New house room size opinions please........

I now have Vandersteen 5A's FWIW in a 23+ x 12+ room. This is
a living room , that I have dedicated to me me me. I have
given my family the 19x18 family room. If anything, I wish
that the 12+ was at least 2-3 feet wider. This enabling me to get the Vandersteens further than approx. 2 feet away from the side walls, where they now reside. I know it's a non-issue for you, but Gammajo makes an essentially important point on getting the listening room away from her ears when she is sleeping. Cardas has some their ideal dimensions on their site, I do remember this includes 9 foot ceilings, but I cannot remember the exact dimensions. It would seem difficult to find this in an existing room, but who knows.

"Let your wife pick the house...don't even offer an opinion, or you'll pay for it down the road in ways too bizarre to imagine."

Are you kidding?!
What ever happened to concepts like discussion and compromise?
Do you guys really live like that?
Seriously?!

I am sorry to disagree with you who support this line of thought, but there is no way in the world I would let my wife pick the house without my opinion or input.

When we went looking for our last house (about 10-12 years ago), I made it understood that I wanted a large room so I could have my stereo in it. (Like I had in my first house, that I had bought alone, and into which we moved when we got married.) If said large room was the living room, I could live with sharing it with her, if she could live with my stereo. She agreed without hesitating. (Luckily she too loves music, which is one reason I married her.) She wanted a house with a nice view, a large kitchen and master bedroom, and a separate dining room. Items which I did not mind having and paying for, (although if would have only had a normal sized kitchen and/or no view, I would not be too upset, as those items were not a high priority to me.) We looked and looked until we found exactly what we wanted, and agreed to buy it. Communications and Compromise, IMHO, is the cornerstone to a good marriage.

To knowingly let someone buy your house for you is like letting someone dress you every day. Sorry, but that is not the life for me.

My two cents worth.

Chadnliz,

My advice is to get the largest room you can, and, if you can get a dedicated sound room, two thumbs up for you. (I wish I could have gotten one, but I compromised on our 16' x 24' living room, which works fine for me, and my family.) Remember that your room, being in a basement, will probably need substantial acoustical treatment, as it is probably concrete on the floors and walls, which is not so good for sound. I also agree that square rooms are not the best, but if that is what you end up with, you'll be able to deal with it, especially if it is decent sized. 14'x18' is a little small, but again, if it is a dedicated sound room, I think it would work acceptably.

Good Luck in your house search!

Chad, have you raised your question with Brian at VMPS? He should know better than anyone what both the minimal and optimal room dimensions would be for your speakers.

Of course there is the danger that you may not keep the FF3SREs the rest of your life (or at least as long as you remain in your future home) but I would guess it is not likely you would replace them with something radically different that could not be adapted to the same room.

Great points from all and thanks,

Wich ever house it is they all have a room for my man cave so every option that could be picked is still better then where I am now, this is only one of the homes and most are about 13X21 to 24 ft in length but something tells me this is going to be here fav, she will see them tomorrow. I know that picking a house that the other half isnt totally on board with is going to be a mess, it happened with me and my ex 10 yrs ago.....lesson learned.
Beavis, you are 100% right about not having any idea about how it will sound but opinions are fun to read and share all the same.
Fjn, my dad has Wood Quatro's and in 2 weeks we are going to give a long listen to the 5A as his 1 year upgrade time limit will close soon, I bet he gets the 5A...awesome speaker, and you are a lucky man.
To add the Kurt's thoughts, my parents are buying the house for me so part of feels like I should get the largest vote (after parents approval ofcourse) but I do want her to be happy, she will probably live much longer then I will anyway.
Pryso makes a great point on speakers maybe changing in time but I dunno, on Social Security the cash to buy anything close to a hi-end speaker looks weak at best so they may be with me for a long, long time. As always thanks a bunch for your time, I really appreciate it!

I'm with Kurt_Tank on this one. Any man who would cede complete control of the purchase of the house is less than a man in my eyes. BOTH of you will be living in the house, BOTH of you should have an equal say on the house purchase.

Having said that, look for the biggest room you can find in a house that your wife finds acceptable. Then, set it up the way that YOU want it. She can have the kitchen, living room, etc. Just make it understood that the audio room is YOUR room.

In the long run, this will make you both happy with the purchase...

-RW-