I’m in the process of building a new dedicated room and I’m in the design phase. My designer produced a concept where my gear / rack is in a separate room (basically a closet with a door). That room will have HVAC so I’m not worried about cooling and ventilation. The plan would be to run XLRs from the preamp in the room to the monoblocks which will be in the room near my two mains.
I’m curious to those who have dedicated spaces if you have your equipment in or outside of your listening room. I’ve seen a lot of the great pictures in the System Photos thread and almost all of them have the rack either between the two mains or off to the side. Is there a specific reason for this or was it done out of necessicity (lack of space, cable length cost savings, etc.)
I was lucky to be able to place everything but my amp and speakers in a closet that is on the other side of the front listening room wall. It’s literally only a few feet away but I very much enjoy not have anything but speakers visible and also nothing in the space where the stage and image (are allowed to) develop.
I would encourage the separate space even if it’s just a closet within the space. Build in the racks and ideally make both front and back of equipment accessible and you’re golden.
I have a P12 and all of the source gear in a closet and a set of 32’ XLR’s to my 300’s which are just a few feet from the speakers so the speaker leads are only 6 feet long. It works really well for my setup.
I’m doing a new room. Torn down the ceiling, walls, new windows, pretty much everything. My wife actually wanted the turntable visible in the room, she likes it, but she only uses Roon around the house. So I ordered a new unit that will contain all the audio, including my server which is currently in my office, and it will sit in a corner out of the way, with the turntable on top. Speaker wires are flat and will go under a rug.
I’m doing something similar. All the drywall is getting torn out and the room will have some level of isolation (clips, double drywall, etc). Acoustic paneling will be layered on top of that and I’ll have a stretched fabric as the visible layer. Also putting in a ducted Minisplit unit for the room.
I would love to see some photos your room as you make progress. I was thinking of starting a thread if anyone is interested in this stuff once I get going. Still planning, so it sure when that would be.
The gear in this space is in a separate closet, although the turntable is in the dining room. There’s just no aesthetically pleasing place to have all the equipment, so I’m happy that I have a closet where I can drill holes into the room for speaker/sub cables. (It’s behind the orange couch, accessible from a different room.)
We didn’t have to take down part of the ceiling in that room as it collapsed on its own accord. We are extending a bit sideways which involved a 10 foot deep trench for foundations, and we have had to rebuild the drainage. Just got the price for the power supply - $6,500 for 3 x 100A 3-phase supply - which takes 5 days of digging up roads and installation. So only one third the cost of Mr Fremer’s stereo-destroying supply. There will be a supply dedicated to the stereo, so it will be interesting to see if it has any benefit sound-wise.
The windows have -40db glass and the party wall left will be lined by a product that is only 30mm thick and claims to give -60db soundproofing. I’ll believe it when I don’t hear it.
It works out about $43 per sq m plus sales tax (20% in the UK). The idea is to create a sealed system, so you put sealant between the panels and cover the joints with tape. You also put sealant or rubber under the boards where they meet the floor.
The big advantage is that apparently you can screw them to the wall and it makes no difference to the acoustic properties. This is a massive saving on construction time. There is also a 24mm version rated at 46db.
