Considering adding a conservatory to the house with the intention of relocating my listening space.
Not yet looked deeply into the build spec. Size will be around 5x4.
Anyone using a conservatory as their primary listening space? Aside from obvious acoustic items like soft furnishings, anything I should be mindful of in the construction detail?
My listening room is a conservatory.
Get a glass rather than plastic roof as it will be quieter in heavy rain and make it as thermally efficient as you can. Mineâs carpeted with wooden blinds but quite small so only my speakers are in there.
everything fades as more light all the timeâŚwood chairs speaker cabinets etc!
Nothing to do with music listening, but I suggest a sunroom is far better than a conservatory-i.e at least with an insulated roof. Ours has insulated floor and roof, and triple glazing, and can be (and is) used comfortably all year round.
As for music listening, the very large expanse of glass may not assist it giving the most balanced sound.
Conservatory is 8 metres by 4 metres. Low bricked wall, and the rest is double glazed glass.
Linn Aktiv triamped Briks down one end facing down the long axis. (Look for some pictures on the âShow us your petsâ thread).
My wife is quite happy with it!
That is does not clutter up the living room?
No, she is the one that, nearly forty years ago, said âI want some of thoseâ.
âThoseâ being the Briks she heard at the Bristol Show.
I may be the Hifi nerd. She is âThe Listenerâ.
I will take a look. Thank you.
Good for you⌠i thought for a minute it was a subtle excommunication together with the HiFi.
That said and to get back on topic, is a conservatory an ideal place. I guess some can hardly be considered as such but in the conservatory attached to my mumâs bungalow it gets very hot with sunny days and low brick walls to support the glass frame, not ideal reinforcements for sound.
Nah. Nowt so subtle.
We have covers for the electronics and speakers to âshadeâ them. Also, solid top covers for the Briks - coz of Burmese catsâŚ
I have a Daikin aircon unit so I have heat or cool as desired.
Yep, both our conservatories have aircons. Good things!
We had some expectations reset by costs when designing a new home with an off-kitchen conservatory for herbs and dining that could be open air in summer and closed in winter.
The solution we came to appears to be better than the original conservatory, though it has yet to be completed. The last metre of the dining area against the south wall is tiled to accommodate the herb garden and a couple trees and the south wall replaced with a floor to ceiling window. In essence, bring the functional aspect of a conservatory (water resistant floor, light, and greenery) directly into the kitchen/dining area.
A single window, no matter how large wonât expose the foliage to even light, so is augmented with in ceiling UV lights to get them through the long winters.
Sun room here. Sporting a âvaultedâ roof, with wooden beams. The speakers are sited on the house wall, facing outwards, either side of a permanently open doorway (no doors in fact!) I have to sit fairly hard against the back wall of it, right in front of the windows, about 2.3m away from the speakers. The stereo itself is in one symmetrical alcove to one side of the speakers, the other alcove has some plants in. Itâs like a T shape, I sit at the bottom of the letter, the cross of the T is where the speakers sit, with the stereo on the left.
The room has a lot of bad things going on sonically! It has a rug over the hard floor, but only a single seat chair, so you hear a lot of resonance (or whatever the correct term is!) I measured the room with REW and a lot of bass issues apparent. The plan is to put a sofa in there, for comfort reasons, but hopefully that might tone some of it down.
I was happy enough though, until I took my system to a dealer to demo TTs and the ND5 XS2. I had never heard my stereo sound so good. The difference was amazing, I could not even meaningfully describe it. I suspect that the issue is the dimensions (small compared to yours at 3.5m across the T, narrowing to 2.5, and 2.3m down it) - and that with some soft furnishings in your room itâll be fine. Another edit, got it all wrong, itâs 5m alcove to alcove and 3m x 3m where it narrows. Is yours a rectangle of 5x4?
How are you getting power out there? Might be a good chance to put a dedicated mains circuit in whilst everything is being done. Ours also has a heated floor, thatâs lovely from a entirely non-HiFi point of view 
edit: I take very few precautions with sunlight, and just accept my speakers will do daft things over time. I do have most of the gear under shelves, and only on very sunny days will I put a temporary cover over the TT.
Thanks for the input.
Yes I will be running dedicated mains if I go ahead.
Read an interesting article in sound on sound which implied that bass resonance and bloom is less likely.
It will be a 5 x 4 rectangle. The dwarf walls will be timber framed. The existing external walls will be treated and dry lined.
I think some fairly solid blinds will be beneficial. Thats my next bit of research.
Hmm - they get very hot in the summer and cold in the winter so not great for electronics. Yes you can use a/c to stabilise temp but it doesnât seem sensible to build something that requires energy ( and therefore lots of money) to make usable
I have a conservatory as my music room, known in the family as my âboxâ.
My conservatory is on south side so (very) hot in Summer and (very) cold in Winter (I extended central heating to help), and very bright. You will need selection of lots of opening windows, fans, A/C (ouch!) and heating. It can be too hot even in April as it was this morning.
I have a near solid wall on one side behind speakers and double glazed and patio doors on the other three sides. I have a very solid leather settee which is good for sound absorption. Mine is smaller than you plan, too small, but a larger one was not possible.
I have equipment in a closed cabinet (I did before anyway) as I am not an âequipment voyeurâ. If your equipment is in an open rack you will be able to cook your breakfast on it! Not good.
Someone mentioned power link but donât forget an ethernet link (no wi-fi for me) as well.
My âboxâ doubles as a sports TV room and cigar-smoking room (I am banned elsewhere) and her indoors is happy I do not make a mess elsewhere either. Sublime happiness for me.
But a Sun Room maybe a better and more flexible choice, but probably more expensive.
We built a block and render âsun roomâ (6x4m) with a glass fibre, flat, insulated roof and one of the long sides being folding glass doors. It faces SW in the UK. This houses our system with soft furnishings but no room treatment apart from DIRAC for the AV element (Arcam). Sounds great!
Having previously had a conservatory, I would never go back to one. They leak energy in winter and cook in summer.
One thing to think about, although it is expensive, is that we added an opening lantern / sky-light. This provides an amazing amount of light, facilitates convection cooling when hot and gives great views of the sky as in the photo:
Best of luck
Thatâs not a Sun Room it is a house. Seriously though it looks fantastic.
Ha ha - fair point! Didnât cost that much more than a big conservatory at the time.
Thank you for the kind comment.
