furniture weight for audio components... GUIDANCE NEEDED

[Bob Loblaw]

Hi guys

 

I have 11 months to come up with a few projects for my design portfolio for a interior/furniture design masters I'm interested in, and i want to make music enjoyment a big part of my focus.

 

While a lot of hifi component makers produce heavy equipment (for whatever reason they might have), I have yet to see a more universal opinion for furniture used to house these parts. I can imagine why turntables use steel platters and speaker stands have sand in them, but am frankly ignorant if and how much of this correlates to furniture for room treatment.

 

Should I aim for, say, a super heavy ebony turntable/amplifier stand? Are sound waves really affected by a flimsy IKEA couch? Is there documentation on this matter?

 

Thanks

[rn701]

Take a look at higher end "entertainment center" furniture such as BDI. Sturdy and stylish.

 

As for room acoustics, every room is different. Take a look at the free REW (Room EQ Wizard) software.

 

Many consumer AVRs have built in auto tuning features such as Audessy on Denon and Marantz.

[rn701]

P.S. kudos to you for thinking about interior design with audio in mind,.

[CR250]

"I can imagine why turntables use steel platters and speaker stands have sand in them, but am frankly ignorant if and how much of this correlates to furniture for room treatment."

 

For most high end equipment racks, the main design goal is for equipment isolation. Not so much for room treatment. Probably the best example is a Turntable. A good stand will help isolate it from unwanted vibrations. This applies to all of the other components in the system, as well. Less vibration equates to better sound quality. The amount of improvement will vary from system to system.

 

It would probably be helpful to look up a few different manufacturers and compare them. I think you'll find it interesting in how different the designs are from each other, while trying to achieve the same end result.

[Bob Loblaw]

Thanks guys for the helpful info.

 

I've been looking into some websites that have some info on this matter, but their guides are mostly aimed at the recording industry; solutions on those website fall a bit short on the aesthetics (wife approval very important to me).

 

THX was surprisingly helpful. Even though it's mostly a home theater website, it does list a few brands dedicated to room treatment from where i can get even more info.

[tiperba]

well,kudos to you for thinking about interior design with audio in mind,

[daneinspain]

Yeah, it would be great if someone could build an economical version of something like HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems), especially if it blended in more easily with ordinary furniture!!!

[Bob Loblaw]

Thank you guys for the info and the encouragement!

 

Thank you also for the HRS info, will find out whatever i can from those guys. Thank god other brands like Herman Miller and Andreu World have 3D models of their products available.

Sometime this year I'll share findings and product images/renders