The perfect listening room

For my money the perfect listening room has already been built, and by a man with the acoustic knowledge, resources and expertise to do it properly. That man was Alastair Robertson Aikman, founder of SME and his listening room has long been regarded as the finest dedicated hi-fi listening room in the world.

The room was built as an extension to his glorious Sussex home not very far from the SME factory in Steyning. I first read about it in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s when Ken Kessler wrote a piece about SME for a Hi-Fi News supplement tagged ‘the high end’ and visited it. I remember longing to go there but after A-RA passed away I never thought I would get the chance. Destiny had other plans though and I was blessed to visit when SME arranged for the room to be re-opened by A-RA’s family ‘for one night only’ (well in truth for two days) for the launch of the SME Model 60 last year.

This room is opulent and on a grand scale. I estimated it must be at least 50 feet long by 30 feet wide. This permits a vast amount of space behind and around the loudspeakers and that enables the loudspeakers to portray utterly staggering amounts of stage depth. Back in A-RA’s day he used stacked pairs of ESL63’s. The room itself was constructed with no compromise so I believe they dug down to enable the poured concrete floor to be especially thick while the ceiling and walls have additional reinforcement to reduce resonance and vibration. Around the perimeter of the room at least two of the walls have ceiling to floor theatre style curtains hanging to reduce reflections which is a visually more appealing option than acoustic traps and panels. Two huge and glorious chandeliers hang from the ceiling and bronze statues of two boys holding flaming torches stand either side of the ‘stage’.

The whole room is designed to bring to mind an Italian opera house. Sonically quite frankly I simply couldn’t believe what I was hearing, the precision of the soundstage and its holographic realism exceeded the best sound I have ever heard from two channel - anywhere.

I believe back in the day A-RA had his stacked ESL63’s positioned in a large space behind the green curtains at the front of the the room as he felt that staring at the loudspeakers ruined the illusion of witnessing a live performance.

I wish I had better pics of the room but it was pretty darned full of people when I visited. I will dig through my archive to see if I have anything better when it’s not the middle of the night!



JonathanG

Those of you minded to read more will find my full article on Soundstage Global.

7 Likes

Wow! what an amazing story, I’ve often wondered if a very large room works best because basically the walls are so far away from the speakers that reflections don’t really matter anymore.

All this acoustic stuff is pretty new to me so I don’t fully understand it yet with any real grasp on the matter.

If the ceiling must be parallel to the floor, you can use these.


Available in black or paintable white. For perspective, the image above is a panel about 30cm wide and is hard and heavy.

These are what we have on our new living room ceiling. Mrs. FZ mandated them (including in black) for their added soundproofing towards the bedrooms above. They come in several patterns with different properties> I’m not necessarily suggesting the same as above (gosh knows they are an acquired taste) but something like that.

1 Like

I like your second option best, basically because it gives you a much more functional multi-use of the building that interacts nicely with the garden and seperate to the house.

1 Like

Windows (including skylights - My 2c-worth…(or perhaps a few K, so feel free to ignore if it sounds too hard)
Curtains are good to reduce sound reverb on the inside, as noted above (i.e. NRC), but not so easy for skylights and for view-appreciation. The heavier the fabric the better (they describe auditorium curtains in kg/m2), but it still has only a small effect on lower frequencies.
Triple glazing is good for reducing noise from outside (STC), as also mentioned above. However another option that I could help reduce some higher frequency resonances within the space would be to use less layer/s, but instead add acoustic glass (on the inside face if double glazed). It is good for improving STC and should also dampen resonances. It is made from 2 different glass thicknesses laminated with a thicker, softer, interlayer than standard laminated glass.
You could also experiment with acoustic panels around any recesses below the skylights to reduce waves/reflections within them (e.g. high density polyester panel or cut high-NRC acoustic ceiling tiles, in white if that is your ceiling colour).

1 Like

Out of curiosity, did you look behind any curtains/drapes to see if there was any even greater depth or anything additional absorbent behind? In recording studios it is not uncommon for a significant depth of room at the back stuffed with absorbers, which may be closed off by a curtain or false acoustically transparent wall.

Your description of the large size of the room, heavily draped seems aimed to try to take the room out of the equation. It reminds me of my experience detailed a while ago in other thread in this forum, where the best sound I have ever heard from hifi was from a more modest system than I have now albeit with very capable speakers, but with no room - the system playing outdoors in a garden, with hedge boundaries not walls, speakers a long distance from any major reflective surfaces.

That is also available with triple glazing - IIRC it is what Velux use in their acoustic version.

1 Like

My cabin has a hip roof (sloped on all four sides) and a corner cut off for the doors. I think this helps massively as the room is 3x4m, pretty small for listening yet I have no sound issues either at low volumes or when cranked up to silly levels.

1 Like

I don’t profess to be an expert with small rooms, but note that the ‘shoebox’ dcussed above is quite often only a room shape, not an acoustic treatment shape. In one we have designed below for a school (with the help of an acoustic engineer), the box is mostly padded out sides and rear, with the added reflective elements on walls and ceilings being very angular. It is progressively more reflective at the front, to more absorptive at the rear (with orchestra and grand piano in mind, not so much for amplified rock bands, etc.)


2 Likes

Interesting. That means Velux only gives us a reduced range in my part of the world.

1 Like

I had to buy direct from Velux distributor (or could from Velux themselves), as where I live they only stock and know about the standard DG windows, as apparently is the case with at least a som of the building trade and builders’ merchants in the UK as my sister-in-law discovered, informed by me.

1 Like

Another thing to resolve is what would be the best way to heat a garden/day/listening room?

Electric
Gas
Wood burner
Under floor

Plenty of insulation in roof, walls and floor if you’re going to use it at any time it needs heating! Room-sealed wood burner would be great if you have a free or cheap supply of wood, and live somewhere where the smoke isn’t and won’t be a problem in the future. Good solar gain can make all the difference as well on cold sunny dats. I guess that in Yorkshire the need for heat loss in the summer is not too much of a problem (yet) – though of course if you want to listen to music other than very quietly and have neighbours, opening the windows may not be an option,. Good blinds that let daylight through but minimal heat are invaluable.

1 Like

The room would be on the North side of the house as shown in the pic so it gets less sunshine and more shade although it does get direct sunshine in the summer and hardly anything in the winter.

I find an oil filled radiator works well for me. My cabin is wooden so no gas or wood burner for me. As it only warms the room up before listening sessions it has no appreciable effect on my electricity bill that I can discern. You also get the benefit of being able to move it nearer to you in the depths of winter. Of course if your room is brick built then you might prefer something more permanent and aesthetic.

1 Like

Try and watch some of Dennis Foley’s videos in his archive on YouTube and you will find a lot of usable advice from someone, who knows what he’s talking about. Good luck :+1:t3: Peter

1 Like

Thanks Peter, very much appreciated. Can I ask what are the dimensions of your room? (if you have them to hand).

And would you change them if you could (slightly bigger or slightly smaller) or are you completely happy with them?

My room is 3.5 x 6.0 x 2.4 metres ( as he says ceiling height is always a bugger), and I have to fire the long way. If I could choose the ideal room it’s s something like 6x8 by a 4 metres ceiling from memory.
Yes please :pray: Incidentally he has a video on golden ratios as well :+1:t3: ATB Peter

PS. From a modal point of view a room where the width is a factor 0.75 of the length ( factor 1 ) is more benign entity to acoustically treat. Lets face it the bottom end is the trickiest to treat with the sheer volume, that has to go in there. Also any gain on the 8 foot ceiling will be a benefit. The best domestic room I’ve heard was a vaulted ceiling probably at around 4.5 metres high. If you are raising a wooden structure it has to be very rigid ie thick timber, and using ply wood on walls also very good if you can live with it visually. Do scroll through his video, as there is multiple with the kind of advice you need.
I’m not jealous……much! :joy:

1 Like

Thanks Peter, don’t get too jealous as it may never happen. I just like to dream and plan things and have something to aim towards.

I will get there and achieve it but when is another matter.

I’d rather get all the details ironed out so when and if I do go ahead it’s less stressful and I know exactly what I want and how I want it.

Thanks again for the invaluable input :+1:

As you’ve probably guessed by making it a garden/day room extension it will add value to my house and so it makes it more of an affordable/attractive proposition.

1 Like

Have you enquired of the local authority yet as to how high they may let you go with a garden room/building?

1 Like