Dedicated Room or Living Room Pros & Cons

[misterdoggy]

Hi All,

I thought this might be an interesting topic. I have a friend who built a home cinema room in his basement. I have mine in the living room.

Me: I watch Sat-Tv and HT and listen casually to music playing thru the house from the living room. The family is together a lot watching movies and TV in the evening.

My friend: They only go to the dedicated room to watch movies a few times a month. Now he is talking about getting rid of the large screeen and going with a plasma in the living room.

You might find yourself alone in your dedicated room, as no one else might appreciate the room as much as you do. For some that might be great (added) it might be a time of peace and relaxation. For me I like being with the family so its in the living Room.

Also since I work from home and sometime am the only one here I can play it loud and no one complains.

Whats you viewpoint ? opcorn:

[Kobus]

I have a recently build dedicated room.

Some of my obvious pro's are:
Easier to sound-proof.

Can do some accoustic treatment without interfereing with "home-decor"/wife.

My biggest pro is - if I go in there and close the sliding door, it is like entering a different world, and when I want to do some serious music listening the silence is wonderful. This can not be created in a family room/ genaral TV room. If I was not serious about music, I doubt if a dedicated room would have been worth it.

I do not watch casual TV in there, only movies and music DVD's.

Obviously one does need a TV/music in the rest of the house as well.

I think it is important that the dedicated room must be "part" of the house.

Kobus

[Karma]

HI All,
I have never been able to have a real dedicated listening room. Currently, what most people would call a living room is my listening room. It is as dedicated as I can make it but it's still multipurpose. It's not too bad because it is fairly large and is carefully acoustically treated. Because of its size and the wall dimension ratios it has decent bass characteristics. It's for music only. The stereo completely dominates the room. The listening position is for one person only. That is the only point in space where the speakers really focus. And focus they do. This system can image better than most.

My HT is in my bedroom where I have set it up as best I can. Here is where my B&W's reside. It's size dictates that it is a serious compromise. However, the HT system still kicks A**. It has really been a lot of fun setting this system up. The set-up, equipment acquisitions, and room treatment has tested my knowledge to the max. But, I can say without qualifications that it works much better than it should.

I would do a dedicated (for both music and theater) room in a microsecond if, for example, I were building a house. By doing so I could have complete control over the building materials, room size and shape, and listening position. Most of the acoustic quirks we have to normally fight trying to create multipurpose rooms, and for which there are no complete solutions, would simply not exist in a purpose designed room.

Doggy, I do relate to the issue of wanting to share and be with the family. So, I guess I would have to have a second "TV" room for that. But that is a reasonable solution don't you think?

Sparky

[caleb]

100% right Kobus - I tried it both ways and the dedicated room wins hands down.

Trouble with trying to make a theatre out of a living room is that you end up with neither.

I moved all my kit upstairs so that I could : -

1) Soundproof the room - my nose will bleed before the rest of the family hear the sound.

2) allows me to do what I want and the wife to do what she wants, and then junior can also do his thing in his room too.

By the way Kobus - whereabouts are you in Cape Town?

[Kobus]

Hi caleb,

Durbanville

Waar de fok is Pongoland.

Cheers

Kobus

[caleb]

Dis is 'n klein dorpie just outside of Table View ! He he he

[misterdoggy]

Kobus and Caleb

Your conversation sounds x-rated if you ask me. Don't ask me.

What about dedicated room or living room topic ?

[alebonau]

yes interesting topic mr doggy.

I used to have a dedicated music room. Lost that priveledge a year or so ago and had to give it up to be converted into a baby room !

Since then combined both my 2ch gear and ht stuff into the living room.

Funnily I actually prefer it this way now.

For one thing the dedicated room was your typical rectangular type and the current one is lot more open plan and spread over a larger area. My soundstage has opened up like you would not imagine and my mains prefer the additional room to breathe. And actually great to have my 2ch and ht gear combined so can enjoy and flick between TV to CD to sacd/dvd-a multichannel audio whatever in the same room same system.

The other bonus with it being a lounge room is its already furnished - curtain, lounges, carpets cushions etc so room treatments for me not an issue.

Do like the social side to as when friends come over we can all enjoy a bit of music or whatever in the lounge room and don;t have to head away to the listening room for that. For the family side I'm not taking myself off and locking myself into a room everytime I want to listen.

The downsides - a bit compromised in setup - can't have speakers sitting a meter out into the loungeroom for the best soundstage - nto a big issue as mine are a boundary design anyways but if I had another speaker it would be an issue. I have 8 speakers in the room which some might find a bit too much for a lounge room - and theres all that equipment thats hard to ignore as well - some liek their lounge rooms pretty spartan these days. Rules out possibility of considering any huge mains speakers or large displays / PJ's as would be too imposing and dominate the lounge room

Can't always crank it up as listenign area is part of the rest of the house. And plus open to distractions and people wandering around and wanting to talkk to you etc.

On the bonus side wife tends to join in a lot more in listening than before when I was stuck away in the listening room - think that used to get on her nerves !

Pretty happy as am now. understand and accept the compromises - well have to anyway ...since doubt gettign my music room back for another 20 years at least !

[ZX10 Guy]

I have a dedicated room being finished off right now. To me it's the only way to go if you are spending serious money on your equipment. What good is it to buy high dollar equipment and only get part of the performance you've paid for it. It's unfortunate in this hobby that everyone agrees to buy the speaker, pre/pro, or amp, but leave out a piece of equipment that is just as important and in many ways more important than any equipment which is the room acoustics.

Also I don't see why a dedicated room would be non-conducive for family to gather in. It's just a few steps in one direction to get to it. It's not like the dedicated room is a shed in the back yard.

I built my dedicated room as best as I could for ultimate peformance in mind but also to have it integrated with the rest of my house. The room is nice that I can also entertain in it and it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb that everyone knows it's a single purpose room. I also chose not to make it look like a theater as this is my house and when the lights dim I don't even see the theater facade anyways. But for casual TV/movie viewing, I will have a separate system that is still better than 80% of systems out there in my family room.

[caleb]

Mr Doggy - look four posts up for my comments, and six posts up for Kobus's comments.

[misterdoggy]

Its all 'pongo' talk to me. I'm happy for you guys to talk pongo talk, I just didn't want to lose momentum on the subject at hand.

I do a lot of busines with south africa australia and new zealand. They've all got great Rugby teams. Of course the French are coming on strong, but I was always a fan of the "All Blacks" in the "old days"

[RebelMan]

It's all about a man and his cave!

Rooms are what you make of them not what they make of you. Our existing "all together now" everything room has out lived its usefulness. It will continue to be the room that it is but it is no longer capable of being the room that I need.

I am developing a dedicated "entertainment" room to satisfy my solitary desires. I welcome the day when I can retreat into sanctuary bliss and escape the distractions of our modern world, aka the family.

My wife can have the house, I will own the WORLD! :lol:

[misterdoggy]

It very interesting. So far there are more who like to have their "hide away" or "secret garden" so to speak.

[RobP]

You know its funny, I put my equipment in a downstairs room because it was a place in the house that no one really used, I planned on making a mancave out of the space, but soon changed my mind when I seen how much fun it was to get the family together and watch a movie. It seems to be the place where everyone migrates to at the end of the day. Would I want a dedicated room all to myself? I dont think so.

[misterdoggy]

that's "exactly" how I feel too.

Its like having a castle in the sky all to myself. Its more interesting for me to share it with my family.

[aphexist]

It's like having a secret garden where nobody laughs when you cry at the movies.

I have a dedicated room because of the light-blocking needs of front projectors, my overprotectiveness of my equipment, and my general hatred of social interaction.

[RebelMan]

The family is always welcome but there might be ocassions when you want time for personal solace. If you like all the ambient noise coming from the "stuff" around you then why put the time, money and effort into something that can't be fully enjoyed? It would be kind of like owning an exotic sports car. It's great to look at but how often can you really open it up without breaking any rules? With a dedicated room you have the best of both worlds. You can share the room when you want to or enjoy it all to yourself. There are no rules!

When you make it the best room in your house, who wouldn't want in?

[misterdoggy]

Like having a Ferrari and always going the speed limit !

[RobP]

Luckily, my wife understands my hobbies, she doesn't mind when I open it up. She's kind of used to it though, in some way or another I have always been involved in sound, in work and in play, so its the norm at my house. My daughter is even becoming a bit of a music and audio fan.

[RebelMan]

You got that right doggy. :P

SG, if your basement was more convienient to access, might you think differently? Unfortunately, my wife is not into this hobby. She is a casual listener at best. However, my wife is also six months pregnant and I already have plans for junior and the room; which will eventually become known as the MEN cave! :rofl:

I bet she will take on more interest then. :B

[GregLett]

I long for a dedicated room. I've had tooo much issues with the waf factor.
She has no interest in the hobby. She likes movies, but she could watch it on a 5 inch screen and be happy. We both want me to have a music room, and she likes the idea of a family room, no gear in the living room. So for me two rooms is the dream.

[RobP]

You got that right doggy. :P

SG, if your basement was more convienient to access, might you think differently?

Hmmm............ Good question, I thought about this one, and I really don't think it would be any different to me, I have just never had any issues with the WAF, plus I have never needed a space of my own to get away from things. Is that weird? :huh:

Now I would like to add on another room that was a totally dedicated space just from the aspect that I would have total control of the acoustic and architectural aspects.
I have big ideas for one, I want a lobby with a ticket booth, a concession area, two bathrooms, an equipment booth, and of course the theatre space itself.
I could design it any way that I wanted, and would not have to work around any obstacles like I am having to in my room I have now.

[RobP]

By the way Rebelman, congrats on the baby coming, is this your first?

[RebelMan]

By the way Rebelman, congrats on the baby coming, is this your first?

Thanks SG. He will be our first. He took about as long to create as the new 800's but he is also more precious than diamonds. :lol: