Enter to Win: Rives Audio Test CD 2

[jaxvon]

I live in a dorm at the moment, so it's definitely not a permanent residence. Once I get an apartment I'll work on the acoustics. But until then, it's a lost cause in my room.

 

[kia303]

My wife is not real happy with the black panels on the walls and ceiling, so that is my main obstacle.

 

[The Chukker]

Our living room space has been completely supplanted by "our" [cough cough] home theater. My wife has been...mostly supportive of putting 7 full range speakers (and stands) as well as two subs, a/v furniture, and a large panel in a relatively small area that was not designed for that purpose. Oh and there are lots of holes drilled into the carpeting.

 

[mshell_cas]

Aesthetics / Decor / Spousal acceptance is the main issue. Just got the 5.1 setup up. The sub definitely needs to be out of the way of line-of-sight. I have 2 options, one is behind the entertainment center, which sits kitty-corner, but makes access to it hard and blocks sound waves, the other is next to the far end of the couch which is out of site. Haven't setteled on which I'll use yet.

Next to the couch, where the surrounds go, is a wood stove. There's brick around it, so when I watch movies I lift the left surround on top of the brick, which is ear level. I've got a thermomoter over there, making sure the fire isn't stoked up too much and getting to hot over there for the speaker. When not watching movies, it goes back on the floor.

Also, with a 2 1/2 year old running around, trying to keep her hands off the A/V receiver and such is a bit of a chore. And the TV needs to be out of sight, so it's in an entertainment center with doors that close, which limits me to a 30" TV (which I'm in the market for, btw), as long as the speakers are on the bottom of the TV and not the side. It gets the job done.

 

[king_rebar]

Aesthetics / Decor / Spousal acceptance is the main issue.

Dealing with a room with windows on two sides, a fireplace on another and a step up into the kitchen as the backwall! Not very conducive to a perfect setup. But with some creativity and hours of thinking, staring and walking around the room, I've been able to maximize the space's strengths and limit it's faults. Now if I could just stop overanalyzing and just enjoy...

 

[dmac]

First time with a REAL system, learning settings and placement of the speakers.

 

[Berty52]

The major factor here is the WAF...no for this, no for that, it's very hard to upgrade my system but with love and patience it's feasible

 

[royal crown]

Aesthetics wasn't a big deal for me, since my basement is my pigsty. It's so messy in there I doubt anyone would notice a few stray wires. The hardest part was just understanding how to wire speakers (parallel, series, series and parallel x_x)

 

[treetownal]

I live in a NYC apartment with floor to ceiling windows and hardwood floors. The acoustics are terrible and the space can't be broken down without shrinking the place into tiny rooms.

 

[MrMezz]

My room is well designed for ideal acoustics. However the width of the room is problematic. There is not alot of room to move my front speakers or Sub. The acoustics work well with the speakers I have but I would never be able to change to a large profile speaker system.

 

[Rickster71]

My wife is really cool, when it comes to adding to our HT equipment.
Our problem is the room. It has three door ways, and two wall heating ducts. Also the two couches. With the room dimensions being 18 X 12, I don't many choices as to speaker placement; something is always in the way.

 

[FLMike]

Definitely Aesthetics/Decor

Living in FL, I have tile floors, lots of windows, low ceilings and Drywall over block construction. The living room and Dining room run together and there is a pretty open floor plan. No room for a dedicated HTR room. So looks are important and present challenges.

 

[zincman]

Bulldozer

Brick walls and bulldozer

 

[kearaboss]

i dont know much about where to begin. i need to start looking into it

 

[jsamms]

Running the cables from where the speakers should be.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Definitely the biggest issue is not using a dedicated room, but a family room. The open floor plan with large windows and open space from the family room to the kitchen made basic placement of speakers very difficult from the beginning. Things are about where I like them now, but could definitely use some tweaking.

 

[Shaftoe]

Initially my issue was renting/planning to move. While living in an apartment it was difficult to test my acoustics as we had very thin walls and couldn't do anything too permanent anyway.

Now that we are in a house, I'm waiting on approval from the wife to decide on the decor she wants, then I can work around her ideas.

 

[bwood]

What is the biggest obstacle in getting the acoustics in your room right? How are you planning to overcome that obstacle?

i had never even considered room acoustics till i found this site a few months ago, and a coworker has been telling me about it also. I did the clap test in my room and its pretty echoy. For starters i want to get some wall tapestrys or something to absorb some, then try making the DIY absorbers on this site

 

[Reorx]

Contest Question: What was/is the biggest obstacle in getting the acoustics in your room right?
The Furniture, and The Wife. I cannot position the living room the way I want. Also, I need a new subwoofer.

How did/are you planning to overcome that obstacle?
I am not. When we build a house, I will have a dedicated theater room.
I will hopefully be buying a new subwoofer soon.

Reorx

 

[Hipnotic4]

1-No real obstical at all. Just had to move some furniture. My speaker placement is going to be PERFECT for my 2.1 setup.

2-Like stated before, just had to move a few things.