The Room

[Cubist]

"Do you like it?" My expression answered her question before I could open my mouth. I didn't want to leave our cozy three-story in the cool part of town for this much larger more suburban, lawn-emcumbered pile that was to her "a real house". But as they say: "Happy wife, happy life" Sensing my lack of enthusiasm she added: "That front room could be your den, your... (she searched for a term she had heard) ...your listening room"

 

Four years later that room is many things to many people, but it is not a listening room. Too many windows, too much noise, and too much an office when people need one.

 

My solution: Move my modest gear downstairs to a disused junk room. Perfect? No. It's cold, it has a six foot wide closet with sliding doors on the left side, an entry door at the rear, another door on the right. The walls are finished in 1960s? era plywood paneling. The floor is aging adhesive-smeared department store tile over concrete. On the positive side, it is very quiet, has but one small window and nobody comes down there.

 

On the basis of the dimensions - L=15' 2" W=9' 10" H=9' 10" it appears not to be optimal. The (http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm) room mode calculator indicates it has a "6th best" Louden ratio" and fails two of the three BBC Walker metrics. Schroeder threshold is at 139Hz.

 

I figure step one is to empty the room of the metal filing cabinets and glass covered book shelves that currently reside there. Then I'll set up my system as best I can and take some baseline measurements.

 

Any cautions, obvious problems that stand out?