only when nothing is on TV like mid-days on the weekends, and so long as it's not the 2/3 of my music collection that is not to her taste. So, if I didn't have my main system in the separate media room I guess I'd just have to limit much of my listening to headphones.

The downside to the separate room is that with wanting to be engaged with my young kids I can't just go hide in there and ignore them while listening to my music every day. So while I don't get to use that system as much, it does allow me to go in and shut the doors at night or when're I get a chance and play whatever I want relatively loud without disturbing anyone.

 

My main rig is in the great room of our house. I love having it there, and my kids enjoy it as well. A new VPI Prime and Lounge Phono pre will be in the mix in the next couple weeks, so my kids will get to learn about vinyl records. I get a lot of pleasure watching my kids dance around the living room to their Kids Bop tunes, and they don't sound have bad on a good rig.

 

The image I am getting of the chair with the ultimate sweet spot with the dedicated system is the mummified pilot from "Alien".

 

Thanks you for typing my thoughts. Saved me a lot of time.

 

Living in an NYC apt all I can I say ask is "What's a dedicated listening room?" On the plus side my house plants are growing nicely.

 

No stranger than headphones, but more comfortable.

 

This is exactly my feeling. Two systems is the key for our household.

I have a decent system in the family room, but it's more for home theater and sounds fine using music for entertaining.


When it comes to "really" listening to my music, I couldn't be without my dedicated room with the system I painstakingly built to match it. My wife has a different taste in music, and really doesn't enjoy it to the extent I do, so all parties are happy.

Nothing like unwinding after a hard day with a cocktail and some solitude and a good album.

 

The iCrap

 

Kids and partner are in bed by 9pm most nights so I retreat out back to my own listening space where I can have a bit of volume and not disturb anybody.
My kids are 4 and 7 so I'm not about to give them free range of my gear and collection just yet.
We have a smaller mini-system type thing in the family/living room, plus if I'm playing music in my space we can all hear it at the right volume.
Weekends we like to turn the TV off and just play some tunes, while we go about trying to be a family.
My kids haven't shown any great interest in music yet anyway.
Small kids and extensive collections that you want to keep in good condition don't mix that well.

 

Awesome reference. I am now combining that scene with the is it live or Memorex ad.

When I was a single lad I had my living room set up with the speakers 1/3rd of the way into the room. Eventually that wnt away with more socialization. Now I use easier to place speakers and integrateds and have a living room that splits the difference between how it sounds and how functional it is. The TV is in the family room so if I want to spin some tunes the kids aren't into its not a problem. Still though, speaker placement is a bitch.

 

I have a listening shed.

Mainly because I play music so LOUD.

 

Not exclusively talking about a listening room per se, but I found it funny for some time now, well funny and a bit strange, that as a teenager most everyone has his own room and couldn't live without it, but as we get more comfortable, settled and get big houses and bigger apartments, there is no dedicated room for me anymore ? No, I don't think so.

 

When I went hunting for my 2nd house having a space for a dedicated HT\Music room was a top priority.
I looked at nearly 100 houses before I found one that fit along with price, location, etc.
At the time it seemed ideal, custom built 60's house with a full unfinished basement with 9 ft ceilings.
It turned out to be good and not so good.
No demo work and a fresh pallet but you have build everything.
Anyway got my dedicated room and reveled in it.
Couple years later, my brother had to dump his stuff at the house for a few months including his stereo which went in the living room.
WOW! so nice to have music filling the main floor. It could be casual or attentive listening.
Long story a bit shorter, I saved and installed a system in the living room and it gets far more use than the dedicated room now.

The dedicated room is nice but even with friends and family over it has an isolation factor that doesn't always work, especially for extended listening.
I still have a circle of friends that I grew up with when music was more important in general than it is today and we still enjoy multi-hour music sessions.
With proper set up, some acoustic panels, and room correction if you like, a non-dedicated room can sound really really good.
Plus with the advent of affordable HD based music files getting the sound where you want cuts down on the intrusive gear needed in the listening area.

 

Great, great post.

100 houses!!! You have me beat..I am at the 50 mark now..nothing suitable so far.

 

This thread is of interest to me, as I just accepted a job offer and am moving to another state. I am very much hoping we can find a house like my current one that has dedicated listening space but at the very least I'd accept a setup in the living room, so long as the acoustics are satisfactory. As with a few others on this thread, music is often a form of solace/meditation and listening in a dedicated space is never lonely or weird for me.

 

Cool. Let me say there is no right or wrong way to listen..solitary...communal...dedicated...its all horses for courses.

 

It took us 64 houses before we pulled the trigger. I'm grateful this home affords us the luxury of a dedicated room along with three social spaces where other systems can be enjoyed. I wish you the best of luck in finding that next home.

Bill

 

Sorry, I exaggerated, it was actually 97.
Don't give up til you find the right one.
It's out there and you'll know it when you find it.

 

Thank you!! It has been a learning process...decided we won't settle...the right house will appear in time.

 

Gotcha!!! I've decided we are not on a time table..I won't settle for anything less than a great house.

 

Ok, you have me thinking. I can't give up my room. Therefore I must put another audio system in the living room. Problem solved. Vintage system back to living room.

 

18 months ago I moved out of San Francisco my birthplace. I flew to Seattle on a Friday to meet an agent, looked at ten houses and made an offer the next day.

Main stereo and surround in the upstairs livening open room. Downstairs is office and record library and I'll add a second rig their eventually