Man Cave or No?


I'm curious whether most folks have a dedicated room for their rig or have their setup in one of the main living areas of their home. Since our house is of modest proportions, with no family room, media room or finished basement, my system sits in the living room (where we actually "live"). As a result, we have tried to (have been forced to) integrate the stereo into the surroundings so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. Sometimes I wish I had a dedicated room where I could go and escape the noise and distractions of "living"--a real "man cave" for my hifi and music collection. A place where I could set up the speakers optimally in the space and leave cables running here and there without concern about someone tripping (or chewing) on them. On the other hand, I wonder whether I would listen as often if I had to "go somewhere" to listen to music--it is real nice to drop right onto the living room couch and hear some tunes and sometimes my wife will join me for awhile. As long as she's not talking to me I like the company. In the "man cave" I'd be ALONE. Anyway, from the looks of some of the systems I've seen posted it looks like most audiophiles have a "special room" where they set up their rigs. Just wondering how people view the trade off between "man cave" and "system in the living area" thing.
dodgealum

Showing 1 response by jb8312

When we moved into our current home, all I asked for was control over the "family room", which is 21x21x8. Which I got, the wife give me complete control over the decorating and media in this room and all I had to give up in exchange was any iota of control in every other room. Thankfully, at that point in our marriage, I understood, trusted and liked my wife's tastes in decorating. So, it was a win-win as far as I was concerned.

In the end, I got one large room with two separate systems. If you click on my “systems” and take a look, I have to warn you that the room has been changed since those photo's were taken and the layout now is much more 2 channel audio friendly. I hope to update them soon….

To answer your question, if you can have an audio set up in a generally occupied and functional room with as few audio compromises, I think that would the preferred action plan.

But, at either end of the spectrum and forced to decide between cave or no cave, I would vote cave.

John