Building a Reference Grade Listening Room
by Mike Lavigne
All photographs by Mike Lavigne; image processing by Robinson
So what possessed you to build a dedicated room?
Back in 1994 I got into this hobby on a serious level. I had always enjoyed music and back in High School (the '60s) and College (early '70s) I had a 'Stereo System' that was semi-serious... at first a Wollensack reel to reel tape recorder (bedroom in parent's home), then AR speakers, Sansui receiver, and AR turntable (dorm room)... finally, Bose 901's, McIntosh, Dual turntable (own apartment). Then I got married and was a Bang & Olufsen guy for 15 years or so (boats, TV, kids, etc., were the priorities). The kids moved out, and I discovered the 'High End.'
At first I had the gear in the family room (connected to the kitchen/eating space)... competing with the noise of the dishwasher, the kitchen sink, and 'life' in general. I kept eyeing a large den (a favorite room of my wife) where we had a desk and piano. One afternoon when my wife was gone, I moved all my gear into the den. All of a sudden, I had a dedicated room... which was to be my audio home for the next nine years. I got lucky with the den; it had a very high ceiling (almost 11 feet), a bay window and floor to ceiling bookshelves on the rear wall. Soon the desk and piano were evicted and I settled into audio bliss in MY room.
Old Room - front... only 12 feet wide.
I won't get into all the gear I eventually went thru while in that room... but I touched a few bases... mostly Wilson, Levinson and Transparent... then... Rockport, Kharma and Tenor. I did spend considerable time trying to overcome the limitations of the 18 foot length and 12 foot width. As I came to the end of the road on system component performance I became increasingly aware of the limitations of the room has on ultimate system performance. Since my room was only 12 feet wide I had found that by over-damping the sidewalls I could still listen at moderately high levels…but there was still a closed in feeling... and the bass could get quite boomy on many cuts. It seemed that the room was limiting resolution and restricting the music from breaking loose.
[upload=jpg]Upload/200412823261049194.jpg[/upload]
