House buying and the aspiring audipihile


I’ve been looking for homes in the south. Final destination to be determined.

One of the features I’d like to have is decent potential for a great listening room, and doing so has made me feel like a true rare breed. What I mean is, it is so rare to find a room I think would work great for music. There’s a fireplace, or windows or odd shaped living room to throw off my aspirations.

What I’m reminded of, again, is how very very different the average consumer’s listening room and priorities are compared to audiophiles or moviephiles.  It is clear to me that if you want to be a very successful speaker maker you need to make speakers which still sound good even as they vanish.
erik_squires
I am/was a RE Broker. When I was showing homes back in the early 90s through early 2000s, I was shocked at how few homes had even a decent room for a top flight high end audio system. The closest was to turn master bedrooms into listening rooms. My current home, which I've owned for 26 years at least, has far from ideal dimensions, but offered a great room that I could work with at ~ 26 x 35, open up/down stairwell in the middle and a 12ft peak in the open beam ceiling that falls behind the near field seating position into a Florida room  that is floor to ceiling all glass (so, no back wall reinforcement), meaning I can't very well put the speakers in the middle of the room and fire at a reasonably positioned back wall, which is currently my front wall (behiind the system), which has a huge floor to ceiling glass window. My Emerald Physics open baffle speakers help a lot, as did my Accoustat 2 + 2s, but my Magnepan 3.5Rs were a bust. I tried dual subs but was unable to get anything close to a seamless integration.

I've been expecting a pair of EP 2.8s which have dual 15" carbon fiber woofers in a de Appolito configuration with a 12" midrange that has a 1" concentric polyester tweeter, hoping they will minimize the bass issues in this tough room. The speakers have gone through a 2 year plus journey on their way here


Now that digital room correction has come a long way, I will investigate that next.

Most wooden homes are not the best places for great hi-fi. Imagine a large stone room in a European mansion or castle. That's what I need. Natural reverberations! Might need some damping. Wall tapestries and an oversized sofa.
Nasty resonances from the suits of armor.


Now you told me, I've already moved 3 times because I thought it was ghosts.
We sold our house in the DC/Baltimore area and in June moved in with our 22 month old granddaughter and her parents, just a few miles from a new home that we are having built in the Biltmore Lake, NC community, just outside Asheville.  November 12th they hand the keys over!

Our builder was willing and able to modify the "bonus room" above the garage, which will be about 19' x 14', for my new listening room.

Hoping the room doesn't need much in the way of bass traps and other sound shaping additions.

The Asheville, NC area is a wonderful place to live, lots of restaurants, great music scene, festivals, UNCA has a nice lifetime learning program, lots of great hiking and biking.  Can't wait till "Mr. Covid" allows people to congregate again.