Out with one dream and in with another...

treitz3 · April 2023

I got rid of the boat that has been taking up real estate in the shop to make room for the new stereo room. Kind of a bittersweet moment.

This is the first of many stages to clear out said shop. I need to open up about a 24'x22'x12' area in order to build the new room for the rig. This one was a major advancement toward that goal.

Now, I can at least start moving things around, building shelves and designing what will be the garage portion of the shop. Lot's of items to get rid of/decide whether or not they are worth keeping. I literally have isles of tools/supplies that will need to be gone through. If you saw the shop this morning, you would have laughed if I said that I was going to clear out 2/3rds of it. Only hallways of walking room to get to things were available.

After all of the dust settles, only woodworking tools and highly specialized tools will remain. When I am done, most everything will be on movable shelving and things like the table saw, both miter saws and other bigger items will also be on wheels, so I can move what's left of the shop around for various and changing needs moving forward.

This will be a long term project and I am still in the infancy with regards to the design of the room. I do have a basic "idea" of what I am looking for, when it comes to design but I do have this amount of space to work with.

Two of the biggest changes that I will experience is 1) Concrete slab versus supported flooring and 2) A vast volume difference to include a ceiling height increase of 4'.

I am lucky/blessed enough to already have a dedicated audio room but I was talking with the wife a couple of months ago and I joked around about putting the rig out in the shop. I knew that this would never be a possibility but I joked about it anyways.

Her response to that comment? "I'll help you do it", said with a straight face...I'll be damned....she was dead serious. Turns out that we both were thinking the same thing for a couple of years but we both "knew" that the other would not go for it. We were both wrong in our presumptive conclusions.

So, the current room that the stereo room is in will become a guest BR again and the entire rig will be located out in the shop, complete with and estimated 4-5 dedicated and star grounded electrical lines, powder room, kitchenette (or at least a bar sink/bar and fridge) and HVAC system.

Since the room will be custom, I am thinking of rounding the corners (like 2', rounded corners) to prevent corner loading, possibly a sloped ceiling, "V" shaped back wall to prevent reflections along with some other ideas like built in but moveable diffusion/absorption panels....who knows. The world is my oyster with this one.

Today was the first step toward clearing the shop out to make this dream happen.

Tom

maxward · April 2023

One of the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life, or so I’ve heard (and experienced). Good luck with the new room. You have lots of options with materials and possibly dimensions to optimize the acoustics. Multiple rabbit holes.

nooshinjohn · April 2023

Glad the T/A will be a focal point of your new space! Hopefully someday I will hear it sing once more.

treitz3 · April 2023

Part of the plan, John, is to take it off to the side somehow. That phono pre we have been talking about offline may just be the ticket for a 20' run (XLR).

Lots of pre-planning will go into this room. I would like to do it once and only once.

The current rig sounds phenomenal but with so many changing variables? Ikes...

Changing locations will alter the sound I have built around the current room that I may have to take aspects and completely re-think them.

Of course, I will not know what changes are needed until the room is designed, built and the rig in it's new location.

With that said, I have taken my rig(s) over the years to audio events and the aspects of what I hear in the current room(s) sounded way beyond what I hear at home, so if done right?

I may not need to change much. Time will tell.

Tom

nooshinjohn · April 2023

If you can take all your cable runs through a soffit of hidden behind some type of crown molding, it will make things easier to move around and update later. Take a look at how the Navy did the Ford class ships.

treitz3 · April 2023

One wall will be completely opened (existing) down to the studs to install the electrical. The other wall will need to be built. Both of these walls are where the gear will be. Not only to cut down costs with the initial build but for "future-proofing" the room without disturbing it, if anything else is needed down the road.

Only the wall where the rig resides (the one that will be removed down to the studs for the electrical) will remain intact after install. There will be a series of large tubes in this wall to add anything extra needed in the future. The rest will be accessible from the "garage/shop" side of the other wall.

Tom

Joey_V · April 2023

Congrats Tom
That’s a big move!

motorstereo · April 2023

Congrats to you on getting a room separate from the house. No doubt in my mind you're going to love it. I've had a separate room-building for my rig as well for the past 30+ years to and I rarely listened to music in the house no matter how good the rig was.

You're a better man than me for getting rid of the boat to make room. I cannot go that far; my boat stays put.