Looking "SWEET"!
Good job...

lak November 20, 2005 11:21

Well, Kirk, it certainly LOOKS great. I'm sure you'll enjoy the tuning and tweaking process for a while but it's already a very inviting room. Lucky man.

islandear November 20, 2005 06:49

System edited: A couple of "in the process" pictures added. The media wall will eventually have all my albums in it, however I am trying to tweak speaker placement and have some pillows and such thrown all over it at this time. Turntable is also not set up yet as I am behind the rack moving cabling every hour or so it seems. Will be posting a thread requesting any general help/ideas on placement with regards to the room. Have been tweaking all day with some benefit, but far from where it needs to be.

audiofankj November 20, 2005 04:12

It's Alive. I have finally finished up most of the "need to do before the stereo room" list the wife had for me as we moved into the new home, and started assembling the room a couple of days ago. Started with swapping out the builder duplexes with Porter Ports, hanging some paintings on the walls, putting up the drapes, assembled the new component rack, and just a few hours ago carried all the equipment upstairs and hooked it up. It seems everything has survived the move. However, at this time the system sounds to be shy in the bass department. LoL- I probably shouldn't be critical at this point. There are a few factors in which may affect the sonics a bit; all 5 new dedicated 20A lines are run with cryo'd 10-2 romex which is brand new. All Porter Ports are also brand new. All gear and cabling has been boxed and unused for almost 7 months. There are no spikes on the speakers at this time as I will want to tweak placement. Speaker placement may be way off. Those are a few running through my mind. The room is 15' 10" wide by 21' 10" long. The midrange driver on the front baffle is currently 47" out from the rear wall, and 36" from the side wall. The speakers are toed in at this time. The speakers are about 9' 4" apart midrange to midrange. The distance from one speaker to the listening seat is about 10' 5" or so.

I will most likely turn it on in the morning and start playing something on repeat and move the speakers around a bit tomorrow evening to see what I can come up with.

If anyone has a similar sized room and cares to recommend a good starting point for speaker placement let me know.

OH the monoblocks are now in the equipment rack, and the speaker cables are 6 ft., thus the speakers really can't go out much further into the room unless they move in more from the side wall as well...

Photos and replies to Amperidian's post to follow shortly, exhausted and going to crash for the night...

audiofankj November 19, 2005 05:56

How's progress on the room?

More photos?

shaq November 05, 2005 01:06

Hi Audiofankj,

I'm always glad when I see another happy audiophile who uses that AA player ... I just love it and often find that my 1 hour listening session ends when I can no longer keep my eyes open ... needless to say that I can't wait to resume when I wake up again.

I noted in some of your previous posts that you had used some taipan's before moving to the electraglides ... any particular reason why you did not chose to move up in the shunyata line? ... to the anacondas for example? ... I use a vx on the capitole and am looking forward to the day when I can add the alphas to the rest of my system, using powercords that come close to the anacondas in the rest of my system has left me emotionally drained ... even if the frequency spectrum was not all there IMO (due in part to some of the sonic characteristics of some of the other powercords).

Anyways, before I babble on, I just wanted to recommend trying out the symposium rollerblock series 2+ under that player (I use them in double stacked config. with the grade 3 balls) ... the results stunned both me and my wife and were convincing enough to make us add them under every component in our system. Today we feel that they were one of the best additions to our rig, other alternatives are the SRA Ohio XL bases which are greatly reviewed as well, but I've never had the pleasure of trying them out on my player.

If you decide to try them out and like them, please let me know ... there are some more tweaks to make this player sound even better than what you are hearing now ... unfortunately, it never ends.

amperidian November 01, 2005 15:04

System edited: Photo update: Rear wall cabinet/shelving unit installed... Each built-in wall unit on either side of the drywall center (chimney exhaust from fireplace below in great room) is just under 6 1/2 feet wide and 9 feet tall. There are a total of four cabinets in which the front door of the cabinet could be modified with a mesh material and stuffed with bass absorbing / accoustic material if need be... hopefully not the case. There are a total of 8 drawers built in for CD storage. Storage for the vinyl albums are above. There are 24 sections for vinyl storage with approximate dimensions of 26" wide, by 14" high, by 15" deep. I am also hoping the album sections will help with diffusion... Ken - You are more than welcome to come over whenever... I am extremely eager to get the rig back together and up... perhaps if all goes well another 60 days or so... thanks again for the session at your pad. Sounding great as always! Once all is complete I will be certain to have you over for a listen, as I will most likely appreciate you helping me determine what changes, if any occur over time as well. Talk with you soon & take care.

audiofankj September 06, 2005 02:05

Kirk,

Thanks for stopping by the other day Neighbor. You are always welcome to catch some tunes here till your home is finished. You know... I may be spending some self invited time listening to your set up once your in! I know you cant wait for this to be done. Glad your doing well and hang in there! :-).

Ken

kehut September 03, 2005 17:42

Bummer of an update... closing date on the new home pushed back at this point to early November...

audiofankj August 24, 2005 01:29

Ditto on Henry's "site." The chaos is so unnecessary. The fact is, Henry is not a starving audio entrepreneur.

My Scintillas are sounding awesome. Thanks for asking. I will post a system report soon.

I understand Art's lament. I have looked at scads of model homes ing the 4 to 5ksf range, and have yet to find a comparable room to the one in my hundred year old home.

My listening room, the old dining room, has always seconded as a family room. I have a projector movie system. The collapsable screen transforms the room into a nearly ideal music room. All is well.

muralman1 August 22, 2005 15:06

Ivan - there is much to be found online about soundproofing. I suggest doing a "google" search on the topic and you will find well over a dozen or so sites. One that I found with much usefull information was:

Soundproofing Link

The link was saved on the page with the metal drywall furring strips, however there is a ton of information on the site. As stated above, there are many others with good information as well. Good luck.

Vince - yeah, I noticed your post before it was removed. I really most likely won't frequent a users forum. Once I have the piece of gear and it is working well I usually stop obsessing over it on the sites... However, in my mind Henry really has to get his site fixed and/or cleaned up. I am sure it is more frustrating than helpful to those interested in it when they look at it. Hope you are doing well out west!

Art - you make me laugh, as you put it, I am "insanely jealous" of the joy and happiness you must have with your family and a 3 and 5 year old sons! I so look forward to the time when we begin and have a family, however in reality that isn't right around the corner at this time... You are absolutely correct, that family takes a much higher place on the totem pole of life. In the listening room, I have one lonely cable jack in between the 5 independent dedicated 20A lines... as I know if or when the wife and I turn into parents that room will have its days numbered. The system will most likely move down into a room in the basement we would finish off, and the "stereo room" (bonus room) would be most likely used for an informal family room / childrens play area after they are a few years old. No worries Art, hopefully in a few years I will be right where you are - happy with my priorities straight!

Another 36 to 48 hours and we should get a close date from the builder... I am hoping we are still on track for an early October, however in my gut I am thinking it will be more like early November. Will know soon.

audiofankj August 21, 2005 06:01

Kirk-
I am insanely jealous of your new listening room. I have over 4200 sq ft of living space, but believe it or not, I cant designate a dedicated listening room - my 3 and 5 yr old boyss pretty much dictate the set-up around here (after all they are more valuable and imprtant than all this music stuff), - so my listening room is in a very 'sonically unfriendly' living room.

Anyway, keep us up to date on your progress!
Art

artg August 20, 2005 03:29

Yo Kirk,

Florian a.k.a. Tiny Tim, a.k.a. Prince Magnepan has given us H2O owners our own home:

http://nc0740.eden0.netclusive.de/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3

muralman1 August 17, 2005 23:33

Dear Sonic Oasis,
My name is Ivan from San Francisco, I'm also a music lover, I'm very interesting in your room and expecting your new system. Recently, I'm look for the way to modifying my listening room, I'm lake of knowledge about how to do the sound isolation for my room. Could you help me out to give me some ideas or some website that I can learn something about it. Thank you for sharing pictures of your listening room. My e-mail is [email protected]

Regard

ilv August 17, 2005 04:59

System edited: General Maintenance to the thread... Long overdue- posted my analog rig... although it rests in storage along with all my other equipment awaiting the completion of the new home... removed the FIM 880 receptacle as that stayed in the wall in the old home (oops)... New house will have all Porter Ports for the five dedicated lines... other than that, most should be correct now.

audiofankj August 13, 2005 03:07

System edited: Two new photos added from the work over the past few days... First photo is a close up of the metal drywall furring strip against the stud taken in the doorway. In addition to the two additional walls on either side of the original wall between the listening room and master bedroom, all interior walls were blown with insulation as well. The contractor had spoken with his drywall crew and said they had used the metal furring strips for music/home theater/sound rooms before and were familiar with the installation. So, when the builder offered to install the furring strips on the interior walls I was happy to accept. The metal furring strips are screwed into the studs, and then the drywall is screwed into the metal furring strips. Thus this should help to diminish the vibration of the drywall with loud music directly into the stud in which most of the sound is passed... *fingers crossed* - hope this helps... The second photo is showing as much of the room and the front wall the system will be set up on as I can manage. I don't have a wide angle digital camera... The 2x4 framing for the beams of the coffered ceiling are visible, as well as the 5 dedicated 20 amp lines... the sixth box in that row is a cable jack that isn't going to be used, however if we turn the room into a childrens play area / home theater room down the road it would be nice to have the cable already wired... Other than that I am just fanning the flames of the fire we have under the builders seat... :)

audiofankj August 13, 2005 02:12

Thanks Vince. I hope so. I am beyond eager at this point!

Howard- for the first time I think you have made me feel satisfied everything is all packed away safe and sound for the move. :) LoL - If I think it needs a spring break, you will be first on the list, sound like a deal?

audiofankj August 13, 2005 01:57

Kirk, does your Epiphany need a foster home until he can be placed permanently? :-)

boa2 August 09, 2005 04:56

Well, it should be fabulous, when done, Kirk.

muralman1 August 09, 2005 02:52

System edited: Added a photo today taken the other day showing the listening room from the hallway showing the stairs and platform leading up to the listening room. Two walls are on the exterior of the house, two walls are interior walls. One interior wall is shared with the hallway (in which the stairs lead up to the doorway) which is insulated. The other interior wall is a shared wall with the master bedroom. This wall had two additional walls added, one wall one inch into each room, out from the original room wall. All three walls were insulated. The next step will be the placement of drywall metal furring strips to help with sound isolation in which the drywall will then be hung upon. Hopefully the drywall will begin this week. If the drywall doesn't begin this week, it appears that the projected close date will have to be moved back a couple of weeks. As we have been told we are to close the end of September and/or early October, yet we were also told once the drywall is completed we will be about 60 days out to close. So perhaps mid to late October is more realistic at this time...

audiofankj August 09, 2005 01:51

Thanks Islandear - But please, don't offend Albert or Mike, in no way is my room to be considered in the same context. I didn't have the luxury to even have it "mapped out" or dimensions specified as to what would be best for a stereo room. In my case when the wife and I were scouting floor plans for our new house, she agreed to let me have the bonus room for a stereo room. Of course, I like some floor plans better than others, as some were almost square, others were too narrow, however I was limited by what plans she liked as well. However, I wasn't to look a gift horse in the mouth, as this room will be much larger than the old 12 ft. x 12 ft. spare bedroom I was using until the basement was going to get finished off.

Thus the room size - 15' 11.5" W x 21' 10.5" L x 9' heigh was pretty set in stone from the floorplan. I was happy with it as it was much larger, and dedicated thus I would be able to at least make some improvements over my other room. Such as not only a 9 foot ceiling, but also to have the ceiling coffered. I am hoping this will help with diffusion of waves. I am also going with the built in bookshelves on the rear wall to house the vinyl, and also help with diffusion. I am running the 5 dedicated 20 A lines with 10 gauge solid core copper that has been cryo treated... and selectively placed on the breaker panel. As for the walls, two are exterior, one interior is adjacent to a hallway, with unoccupied rooms accross from the hallway. The other wall (the one with all the 20A receptacles on it) is adjacent to the master bedroom. :o I know. Thus I DID want to stagger stud that wall. It is difficult to see in the photo, however the builder framed the room as it would be normally - no audiophile mess... then we moved out 1" from the bottom of the 2x4 and ran another wall, thus totally removed from the initial wall, rather than stagger studding. The opposite side is also difficult to see, as the listening room sits about 2 feet higher than the other rooms on the second level (over the great room which has a ceiling 2 ft. higher than rest of main floor). The master bedroom wall was treated the same way, with another independent wall studded in. The headboard of the bed will be along that wall too... thus my involvement with the most soundproofing possible within reasonable costs to this point. The builder and I discussed we will insulate all walls, most likely serpentining the insulation between the studs in the wall seperating the master bedroom and the listening room. There will also be a solid door on the room, in which I will most likely add some type of weather stripping to help with the sound.

The builder was also looking into "soundproofing" items and was trying to describe what he called "metal strips" that will be nailed to the studs and then the drywall goes on top of that, thus it sounded to be more isolation from the drywall passing vibration through to the studs. Hopefully it will work, rather than vibrate (my largest fear at this time)... just more along the lines of concern with what I am not familiar with... I don't want any little item to rattle or buzz behind a wall after all is trimmed, painted, moved in, said and done!

I will be using Albert's PorterPorts in the 20A receptacles however, so you can lump me in there... :)

1,994 hours until close! That is if we do end up closing on October 3rd (first Monday of the month), as the house is to be done the end of September. We shall see... I am suprised I hadn't figured that out yet!

Now the question is, how many hours before I have music playing after the closing? Hopefully will be done in the first week. *fingers crossed*

audiofankj July 13, 2005 03:02

Kirk, looking good! I'm jealous. I've been scoping out various construction or renovation plans for listening rooms for the last couple of years and various approaches have been very enlightening. Your room has been well thought out; it would be interesting to hear comments re your room from Albert Porter or Mike Lavigne. BTW, in your design process did you ever consider staggered-stud walls? So, how many more minutes/hours until you power back up?

islandear July 12, 2005 18:41

System edited: The latest update on the house progress... perhaps I will ramble a bit... At this point the listening room is starting to come together. Just starting, not much more, but that is alright... progress is welcome here. :) As some of you are aware, I have had various threads on the build of the room, the wiring, the soundproofing, etc. Well, with the dedicated listening room being located on the second floor, it was a concern as to how wide the "I" joists will be spaced for the floor. Code for a 10" "I" beam is 19.2" on center. Many recommended to have 16" on center (thank you), that it will give a much better support of the floor and less bounce, especially considering the turntable and such. Well, in this case the builder actually pleasantly suprized me, as the floor "I" joists were laid on 12" centers, so I assume this should be a fairly solid support. Flooring was the 3/4" 4ft. x 8 ft. boards, which were glued and screwed. Today the wiring began, and as you can see with the latest photo, it has begun! The photo shows the gang of 5 dedicated 20A seperate circuits. Wiring was purchased from Robert at Ridge Street Audio, which is 10-2 Romex, solid core copper that has been cryo treated. The 5 dedicated 20A lines are all to be on the same leg, at the top of their side on the breaker box. All appliances with motors, ie. refrigerator, AC, furnace, microwave, etc. are to be placed on opposite leg. Hopefully this will happen, as the electricians only have most of the second floor roughed in and the wire hanging below... That is about it at this point for the update. We did meet with the cabinet people, who will be making custom cabinets to house the vinyl on either side of the fireplace chimney housing along the back wall of the room. The cabinets should be about 3 ft. tall, and then have 5 feet wide by 5 feet tall shelving to hold the albums on both sides of the rear wall. I am hoping this will also help a bit with the diffusion. Vicariously living through other system threads...

audiofankj July 12, 2005 02:35

Hey Vince- they are progressing... I can't say if it is at a good pace or not. Things seem to be getting done... the house is framed, the roof is on, and the house is wrapped... the brick and stone work began today. All that sounds and IS good, however the plumbing has just begun inside, HVAC and wiring still yet to begin. Hopefully there will be much activity next week. Happy 4th or July to all!

audiofankj July 03, 2005 06:05

How are things progressing?

muralman1 June 25, 2005 02:27