AudiogoN Forums: Nothing but speakers in the listening room?

Nothing but speakers in the listening room?

I'm negotiating to build a new house. Thus I have the opportunity to build a new listening/theater room. I have a few ideas to put forward and see what you think.
1. I'm thinking of designing the new room with a small room directly behind the main speakers to house all the electronics. With the advent of the iPad, wifi, and some help from Crestron, I can control the volume of my preamp, access the music server, contol my PWD II, contol the projector, and even the P-10. The beams in the ceiling will be open and satellite speaker wiring , projector wiring, etc will all be available in the ceiling. The wall behind the speakers where the equipment will be housed will have PVC pipe for all cables and powercords to pass through as needed. The equipment foo will have it's own satellite electrical box to easily provide all the electrical "home runs" to the electronics. I'm placing almost all the equipment in the small room so it cannot vibrate need able elevators or interfer with the imaging and depth of the system.

I will allow a couple of dedicated outlets on the side walls for the turntable, CD player, and DVD player as it would be inconvenient to have to leave the room to access these pieces of equipment.

I'm also considering the room itself to be constructed according to the Cardas Golden Trapagon model. Has anyone built one of these? Did it sound as good as Cardas claiims? I'm also considering building bass traps into the corners so I wouldn't have this clutter either.

I guess one downside would be not seeing all the equipment and pretty glowing lights?
One would focus on my Legacy Helix speakers, Legacy Extreme Subs, the center channel will be located behind the video screen (maybe placed so it is actually placed inside the equipment room facing outward) abpnd of course during movies the main screen itself.

So what do you think?

Sgr (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-21-12

Responses

07-21-12: Gshepardbuster
Your approach is genius, by removing most of the bottle necks from the start the presentation will be as true as possible. Of course by remotely locating the electronics longer cabling will be required and will add significant cost. If I were to build from the ground up as you are my plan would be similar for sure.
Gshepardbuster (Answers | This Thread)

07-22-12: Puremusic
Sgr,

My equipment room adjoins the dedicated listening room behind the speakers. All electronics, including the CD player, are on three racks in the equipment room. I have access to all that equipment via three adjacent 40" tall tinted-glass cabinet-style doors behind the speakers....So, I don't have to leave the listening room to change CDs or to turn the equipment on or off. And the remote works perfectly through the tinted glass.

I designed the room dimensions, and Richard Rives of Rives Audio designed the room treatment (level 2), including the bass traps. I've been very happy with the results.
Puremusic (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-12: Mike60
I love the look of high end amplifiers and sources. From a non-sonic perspective, I think it adds to the atmosphere in an audiophile listening room, but that is just a question of taste.
Mike60 (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-12: Buconero117
Way to go, that is to keep all the equipment out of the listening space. The amount of acoustic energy the flies around a listening room has a very negative effect on components, especially turntables and cd players. Go 'clean', you will be rewarded.
Buconero117 (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-12: Onhwy61
Assuming it makes sense to get the equipment out of the room, then wouldn't the most affected equipment be the source components? So why are they still in the listening room?
Onhwy61 (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-12: Marakanetz
unfortunately there are no remote control turntables.
Marakanetz (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-12: Mechans
I would kind of miss all of the elaborate and extravagant damping devices, tables and ephemera. To me, part of the audio scene is, the 4 inch maple stands, the brass wieghts and so on. It is obviously a good idea, which I believe most professional studios put into practice.
Mechans (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-12: Marakanetz
You can even set up an analogue rig there outside if your wife(or servant) gets hired to spin for you some records while you're sitting in the listening chair.
Marakanetz (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-23-12: Samhar
Why not have the record player, phono stage, CD, DVD and preamp components on the side wall in a built in component area to shelter them from vibrations as Onhwy61 mentioned.
A small closet/room would be great for accessing cabling etc, and the front could have sliding doors to change records, discs etc. Also this would require the running of cables from the pre to the amps only.
Samhar (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)