Hello from Karachi!
Have browsed these forums for many years, and have just now made my account and posting for the first time…Warning, it will be a long one, but hopefully some of you find it interesting.
Like many of you, I have accumulated my system over the years. Gone from Tubes to SS and Back… Speakers I’ve had from the Klipschorns to Proac ribbon tweeters. Living in Pakistan, unfortunately purchasing a sound system is largely a leap of faith, because there are no demos or (practically no) authorized dealers. Even the audiophile community is very small.
But eventually, I have arrived at a system which I don’t see upgrading really anytime soon (yeah,right! I know!). Currently, I am the lucky owner of:
Speakers: Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 8
Preamp: Nagra Pl-L
Power Amps: Nagra VPA Monoblocks
Digital Front: PS Audio DirectStream Jr.
Analog Front: VPI Scout (with Clearaudio Stradivari v2 Cart) and a Avid Pellar Phono Stage
Power: PS Audio P5
Interconnects: Transparent
Power: All PS Audio power cables
I also have the good fortune of having my own listening room. Already you can tell the numerous problems from the picture below: Glass door to the left, Off center placement, no treatments to the room, etc. What you can not tell from the picture is due to space constraints, the room is almost a new perfect square! 17.5’ x 18’.
About a year ago, a friend of mine inaugurated a recording studio in Karachi, one that had been designed by a John H. Brandt (www.jhbrandt.net). And what a space it turned out to be! Sitting in that control room was the most fun I’d had in years! The punchy bass, the glorious vocals… But more than just that: Just talking in that room was wonderful. Your own voice took on this wonderful timber.
So I setup a call with John, and he was nice enough to basically tell me that nothing could be done unless I could change the dimensions of the room. Many months passed by, and I kept mulling it around in my mind. You have to understand that I LOVED the way my system sounded. But I also couldn’t get DreamStation studios out of my mind.
So some time over my summer vacation, I convinced myself (and the wife!) that I was gonna do this. Got a conference call set up, he understood the things that I wanted to do, and we agreed to basically push the left wall out about 8.5’ (so that the dimensions would be approximately 17.5’ x 26’), and shift the entire orientation of the room by 90 degrees clockwise… After a lot of back and forth, I have received the attached layout… along the walls are all the various treatments to keep the room response relatively flatter, yet lively.
I have just contracted out the carpenter’s work on the treatments a few days ago and the construction work has just started yesterday.
My reason for posting here is a) to share with you guys since I’ve picked up so much over the years and b) get some insights from all here about the ongoing project.
If there is any interest, I will continue to update you guys on the progress with pics, etc.
Thanks for listening,
Fauzi
Originally posted on audionirvana.org but putting it here as I learn a lot from this forum as well… Thanks.