My 2nd system is in our main den. I tried putting my main system in this room but my wife wasn’t happy with my stand mount Sopra n1s so I moved them to another room. My Yamaha NS 1000 old speakers now reside in cabinets about 8 feet off the ground out of sight (see picture). They don’t sound terrible but far from ideal. The old Yamaha’s don’t sound bad but I can’t justify spending money for better speakers going in those cabinets.
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My listening room is in my basement, so can be a bit cold in the summer and difficult to listen to music for long without changing attire. Also, the room serves double duty as a home theater room, so lots of speaker cones moving.
Additionally, the room is a bit small.
My dedicated listening area is quite small with a very low ceiling. It still sounds great but obviously a compromise compared to a much larger, bespoke-designed space.
I do not have a dedicated room.
The acoustics is horrible.
We live in an apartment and have neighbours.
+++++++++++
The compromise of your neighbours is that they have neighbours with Hifi 
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My biggest compromise is probably my racks. My system should have a Fraim or similar, with lots of space behind for proper cable dressing. Instead, all my boxes sit on a pair of elderly Sound Factory Tripods inside a custom made cabinet. The positive part of this arrangement is, in a room that’s not huge, my system is about as compact and discreet as it can be, and looks quite good.
I’ve gone to a fair amount of trouble to optimise the Tripods, and each round of tweaks has markedly improved them. And, even though I’ve managed to route the important cables reasonably well, I cringe at how tightly packed and inaccessible the back of my system is.
All that said, when the music is playing, it can often sound really good, to the point that I stop thinking about hi-fi stuff, in fact, this last year might the first time ever that I’ve had that extended “rediscover your record collection” feeling, a nice break from ongoing upgraditis.
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My compromise is having a stereo system. I don’t truly enjoy reproduced music but can’t live without it. CDs are a compromise between musical pleasure and sonic quality. LPs are too, for the inverse reason.
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Are actually very good. And they were cheap as chips even back in the day.
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That’s an interesting question… So far I’ve tried not having too many of them, but as we all know life isn’t perfect and has its own compromises. Mine are:
- Reflective walls
- Aesthetics (my room isn’t a fully dedicated one)
- Small screen
By the way I won’t complain too much. Despite not being perfect, SQ is pretty good right now.
When my wife decided she wanted to watch TV when I was listening to music, I moved my hifi to 3mx4m bedroom on second floor. 9 acoustic panels later the sound is great but still a compromise.
Non symmetrical room, not sure if that’s good or bad but at least it’s a decent size (36m^2).
Plasterboard walls, I’ve got the NBLs to work with them but it needs precise positioning and they’re around a foot further out than they would be with a solid wall.
TV between the speakers, large coffee table between speakers and listening position but the clutter that ends up on it helps offset its effect.
Everything is closer to the speakers than I’d like thanks to the position of the French windows. No room for a third stack so never going active on the NBLs and the stack of transformers may not be the best base for my PTP Lenco but it upsets my 552 if too close.
My compromise: streaming. I would have preferred to have replaced my aging, ailing, no-doubt irreparable Naim CDS II with a CD player, but with no offering of comparable quality from Naim, and the limited lifespan of CD transports, I opted for the choice between the chore of ripping all my CDs and the annoyance of paying a monthly fee to rent music recordings that I already own.
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Mine: Nova and old B&W DM4 the only system allowed in the living room and main system is relegated to a small completely disastrous room. BUT said disastrous room is also my office so at least I get to listen to it a lot.
Compromise?
Keeping a wife and not getting a 500DR.
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Ditto. My only other one is that I cannot position my listening chair directly in front of the system as there is a fire place in the way. Apart from that, and the lack of 500 components, I am fully content with my system.
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My room is 11’ x 17’. I would prefer something larger to really bring out soundstage for large scale orchestral music. My living room is 13’ x 22’. That would work better, but there are still some logistics issues with moving the system there.
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