The pefect listening room.

[Josh Duplantier]

So i, like many, desire a room that is perfect to listen to music in. But i am really new the the field of acoustics, audio, and sound in general. Basically i have a dream to create a room with the best sound system in the world and also the best acoustics as well. I want to be able to stand anywhere in the room and feel like im still right in front of the speakers .The speakers should/will be good enough to reproduce the sound of a crackling leaf with no distortion yet also be able to reproduce the low notes of an erupting volcano as if you were actually standing near a volcano. I listen to a lot of bass heavy music, for example, Kromestar - rainy dayz or Mala - Explorer. The music i listen to, although really bass heavy is very broad in the range of sounds that are included so the speakers and room will have to be able to be very crisp, and accurate in the sound reproduction. Most of this music isnt really played on home systems but more on large pa systems like funktion ones or void audio. I would describe my room in further detail but i really dont know what to say or describe. What i do know is that i want to learn what i need to know in order to make this perfect room.

 

[rojo]

Hey Josh, and welcome!

That's a tall request. What's your budget? If money's no object, or if you just like audio gear porn, start with this Status Acoustics Titus 8T review.

For the room itself, do you already have a room in mind? What are its dimensions? Does it have carpet or reflective flooring?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Welcome.

Hope you have a very deep pocket for this dream.

Here is a link to a custom free standing building that is a listening room specifically designed as such:

Inmate Picture Gallery

Not sure about his equipment but the room should be pretty good.

 

[Josh Duplantier]

I am not trying to have someone make this room for me, i want to learn how to make this room/speakers/and everything inbetween, myself. My problem is not knowing what i need to know.

 

[ImcLoud]

I love posts like this... A while back remember an article in stereophile {I believe} where a company in the UK built a small building for "perfect sound reproduction" a weird floor plan where the room went from narrow to wide, pitched ceilings, acoustic tiles and traps, and really high end audio equipment, with a single seat.... Then they went to town trying to tune it with all kinds of gear and let some "well trained ears" take a listen, the results were mixed some loved it and its complexity others called it a waste of resources...

But anyway, if you have a room in your home that you want to make a "music only room" I think you will be more satisfied spending money making it comfortable than going crazy trying to make it sound friendly, in other words a comfortable chair and a decor that you can live with may give you more enjoyment than sitting on a milk crate holding an acoustic panel over your head at a 33 degree angle because it sounds better that way..

Now of course this is just my opinion in my home I have 2 kind of dedicated listening rooms, 1 of which is our formal parlor, no tv and a 2.2 system that only plays music, I set it up to look good and have furniture in the room that I am sure changes the sound a little for the worse, but it sounds great looks great and I dont have to have painted egg crates covering my cathedral ceilings... My other room is actually the living room in my guest suite, which has a tv but is not hooked to the sound system, its smaller than the other room and IMO more music friendly, I am constantly juggling around speakers and listening to different material in there, its a room where my wife wont complain when I have 4 pairs of speakers stacked up and wires running across the floor...

So the moral of the story, sure set the room up for great sound, but don't get so hung up that it takes away from the experience and your comfort.. good luck and post pics...

 

[ski2xblack]

Pretty big topic, Josh. Entire books have been written about it. If you want to follow this through it will be a lengthy (but worthy) endeavor. I recommend Floyd Toole's book Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms as a start. Your ears, not to mention your wallet, will thank you for implementing what you learn from it.

 

[agarwalro]

From a purely acoustical reproduction stand point, a large hall with properly designed/implemented sound control would be as close to ideal as one can get. In a venue as big as the average symphony hall, room modes and problems with sound reflections become non existent and it has been designed to have a controlled reverberation time. I forget which hall has movable panels on the roof to allow the sound engineer to close them for more reverberation and open them for less. Somewhere in Europe.

In a home theater setting, the best one can hope for is something like the control room of a recording studio. Both are constructed to reduce standing waves (hence the non parallel walls and odd shapes) and designed so that reflected sound is either partially absorbed and/or dispersed. If I recall correctly, reflected sounds should be -30dB of original (hence acoustical panels at first and second reflection points). Further, the overall acoustical energy in the room must dissipate within a certain time. RT60 is a commonly used metric and is the amount of time a tone takes to decay to -60dB of the original. RT60 is frequency/room dependent but, an ideal one would be a straight line across the spectrum (energy is dissipated equally at all frequencies) and a value of 0.3 to 0.4 seconds is considered optimal (hence bass traps).

The HT Construction section on AVS is a great resource too.

 

[mtrycrafts]

..., i want to learn how to make this room/speakers/and everything inbetween, myself. My problem is not knowing what i need to know.

I figured this is the case. I like to do things myself too but know my limits.
As suggested, your first class then is to read and understand Floyd Tool's book as was mentioned.