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Old Room - back wall
The sound of my system was satisfying, but the knowledge that there was more got under my skin. In addition, I really enjoyed having fellow audiophiles visit me... I wanted a bigger room... at least 17 feet wide, 25 feet long and 11 feet tall... a concrete floor, and NO noise issues. These were my minimum parameters for a room to be worthy of my gear. I also wanted to be able to listen whenever I wanted without disturbing the sleep of my wife.
How did you pick the place to build this room?
For a year or so I considered adding a dedicated room onto my home... but after exploring the possibilities I determined that the cost and investment considerations in my neighborhood would not pencil. After discussing this on and off for 6 months with my wife; we decided to look around for another home that would either already include the space I needed or allow an easy addition. We spent another 6 months looking around... made 3 different offers on various homes... and finally found what both of us
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The Barn
I found a home on 4 acres with a separate barn. This Barn had the potential of a completely unrestricted space, 37 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 11.6 feet tall. We proceeded and purchased the home, then move into it in January of 2004. The barn had been home to a couple of horses, a couple of Great Danes, and 3 or 4 barn cats.
Middle stall of the barn
So here I was with the potential space… what next?
First, a little about my audio compass; my viewpoints and listening goals.
I have always really enjoyed listening to new music... which was a problem, as I have never had much knowledge about music. So I would read reviews and buy a recording if the review described what I thought I would like. Some people are afraid to buy music, just in case they don't like it get stuck with it. I, on the other hand, am afraid that if I don't buy an unfamiliar recording, I might be missing something. Over the last 10 years I have bought lots of new music... what is interesting is that music that I bought and didn't connect with initially, many times became a favorite later, as my musical tastes and knowledge matured. I grew to love Jazz, and now I am progressing on my enjoyment of classical. My purchasing philosophies have resulted in a fairly large music collection... which I like to have in the listening room with me... as much as possible.
I have evolved in my philosophies regarding what gear I like and how I want things to sound. Initially, I read reviews and listened... then I would buy. As I went through a few years of upgrading along the Levinson/Wilson path... I developed listening skills and appreciation for a more refined sound... I evolved from focusing on parts of the music (the sounds) to wanting to have as little between me and the event (the music) as possible. I was attracted to gear that had as little of its own sound as possible. As I found gear that fulfilled my particular tastes, it was clear that at a certain point the room became a barrier to the system 'getting out of the way' of the musical event.
I want a system with no part that draws attention to itself and away from the musical message. Great deep bass is fine if it is not 'prominent'... it must serve the music, and not vice versa. This is what defined my communications to my room designer.
How did you pick your room designer?
I had met Richard Bird and Chris Huston of Rives Audio back at the 2003 CES. I had become quite interested in room acoustics while trying to tame my previous room. A few of my friends had had great results from Rives' approach to room design. Rives Audio believes that many rooms ended up over-damped, and that diffusion was a better method of 2-channel design. The whole 'live-end/dead-end' approach was inadvisable in all but the smallest rooms, as it robbed the music of its energy. This made sense to me.
Richard was out in the Seattle area in March, so I picked him up at his hotel and had him over to my home for a short visit. At that time I was actually considering putting my listening room in the main house in a guest bedroom (I wanted my wife to be more involved). I eventually went back to the barn concept as I feared I would screw up the feeling of the house with an expansion, and my costs would yield no added value to the home. Redoing the barn would add finished square feet to the property, and would yield a return in that neighborhood if I sold. In any case, I liked how Richard communicated, and his concepts made sense.
In April I contacted Richard and discussed my thoughts on the barn. He was excited at the potential of a separate building with virtually no design limitations... which in turn got me more excited. I sent Richard blueprints, and then measured all the distances on the plans so we would have accurate info for Rives to use. I gave Richard no limitations on his design within the 37' x 25' x 11.6' space. He came up with approximately 30' x 21' x 11' as a starting point.
