My newly refinished music listening room

KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Let me start by writing that this room is the culmination of the evolution of my audio journey from the time of a "reawakening" of an old passion around the end of 2015, to where I am now. The long version is that I had assembled a decent 5.1.2 surround system in our living room. I used it more for music than movies, because I'm ADHD prone and can't sit though a movie. I did it mainly for my wife, who is a huge movie-watcher. The was a waste, she hated surround sound and (to her) the bone-shaking subwoofer. All KEF R series, and an SB2000 sub running off an NAD T758v3. The seating positions were horrible relative to the TV and surrounds too high.

Meanwhile, I was building a nice 2-channel system in my office. That got up to being LS50 Meta, a pair of KEF Kube 10b subs, and an NAD M10 streamer/amp. I even got a decent turntable in there and had 100 records in a bookcase in the living room. Problem there was that being on the 2nd floor of the 2-family home we own, my office is right over our good tenant's bedroom. She started playing some kind of "white noise" whenever I turned up the music.

In a 3rd floor guest bedroom, I had a 3rd system of various used bits to make up a 5.1 system. In late 2020, I got LS50 Meta and put my original LS50's in that room. The acoustics were better than either my office or our living room! Over a few months time, I moved the bed out and got a used chair to sit in the sweet spot. Then I moved out the tall dresser, got my son to build me a record rack. More time goes by and I sold off the R series speakers in the living room, downsizing to a passive soundbar, a pair of KEF T101 wall-mount speakers for surrounds, and moved the pair of Kube 10b subs to the living room. I also sold off the LS50 Meta and NAD M10 to fund getting KEF Reference 1 speakers. I then had my son build a 2nd record rack, then make me some long shelves to get both my turntables on one surface. Using the 4 threaded rods from my Salamander Designs Archetype 3.0 and buying two more, I then made aluminum tubes as spacers and assembled a cool audio rack. Bought the Reference 1's, later added the Luxman L-505uX Mark 2 integrated.

This year (2023) was the year to rip into the stairwell that leads to my music room, the vestibule between the two bedrooms, and them the music room itself. All of the 3rd floor of our home is still old horsehair plaster from the 1920 build date of our home. The tenant's apartment and our main floor are all drywall. I could afford to do drywall, from both an expense and a time standpoint. I stripped 35+ yr old wallpaper off the horsehair plaster, fixed a zillion holes, dents, and even big sections missing. My son built a wall with door across the vestibule to enable building in a bathroom in the future. The music room got emptied into the new storage room, and in 5 days I was done. I waited two days for new carpeting and moved back in, but 180º flipped orientation.

All I have left is to build a few acoustic panels, though the acoustics in this room are already better than any listening room at my dealer. I've added some of my photos, some of my dear brother's artwork, and a few album covers as art.

Overview_04-23-23.jpg
 

Attachments

Last edited:
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
Nice to see some Luxman units.....best sounding equipment I ever heard. I would gladly murder whoever took/has my Luxman R-117.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Nice room! Curious, why sit so close to the rear wall? That work better than moving the speakers more towards the front wall and moving seating forward?
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Nice room! Curious, why sit so close to the rear wall? That work better than moving the speakers more towards the front wall and moving seating forward?
Pictures can be very deceptive. There's about 3 feet/1m behind my head, and it's plenty.

I've spent a good amount of time on placement and spacing of the speakers from the wall and each other, and to the main listening position. Trust me, it's f'n perfect.
:)

BTW, the room is exactly 13.5 feet x 13.5 feet square.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Pictures can be very deceptive. There's about 3 feet/1m behind my head, and it's plenty.

I've spent a good amount of time on placement and spacing of the speakers from the wall and each other, and to the main listening position. Trust me, it's f'n perfect.
:)

BTW, the room is exactly 13.5 feet x 13.5 feet square.
LOL figured you'd done your tweaking :) altho that different seating drives my ocd a bit nuts ;)

Yes, the picture doesn't look like the measurements you mention!
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
LOL figured you'd done your tweaking :) altho that different seating drives my ocd a bit nuts ;)

Yes, the picture doesn't look like the measurements you mention!
The Eames Stressless clone chair is the one in the MLP. The other is where I sit when I have a guest. I would buy a matching chair, but even those clones are not cheap.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
The Eames Stressless clone chair is the one in the MLP. The other is where I sit when I have a guest. I would buy a matching chair, but even those clones are not cheap.
My style would be more to just have the Eames clone by itself, and only drag another chair into the picture if needed :) Then I'd still have trouble giving up my ideal seat unless its someone who might appreciate such.

ps And that would be a touch of ocd that made sure each seat had the ideal positioning....or not. Not just the seat itself, altho that would help :)
 
Last edited:
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
You're lucky lovinthehd didn't notice the dog bed is off axis. :)
Beautiful room....the orange makes me happy.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
You're lucky lovinthehd didn't notice the dog bed is off axis. :)
Beautiful room....the orange makes me happy.
:p

We don't have a dog...just 2 cats. And neither one is currently using it. My wife was just looking for a place to put it until they come around to using it again. Which one of them will, eventually.

BTW, the color is Benjamin Moore's "Jeweled Peach", and nearly impossible to reproduced with a phone camera. It's one of their colors which changes tone dramatically depending upon how the light hits it. In the bright light it is a flat orange, but in the shadows it can be almost a deep red. It's cool, and why I chose it.
 
Last edited:
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Nice to see some Luxman units.....best sounding equipment I ever heard. I would gladly murder whoever took/has my Luxman R-117.
Those R-117's were the sleeper among the "receiver wars" of the 1970's into the early 1990's. From the days of when Alpine owned Luxman, they had tremendous output with very low distortion. I hope that you can replace it someday, though these days people seem to know what they're really worth.

My Luxman L-505uX Mark 2 is still a current model, though the L-507 and L-509 above it have both been replaced by the new L-507Z and L-509Z. Luxman is now owned by a Chinese company and they tried to make them there for a year or so but quality suffered so they reopened the Japanese factory and today the quality is exceptional again.
 
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
Those R-117's were the sleeper among the "receiver wars" of the 1970's into the early 1990's. From the days of when Alpine owned Luxman, they had tremendous output with very low distortion. I hope that you can replace it someday, though these days people seem to know what they're really worth.

My Luxman L-505uX Mark 2 is still a current model, though the L-507 and L-509 above it have both been replaced by the new L-507Z and L-509Z. Luxman is now owned by a Chinese company and they tried to make them there for a year or so but quality suffered so they reopened the Japanese factory and today the quality is exceptional again.
The R117 was just a beast in so many ways....I was working at a high end car audio shop in 89' and our Alpine rep brought the Luxman line in for the home audio shop we were opening.....and MB Quart speakers.
I was blown away by both and got the R117 at cost (which was around 1300 even back then)
Luxman is just pure bliss in every way. I can't afford them now, but if I could I wouldn't consider anything else.

Managed to score some MB Quarts off Ebay 12 years ago...still my favorite line of speakers...shame they are gone.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Moved the record racks to the inside, right next to the audio gear rack, so I could get more spacing between the speakers. They are now 10-1/2' (3.2m) apart.

The soundstage got considerably wider without losing any depth and perhaps adding a little more height. The center image remains uncanny.

The subwoofer remains totally blended, unlocatable. Definitely the right move.

Room_View_04-29-23.jpg
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Let me start by writing that this room is the culmination of the evolution of my audio journey from the time of a "reawakening" of an old passion around the end of 2015, to where I am now. The long version is that I had assembled a decent 5.1.2 surround system in our living room. I used it more for music than movies, because I'm ADHD prone and can't sit though a movie. I did it mainly for my wife, who is a huge movie-watcher. The was a waste, she hated surround sound and (to her) the bone-shaking subwoofer. All KEF R series, and an SB2000 sub running off an NAD T758v3. The seating positions were horrible relative to the TV and surrounds too high.

Meanwhile, I was building a nice 2-channel system in my office. That got up to being LS50 Meta, a pair of KEF Kube 10b subs, and an NAD M10 streamer/amp. I even got a decent turntable in there and had 100 records in a bookcase in the living room. Problem there was that being on the 2nd floor of the 2-family home we own, my office is right over our good tenant's bedroom. She started playing some kind of "white noise" whenever I turned up the music.

In a 3rd floor guest bedroom, I had a 3rd system of various used bits to make up a 5.1 system. In late 2020, I got LS50 Meta and put my original LS50's in that room. The acoustics were better than either my office or our living room! Over a few months time, I moved the bed out and got a used chair to sit in the sweet spot. Then I moved out the tall dresser, got my son to build me a record rack. More time goes by and I sold off the R series speakers in the living room, downsizing to a passive soundbar, a pair of KEF T101 wall-mount speakers for surrounds, and moved the pair of Kube 10b subs to the living room. I also sold off the LS50 Meta and NAD M10 to fund getting KEF Reference 1 speakers. I then had my son build a 2nd record rack, then make me some long shelves to get both my turntables on one surface. Using the 4 threaded rods from my Salamander Designs Archetype 3.0 and buying two more, I then made aluminum tubes as spacers and assembled a cool audio rack. Bought the Reference 1's, later added the Luxman L-505uX Mark 2 integrated.

This year (2023) was the year to rip into the stairwell that leads to my music room, the vestibule between the two bedrooms, and them the music room itself. All of the 3rd floor of our home is still old horsehair plaster from the 1920 build date of our home. The tenant's apartment and our main floor are all drywall. I could afford to do drywall, from both an expense and a time standpoint. I stripped 35+ yr old wallpaper off the horsehair plaster, fixed a zillion holes, dents, and even big sections missing. My son built a wall with door across the vestibule to enable building in a bathroom in the future. The music room got emptied into the new storage room, and in 5 days I was done. I waited two days for new carpeting and moved back in, but 180º flipped orientation.

All I have left is to build a few acoustic panels, though the acoustics in this room are already better than any listening room at my dealer. I've added some of my photos, some of my dear brother's artwork, and a few album covers as art.

View attachment 61581
It looks as if you have an SME series II arm on the turntable to the left. So you have good taste.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
It looks as if you have an SME series II arm on the turntable to the left. So you have good taste.
Thank you.

The turntable on the left is a Micro Seiki-built (to Luxman specs) direct drive Luxman PD-121U, and yes that's an SME 3009R tonearm. The one on the right is a much newer belt drive Luxman PD-171A with its stock Jelco SA-250 arm, also specially built to Luxman specs. The PD-171A is noticeably quieter than the older one.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Thank you.

The turntable on the left is a Micro Seiki-built (to Luxman specs) direct drive Luxman PD-121U, and yes that's an SME 3009R tonearm. The one on the right is a much newer belt drive Luxman PD-171A with its stock Jelco SA-250 arm, also specially built to Luxman specs. The PD-171A is noticeably quieter than the older one.
What sort of noise does that Micro Seiki make? My turntables are older than that and don't make noise.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
What sort of noise does that Micro Seiki make? My turntables are older than that and don't make noise.
Oddly enough, it's the tonearm itself. While playing a record it's fine. As soon as I touch the cueing lever as it traverses the deadwax area, it transmits every little touch. No hum, not a grounding problem, just that it's very sensitive.

In contrast, there's nothing like that out of the PD-171A. Both are actually better than the E.A.T. C-Major or reworked AR XB that they replaced.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Oddly enough, it's the tonearm itself. While playing a record it's fine. As soon as I touch the cueing lever as it traverses the deadwax area, it transmits every little touch. No hum, not a grounding problem, just that it's very sensitive.

In contrast, there's nothing like that out of the PD-171A. Both are actually better than the E.A.T. C-Major or reworked AR XB that they replaced.
I have an SME series II and it does nothing like that. Has someone removed the rubber bushings from the mounting holes, or turned down the mounting screws too hard? Either would prevent the arm from being isolated from the turntable itself.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
I have an SME series II and it does nothing like that. Has someone removed the rubber bushings from the mounting holes, or turned down the mounting screws too hard? Either would prevent the arm from being isolated from the turntable itself.
I have no clue. The instructions I downloaded are fairly useless, very little written detail and horrible illustrations. The tonearm is mounted on a cam-lock armboard specific to this turntable.
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top