The 5.1.2 surround/Atmos system in my living room until earlier this year was reverted back to a simpler 5.2 system of lesser speakers. My 2.2 channel office system was also changed to a 2.1 system of lesser speakers.
This was all done because I became aware of several things I should have considered long before I spent the money. We live on the 2nd & 3rd floors of a 2-family home. Our 1st floor is a smaller apartment, rented to a now-84 yr old woman who is very nice. It seems I never noticed how my loud movies, concert DVD's, and music listening bothered her, she NEVER complains. And I was rarely watching surround-sound, I did more demos than actually watching. These two systems were on our main floor, the office above her bedroom and living room above hers.
Those lower floor rooms are all hardwood floors. Plenty of area rugs, plush furniture, artwork of walls, yet still a bit of "echo."
Now I've refocused to a 2-channel system and was pondering why that 3rd floor room sounds so good. It's horsehair plaster walls and ceilings. There's knee wall closets behind the north & south walls, with 2-1/2" foam up against the back and all sealed. Because of the roof line, there's angles between the walls and ceiling on those 2 walls. There's R-31 insulation right above the ceilings. On the floor is a 1/2" pad, 3/4" thick plush carpeting, and a Berber wool of top of that. Only one window, west side, and heavy drapes on it.
Absolutely nothing echoes in this room. It's dead quiet, and only a tiny bit of traffic noise raises the ambient noise level a wee bit, and that's just a low, non-descript hum. I have an app on my phone, and for kicks looked at the levels. Downstairs where things were, ambient levels are at 30dB to mid-40's! In my primary 2-ch listening room, it only rises above 20dB when someone is talking or the cat is purring in my ear.
What is your room like?
