I suspect many think that way - but whilst creating a perfect room may be limited by domestic aesthetics, optimising of layout, including choice of speaker and listening positions need not always be so, while to a limited degree appropriate room treatments need not either, from choice and positioning of carpets or rugs or other soft furnishings, to absorbent or diffusing panels covered with artwork of your choice, whether photos, copies of old masters, or fabric coloured precisely the same as the wall.
Why can’t a dedicated listening room be the heart of the house? I have a listening room that is separate from the main TV room, and to me it is the heart of the house whereas to my wife the heart is the kitchen-dining room but relaxation is the sunroom/TV lounge. Music listening and TV are mutually exclusive! The listening room doubles as a room in which to play musical instruments, and also as a cinema room with large projection screen.
However if we were designing from scratch there would be a kitchen-dining-family room with TV, and a separate music/cinema room much as now.
Aren’t all changes to the sound system a form of tweaking. I could say that my tweaking has been limited to changing naca 4 to naca 5 and Naim mk power lines to Powerline lights., but then I’ve changed everything over time from my original Nait 2 to the current 552/300 along with the sources and the speakers, all because I wasn’t satisfied with the sound I had. I’m still tweaking being in the middle of streaming experimentation. The current dac will likely be changed, the transport may be sometime, and I probably won’t be satisfied until I have at least tried a Nap 500.
It has always at every level sounded pretty good, but then again there might just be something better if I can just stretch to it.
Hi Bruss, but isn’t that a bit more like upgrading?
System set up however how far you take that in an optimisation sense, surely is as other people have pointed out simply a means to get the best from our investments. Following from there I suppose things like a 3 monthly turn off and fettling all the cable connections or watering the earth spur during dry Summer periods maybe appeals more to the afflicted OCD fraternity, to which I admit belonging to .
Maybe this could fall under housekeeping
Maybe tweaking is going over and beyond Naim’s recommendations in the sense of playing with interface on stands ( Fraim even), or in my case using Townsend podiums under my speakers. Hey, and once you realise it sounds better that way, it suddenly slips into the upgrade category I give up!
Alternative cables to recommended/made available by Naim surely must bear down to personal taste and trying to adapt the sound of the room and its response linearity to again make things more listenable for the individual listener.
Funny old game hifi, ATB Peter
Yes I guess there is a difference, but if I were to add a bit of dynamat to a shelf I might think of that as tweaking, but if I were to pay thousands for cables that were already supplied by Naim as part of their design, I’d think it was more towards system change, more so if I were paying as much for those cables as a step up the Naim path. For me there is little difference to the no changing the internals rule as changing the external interconnects.
Just to point out I’m not against spending inordinate amounts to change a design to what I want or prefer. I’m just not sure I’d call that amount of change tweaking.
Edit: I seemed to have argued myself full circle. It’s all tweaking, or its all not tweaking but is system change.
It’s funny because tweaking in American subculture is the name given to the manic, paranoid and twitchy behaviour caused by smoking Crystal Meth which minus the loss of teeth, Prison, 72 hour sleepless binges & general madness is almost the same thing as hifi tweaking.
About 3 years ago I sold all my Naim kit and put the money towards a holiday flat.
The previous four or five years I’d spent tweaking, trading, upgrading and generally driving myself mad about how good my system sounded in doing so I lost touch with what that system was supposed to be a machine that played the music I love.
I then started from scratch keeping just my speakers and via Nad, Quad and Hegel have now arrived at a very happy place owning two sources a Rega Planar 8 & a Raspberry Pi/Chord 2Qute these play music to a level I’m happy with connected to a Supernait 2 and tweaking is a thing of the past.
Each to their own, of course, but my image of a dedicated listening room is that’s where I go to listen to music. So-called “serious” listening then. Dont disturb.
I don’t really see music like that, unless I’m using headphones.
I don’t think I’m explaining this well, apologies. Makes me doubt I’m a serious audiophile…
It’s a wrong image maybe, never having had such a space. I guess it would certainly make playing my free jazz records easier, from my wife’s point of view!
It can be dedicated in the sense that it is optimised for one function. Of course the requirements for sound quality and cinema are not far removed from each other, but rather different from a family room used more for chat or personal device tapping or family games or general purpose TV often with different people doing different things at the same time. Music playing, and watching a film on home cinema are, at least for me titally exclusive of other things, and other people would struggle to do anything else in the room. But the two work together because it is a simple choice: do I want to listen to music, or do I (or we) want to watch a film?
My wife doesn’t like the same music as me, so listening inevitably means doing in a room on my own. She would rather read or watch TV. Film watching we do together. Having a room suitable for music has always been a prime consideration for me in choosing a house. And jointly we agree a requirement is two lounge areas - though the TV/reading area could be combined with kitchen/dining, though to date we’ve never had that.
Well i took the dedicated listening room to possibly the extreme.
I had a small listening room and thought about extending the room. Downside was going to be a lot of disruption , unbalancing the house visually and still ending up with a compromise solution.
So i had a dedicated room built that was detached from the main house. Built to my design and specifications , which allowed for as much room treatment as required.
Now although its a listening room that doesn’t mean it cannot be used for other purposes now or in the future.
It was one of the best things ive done . I like live music greatly but getting older means more difficulty attending concerts , especially abroad , and also means some of my favourite artists are no longer with us or are retired. Having the room means i can get the next best thing whenever and how often i like [and as loud as i like ]
Having had problem neighbours before, moving to a detached house was the best tweak I ever did! I would love to have a house built with a purpose-designed listening (and cinema) room, but land in the places that meet other required criteria simply isn’t available, or is extortionately priced because the seller has obtained planning permission for 8 flats, or 4 semis etc. Next idea was to convert an existing house, but prices got silly.
Like the new 2022 Magico listening room. Personally, even if my system would sound better, which is not 100 % certain ( as better for my tastes), I would not enjoy it as it has no windows.