Moving to new (own) flat

[jenson]

couple of good things happening at the same time, expecting a kid next month, got possession to our new home in thane! it's a modest 2 BHK - will be moving out of my parents residence which is bigger and better suited for sound

coming to new home, at this stage modular kitchen and master bedroom related work is initiated...which leaves me to the most important room (no sure for how long once baby comes in!) - the guest bedroom which I plan to convert into a cozy listening room.

the advantage is have is I can do as I plan at this stage....therefore, I need to gather as many inputs I can to put my pet project together.

my system as some may already know here is Cadence VA1 + Arista, Linn Lp12, generic LG Bluray player and a Pulz pre doing phono duties for now (need to upgrade to Sachu CNC phono. I need to upgrade my transport as well...just confused between whether I should go PC route OR CD player route..

my thought process so far in terms of priority is to see what needs to be done first in an empty room...therefore, here goes..

1. Rack (I feel this is the first thing I would need)
here im confused on following points -
a. whether I should go for a traditional 3 shelved type of rack or go for a wall mounted single line rack 9latter being more kid friendly)
b. should I experiment with rack? (im tempted to make a rack based on Lori crafts tennis ball funda) OR should I go for Sand OR firm wood

2. Routing wires: I plan to route wires in neat lines in wall supported by wooden blocks with grooves at intervals - I wanted to clearly separate speaker and power cables wherever possible - am I thinking too much? can this be simplified...?

3. Seating: well, not much here, jus that I need ot purchase something which would be preferably height adjustable by means of adding cushion or any other way

3. damping - for a good period of time, this room is going to be with minimal furniture...therefore was thinking of how to make this room less echoish. some initial thoughts were as follows, please advise if this makes sense or is worth taking the effort..

a. suspended/hanging carpets (1 inch from front wall), one each behind speakers and one bigger one in center & one bigger one in rear wall.
b. chuck plan a altogether and go for corner pillow type bass traps in ceiling
c. chuck plan a & b and go for DIY diffusers


well, there it is, I have laid down what I have in my head...anxiously awaiting thoughts from all..

 

[Shivam]

For turntable, the best placement that works for me is directly on cemented floor. I did try partially filled tyre tube, vibrapods, cork pads and half cut tennis balls but nothing beats the direct placement on cemented floor of a single floor house.
I am therefore guessing that for the best sound a wall mounted sturdy shelf should be the best option among the ones that you have listed.

For cabling using two different conduits (one each for speaker cables and power cables) is the best option. I don't see any advantage of using wooden blocks inside (For that matter I don't hear a difference with wooden blocks under the cables even outside). I also recommend a dedicated power line for the system if you can manage that.

I like open-cell foam based sound absorption panels. These are the easiest to care for and I recommend buying these especially for bass traps.

 

[Vinod.R]

Hi Jenson,

One advice, plan baby proofing right now! So you will not have to worry later.

Second advice, also make sure that you are able to listen to the set up alone without disturbing anyone else.

Vinod

 

[reubensm]

Congratulations on your new apartment. It must well and truly be a special time of your life as getting one's very own real estate is always a huge accomplishment.

You are also quite a lucky guy to have a listening room of your choise as not many have this liberty as well, in the modern context. You'll need good leads from someone who actually has a dedicated listening space and hence referring to online resources would be of great help.

I think you'll need to think a little forward as well. With the baby coming in, not much will change honestly, but when the baby grows up, the dynamics in relation to real estate occupancy will change. My 7-year old son has demanded and got his own room at home, already.

A mistake most newly married or bachelor hi-fi enthusiasts often made is that they have one of their 2 bedrooms dedicated to hifi and set up all kinds of stuff which normally takes up space. Then suddenly when they encounter a scenario wherein the bedroom has to be vacated either for guests, parents or even a growing kid. you'll find them selling off stuff saying that they are down scaling due to lack of space. This is an unfortunate scenario and often has financial implications as well.

When I was constructing my house, the initial design had 3 bedrooms and a home office. Forseeing my need for a dedicated audio space, my wife designed a hall upstairs for me and also added an extra bedroom upstairs, just in case we needed extra space. Now,that's long term planning (but of course, at a cost). My 2 sons have the liberty of a bedroom each, my wife and I have a room for ourselves, I still have my home office and we have an extra room for guests and over all this, I still have my listening space. You may not need to do things so extreme but if you plan to use your guest bedroom, ascertain if the room would need to be used in the short term, interim and even in the long term and decide accordingly. From the pictures I've seen of our forum member's listening spaces, most tend to be in the living areas of apartments. Only few of them have dedicated listening spaces (many more may have, perpahs the ones that do, may not be active) and can actually comment on these aspects.

 

[jenson]

Thanks much for taking your time out guys, pretty balanced comments.

Hi Shivam - thanks, I did hear from couple of other FMs that linn especially need a light and sturdy platform. so I guess TT is sorted.


Reuben & Vinod -

yes, kids entry is gonna be the game changer no doubt. My wife did indicate this aspect; but reassured I would have this space for least 2-4 years, post which I may have to vacate!!

all the comments are getting me to think whether this Is the right option...suddenly bookshelves and SS amps seem for user friendly.

one of the main problem of keeping this system in hall is, how people/kids are tempted to "touch" speakers/panels and tubes. I cant stand anyone touching these babies, but me!!

saga continues. I hope however folks would contribute know how.

 

[poppy]

couple of good things happening at the same time, expecting a kid next month, got possession to our new home in thane! it's a modest 2 BHK - will be moving out of my parents residence which is bigger and better suited for sound

coming to new home, at this stage modular kitchen and master bedroom related work is initiated...which leaves me to the most important room (no sure for how long once baby comes in!) - the guest bedroom which I plan to convert into a cozy listening room.

the advantage is have is I can do as I plan at this stage....therefore, I need to gather as many inputs I can to put my pet project together.

my system as some may already know here is Cadence VA1 + Arista, Linn Lp12, generic LG Bluray player and a Pulz pre doing phono duties for now (need to upgrade to Sachu CNC phono. I need to upgrade my transport as well...just confused between whether I should go PC route OR CD player route..

my thought process so far in terms of priority is to see what needs to be done first in an empty room...therefore, here goes..

1. Rack (I feel this is the first thing I would need)
here im confused on following points -
a. whether I should go for a traditional 3 shelved type of rack or go for a wall mounted single line rack 9latter being more kid friendly)
b. should I experiment with rack? (im tempted to make a rack based on Lori crafts tennis ball funda) OR should I go for Sand OR firm wood

2. Routing wires: I plan to route wires in neat lines in wall supported by wooden blocks with grooves at intervals - I wanted to clearly separate speaker and power cables wherever possible - am I thinking too much? can this be simplified...?

3. Seating: well, not much here, jus that I need ot purchase something which would be preferably height adjustable by means of adding cushion or any other way

3. damping - for a good period of time, this room is going to be with minimal furniture...therefore was thinking of how to make this room less echoish. some initial thoughts were as follows, please advise if this makes sense or is worth taking the effort..

a. suspended/hanging carpets (1 inch from front wall), one each behind speakers and one bigger one in center & one bigger one in rear wall.
b. chuck plan a altogether and go for corner pillow type bass traps in ceiling
c. chuck plan a & b and go for DIY diffusers


well, there it is, I have laid down what I have in my head...anxiously awaiting thoughts from all..

Congrats for the new house and for baby in advance. I am not audiophile to suggest but after reading ur post felt like wish u. It's dream to own house in this big city.

 

[Shivam]

I have a one and half year old daughter who likes music a lot. I have packed away my turntable (Linn Sondek LP12) and presently listen to only CDs and flac files. She understands what is 'off limits' for her and she doesn't fiddle around much with the system.

 

[reubensm]

Yes, its very important to set expectation on what's "off limits" with the kids. I've had no trouble since doing this with my 2 sons.

With babies around, keep equipment out of reach and importantly, dont operate your equipment in front of them. This increases curiosity and puts the idea of fiddling when no one is around, in their little minds.

 

[jenson]

well I hope its as easy for me as it was for you

 

[asliarun]

I have a 2 year who is already yanking all the speaker cables and is even trying to touch/tug the back of the amps etc. I also had to replace my mini-monitors with floorstanders due to fear of speakers toppling over.

IMHO, in a 2 BHK, you will find it impractical to keep one room locked - so please assume that the baby/toddler will have full access to your system. You can teach babies to not touch stuff, but that happens only after a few years. At least, please consider a rack that is fully enclosed from the front and sides. Or as an extreme measure, you can also put a baby barrier around your system or rack. But it looks ugly and also takes up valuable space.

 

[reubensm]

When we were kids, our attention was always directed by Dad, towards the music. He would get us to sit down and listen and he would give us the record covers to look at (and later, read through) and would explain the names of the instruments playing. When stereo arrived, he would get us to imagine where the instruments were placed in the orchestra. We became so interested in the music that we almost forgot completely about the equipment. He would also tell us interesting stories about the bands or singers (these were the days when, leave alone the internet, even books were not available on western music) which he read in books from the British Council Library. We started our interest in the equipment only at a later stage when we started DIY. This I would have been around 8 or 9 when I started fiddling around with components and soldering irons but by then, I knew what was out of bounds for me

 

[Falcon21]

congrats! on both the baby & new house

you can consider a good headphone for private listening without disturbing anyone and not missing out any fun either at the same time

but i can tell you that i was a very nasty naughty kid and used to fiddle with equipments a lot... completely damaged a few in order to repair them and that's how i screwed up my beautiful gerrard rc210 damn!

So you can't take chances with kids and can't stop them ever either, they are supposed to be curious and that's both a good and bad thing.
Parents will always be at the receiving end.