Dedicated Acoustic Listening Room

Owner

System edited: Removed RPG BAD panel/frames from front wall. The RPG BAD templates are being installed as the front of the rear wall absorber box scheduled for install 7/31/15. The RPG Modex plates and BAD ARC panels are scheduled to be shipped the week of 8/3/15.

lwhitefl July 29, 2015 23:26

Owner

System edited: The Listen Audio diffusers were installed today on the left and right side walls. The exact positions were specified by Acoustic Frontiers. The RPG modex plates and BAD ARC panels should arrive and be installed sometime during the first half of August. The local company that installed the diffusers today is building the rear wall absorber box. One of the three RPG BAD templates currently used in the floor standing frames was disassembled today. The installer took that one RPG BAD template with them for sizing since all three templates will form the front of the absorber box.

lwhitefl July 10, 2015 21:53

Owner

System edited: Received the first of the interior wall acoustic panels. The the Listen Audio (listen-speakers.com) natural birch diffusers - beautiful craftsmanship. They are the last 4 panels on side walls - see plan picture just posted. I expect to receive the RPG modex and BAD ARC panels next month. A local company will install the panels and build the absorber box for the rear wall.

lwhitefl June 24, 2015 23:11

Owner

System edited: System description updated to reflect upcoming interior wall acoustic device installations.

lwhitefl May 21, 2015 18:04

Owner

System edited: Floor standing RPG BAD panels in new frames. Height increased to position panels above high/mid frequency drivers.

lwhitefl March 01, 2015 20:48

Owner

System edited: Added Definitive Technology surrounds to the rear side walls. Building floor standing frames for the RPG BAD panels at the first reflection points.

lwhitefl February 26, 2015 22:59

Owner

The big change between the C3.0 and C3.1 is the improved tweeter because it covers such a large frequency band. The C3.1 tweeter membrane is driven over a much larger area and the non-driven areas have been reduced by more than 90%.

I purchased and installed the C3.1 tweeters in my C3.0's and it was a significant improvement.

lwhitefl February 19, 2015 00:23

I heard a pair of Raidho c3.1 and they are the best speakers I've ever heard. In addition,they are beautiful to look at. How do the 3s compare?

ricred1 February 18, 2015 14:07

Again,...congratulations on the new room, it looks great!

zephyr24069 February 17, 2015 13:35

Owner

There's better articulation, more precise instrument positioning and air, the bass is stronger although perhaps could be slightly better defined.

I'm sure there's going to be some additional acoustic treatments coming, but the room more than meets my initial expectations.

lwhitefl February 16, 2015 22:16

CONGRATULATIONS! How does it sound???

zephyr24069 February 16, 2015 11:33

Owner

System edited: Began listening to music and watched a couple of movies this weekend. The acoustics are better than expected to start, but will likely evolve over the coming year.

lwhitefl February 16, 2015 01:04

Owner

System edited: Preparing for move to new media room by the end of this week.

lwhitefl February 11, 2015 02:32

Owner

System edited: The media room is complete except for installing the front projector support equipment. By the end of next week I expect to be listening to music and watching film for the first time in my new media room:-)

lwhitefl February 09, 2015 04:06

Owner

System edited: The floating wood floors were installed today. Visually the room looks larger than before and the acoustics are improving.

lwhitefl February 06, 2015 00:12

Owner

System edited: The past two days the acoustic "clouds" with white led room lighting, projection screen, and front projector mount was moved from the FR ceiling to the new media room ceiling. The acoustic "clouds" dramatically reduced the intensity and duration of the slap echo in the room. I'm now optimistic when the wood floor, furnishings, wool area rugs, equipment, and remaining front wall acoustic floor panels are moved into the room; the audio will sound pretty good for starters. By the end of this week the addition wood floors, the door trim & baseboard, solid-core doors including the sealed media room door with threshold will be completed. I'm expecting to be able to move my equipment to the new media room in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

lwhitefl February 04, 2015 01:01

Owner

System edited: With help from my dealer I was able to install the EMM Labs MDAT2 firmware update this past Saturday on my XDS1 v2. I was immediately struck by the increased articulation, openness, inner detail and separation, the increased attack and authority. The bass is most obviously better defined and solid. This upgrade is indeed not subtle! It's truly amazing what mathematics can do for music!

lwhitefl January 21, 2015 02:59

Owner

System edited: Soundboard XP ceiling (knockdown) and walls (orange peel) were completed this week. The trim carpentry will be next for the room including the sealed solid core door at the entrance. The finished wall dimensions (15'-3 3/8"W x 19'-6 1/2"L x 11'H) are very close to the acoustic design plan. Probably not surprisingly the room has a major slap echo at this point. But you can hear a deepening of voices when entering the room resulting from the "floating" wall system. Hopefully the echo will be considerably reduced or eliminated when the acoustic "clouds" are moved from the FR ceiling to the new media room ceiling, the "floating" wood floors are installed, furnishings are added along with the wool area rug from the FR, and the floor standing RPG BAD panels at the speaker first reflection points are in place. Hopefully I'll be listening to music in this room by early March. I'm sure over the next 6 - 12 months listening will reveal if and where additional acoustic treatments may be needed.

lwhitefl January 18, 2015 23:08

Owner

System edited: Soundboard XP damped drywall completed and acoustic sealant applied where walls meet ceiling, floor, and other walls. All drywall activity to be complete by end of next week. After painting completed all ceiling mounted components from the existing media room-FR (acoustic "clouds", front projector and screen) will be moved from the current media room to the new media room.

lwhitefl January 10, 2015 18:51

Owner

System edited: Soundboard XP has been applied to media room ceiling. Acoustic sealant was used to fill intentional 1/4" gap at all points between damped drywall and CBS walls. Normal drywall taping and mudding will be used for finish.

lwhitefl January 07, 2015 20:04

Owner

System edited: Media room insulation installed. Next week damped drywall will be installed on the ceiling, the quarter inch gap between all walls and drywall end will be acoustically sealed. Pictures will be taken for the county inspector to compile with the local fire stop code.

lwhitefl December 24, 2014 18:30

Owner

System edited: New media room 19-1/2'L x 15-1/2'W x 11'H finished dimensions.

lwhitefl December 14, 2014 20:40

Owner

I am excited about having a dedicated listening room built with acoustics designed into the plan vis-a-vie the room size, "floating" wall system, and dedicated power. But I'm not sure if I'm going to implement the full acoustic design envisioned. I'll start with the RPG BAD ceiling "clouds" moved from the FR, and the (3) RPG BAD panels positioned at the first reflection points on the front wall and right front side wall. That's the same acoustics I'm using now in the FR that sound very good. The only thing I may do extra initially in the new media room is have the contractor build a 6'h x 6'w x 12"d frame on the rear wall screwed into the hat channel and filled with fiberglass for absorption. The designer recommended the frame faced with the (3) RPG BAD panels, but I would replace the RPG BAD panels with (3) absorber panels I have in the FR upper decorator area.

The current media room state consists of the "floating" wall system comprised of 130 Kinetics Isomax clips screwed to 1-1/2" furring strips nailed to CBS blocks on all four walls, and 440 linear feet of hat channel. R-11 open faced fiberglass (3-1/2" thickness) will be added behind the hat channel, and damped drywall will be screwed to the front of the hat channel. The whole "floating" wall system will add 3-1/2" to each CBS wall, but the finished room dimensions will be very close to the optimum room size (19-1/2'L x 15-1/2'W x 11'H) recommended by Acoustic Frontiers.

The media room A/V electronics will be served by a dedicated 100A electrical sub-panel with (4) 20A circuits on the same phase. The #12 wiring for each circuit will have the neutral and hot wires wrapped together (2" centers) with the ground wire placed parallel all in pvc conduit. According to an AES paper, documented testing confirmed this method had the lowest ground voltage induction of anything tested.

The media room will also have a dedicated Carrier 1-1/2 ton A/C system. There are (4) large exhaust ducts (1) in each room corner, a large return duct on the rear ceiling, and large A/C ducts to the air handler/evaporator over the garage ceiling. The A/C sub-contractor assured me the system would be quiet.

lwhitefl December 13, 2014 22:53

Synergy, musicality and musical energy are things I've chased in a system setup for a long time now; I am very happy with the collection of gear, cables and room; they give me what I have been looking for in those 3 areas very much with some impressive imaging and wrap-around sound to boot!

zephyr24069 December 09, 2014 22:12

Owner

Thanks Mike. I'll be posting the progress and changing my system pictures as the room nears completion. I didn't think I'd ever have a dedicated listening room, but a combination of circumstances including my wife wanting the family room back made this dream come true.

You have a clean looking listening room similar to my existing room. Despite its asymmetrical shape, open floor plan, and glass, I was able to get that room sounding very good using RPG BAD panels on the ceiling, the front wall areas, and absorbers in the upper decorator areas of the room. I tried not to make too many compromises to the room aesthetics in the process.

I've heard the Elrod PC's are excellent, and have read very positive comments and reviews about Legacy. I like the apparent synergy of your system as I believe it does pay off in better overall sound reproduction. Your audio system must give you great musical pleasure as mine does me.

The new media room wall system is an acoustical starting point. I'm planning on using the RPG BAD panels in the front wall areas similar to the existing room with lots of absorption on the rear wall initially. I'll probably add another RPG BAD panel on the left front side wall, and possibly corner bass traps on the front wall.

The Raidho's and ancillary equipment will likely be setup close to the existing room since the new media room is close to the same size. I'll do a lot of listening and perhaps have the room acoustically measured. I'm sure there will be much more work to do over the next months and/or years to get the room as close to acoustically perfect as possible.

lwhitefl December 08, 2014 20:24

Showing 26 - 50 of 94 posts

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Room Details

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Raidho D3 Speakers

Boulder 1160

JL Audio Fathom 212V2

EMM Labs DV2 Integrated D/A Converter

EMM Labs XDS1v2 SACD/CD Transport

Ansuz Acoustics Mainz8 D-TC

JL Audio CR-1

Ansuz T2s

Ansuz Acoustics Darkz DTC

Ansuz Acoustics Darkz Diamond

Nordost Ti Pulsar Points

SolidTech ROS Ref 4 Equipment Rack

Toshiba Portege R825-P70

Ansuz Acoustics C2 1.5M XLR IC

Nordost Valhalla 5M XLR IC

Kimber Kable AG USB B Bus

Nordost Valhalla-2 4M Speaker Cable/spades

Ansuz Acoustics C2 2M 15A PC

Ansuz Acoustics A2 2M PC

Nordost Valhalla 2M 15A PC

DH Labs Sub-Sonic II

DH Labs Silver Sonic BL1 Series II

DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1 Series I

Furutech GTX-D NCF(R)

SolidTech Radius Solo 3 Rack

JVC DLA RS2000 Front Projector

DA-LITE 16:9 Tensioned Screen JKP Affiinity

Marantz AV7705

Sony UBP-X800

Acurus A-200 x3 Amplifier

Definitive Technology SR-8080BP

RPG Modex Plate

RPG BAD ARC Panel

Listen Audio Diffuse

RPG BAD Template

ASC (Acoustic Sciences Corporation) Picture Panel

Kinetics IsoMax clips

Comments 94