2 channel dedicated listening room size...

[Joey_V]

Hey fellas,

I'm looking at home floor plans and without having an unlimited budget, it is very difficult to get everything just right.

In a plan that the wife and I both like, we found a spare room in the 2nd floor. They call it the 2nd floor family room which measures symmetric 13'x14'... the ceiling height is 9 feet. A single set of windows on one of the shorter walls.

Looks to be a great fit, but I'm concerned that it might be on the smaller side.

What do you guys think? It's been a while and I'm getting rusty.

 

[timm]

Seems doable to me. I think 15x16 would be better but with what u have u can get 6' between your speakers and still have 3' off the side walls. Going 3' off the front wall and sitting 7' away still gives u 3' from the rear wall. Not much room for tweaking but ... Guessing that room will be quite boomy on the second floor of a new build so room treatments would be a must

 

[Joey_V]

If I shrink the laundry room, the room expands to 13x16... Better perhaps?

Maybe I should post the floorplan.

Basement is probably the best place but I don't have the funds to finish the entire area.

 

[JonFo]

If I shrink the laundry room, the room expands to 13x16... Better perhaps?

Maybe I should post the floorplan.

Basement is probably the best place but I don't have the funds to finish the entire area.

Much better, stay away from square (or close to) layouts, as they have huge bass modes.

Do post a floorplan with dimensions. But remember, height is also a factor, so list that as well.

 

[Joey_V]

Much better, stay away from square (or close to) layouts, as they have huge bass modes.

Do post a floorplan with dimensions. But remember, height is also a factor, so list that as well.

Thanks Jon!

I'll post a floorplan... there are some choices to the listening room. Looking at it, the living room looks interesting (though I'm not sure if the wife would let me monopolize the room). The library looks good too and it is at the corner of the house away from the rest of it so I can turn it up... though I did kind of want to make that an office.

Look at the 2nd floor - the 2nd Family room - I was thinking that was the perfect spot for my listening room because it's remote, over the garage... only problem is the size. I guess I could have them extend it forwards across the garage or shrink the laundry room.

If you guys are seeing anything else that I'm not, feel free to comment on where else the speakers should go.

Oh, first floor are 10ft ceilings and 2nd floor are 9ft ceilings, Jon.

And the builder is custom, so he can technically move things around but large changes will require an architect to re-draw the plans and this costs $2.50/sq foot - this house being 5250 sq foot... would cost me a pair of Summits essentially (so I'm trying to avoid that).

 

[Joey_V]

Floor plan:

 

[Bernard]

Wow! With all those bedrooms it looks like you are planning to fill that house with lots of little Joeys! Will you even have time for music?

I don't think that CLX's will fit into a 13x14 room :devil:

I used to have a dedicated 12x16 music room above the garage and always lamented the fact that it did not extend over the entire garage. If you did that though, it would give you a long, narrow rooom. Also, the look from the outside would not be the best. I did see houses built that way, and they looked fortress-like.

I think you should bite the bullet and have the house re-architected. Don"t audiophiles build their houses around their music rooms?

If you scrapped Bedroom C and put the laundry room there you would have more space, and maybe build out a few more feet above the garage.

 

[Hocky]

Looks like a very nice floor plan. I like it.

 

[Joey_V]

Wow! With all those bedrooms it looks like you are planning to fill that house with lots of little Joeys! Will you even have time for music?

I don't think that CLX's will fit into a 13x14 room :devil:

I used to have a dedicated 12x16 music room above the garage and always lamented the fact that it did not extend over the entire garage. If you did that though, it would give you a long, narrow rooom. Also, the look from the outside would not be the best. I did see houses built that way, and they looked fortress-like.

I think you should bite the bullet and have the house re-architected. Don"t audiophiles build their houses around their music rooms?

If you scrapped Bedroom C and put the laundry room there you would have more space, and maybe build out a few more feet above the garage.

Hey... Bedroom C looks like a GREAT idea. They can transform 2nd floor family into a bedroom with it's own bathroom and walk in closet really easily.

I'm not really for scrapping the plan because they have a model home of it and it flows very nice.

I had thoughts of taking over the fourth car garage.... Audio room there or too narrow and long?

 

[tsv_1]

Hi Joey,

Nice place! You must be very excited. I hope the entire process goes as smoothly as possible for you.

I skimmed this thread and saw no mention of a basement... is this to be a slab foundation? If there's a basement, that would certainly open up your options.

If not, and if it were me, I would modify the plan and see what I could do to carve out as much space as possible on the second floor over that 3-car garage.

My office/2-chan room is over my 24x27 garage and it has been an ideal setup (for me).

Cheers

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Hey Joey,

I'm not very good at visualising, but could you not make the Library your audio room and your 2nd floor family room into your Library/Office? There might even be a little wiggle room in your Library room to make it a little deeper if you shrink the mud room. Just a thought at first glance.

BTW, looks like it will be a very lovely home. Good luck!


Glen

 

[User211]

In my house I swapped the dinning room with the 2nd lounge, as the dinning room is downstairs.

You NEED to get downstairs, with a solid concrete floor. I reckon this is paramount and always have. My last place had suspended floors even on the ground floor. Trust me - it doesn't work and acts as a lousy badly controlled sub.

Solid floors rock. I'm not sure how most US houses are constructed floorwise. If your downstairs room of selection doesn't have it, see if you can get some poured in somehow. Then carpet it. With underlay. And throw a big rug on top too.

Me? Room treatments? Never...:devil:

 

[User211]

I've just remembered about the third floor room I have over a double garage. It is made of solid concrete slabs, presumably steel re-inforced, but I don't know. That differs from the rest of the non-ground floors. So it might be worth asking what the floor in that room is made of. If it is like mine, it'll be better. Pretty good, I reckon, though you can't beat direct-coupled with the ground if you like high volumes and big speakers/subs.

Just my strongly felt opinion in this area.

Good luck! Nice house, by the way. Even doctors over here would struggle to achieve anything like that at your age. They wouldn't have a chance of it, in fact - without help, that is!

 

[Joey_V]

Hi Joey,

Nice place! You must be very excited. I hope the entire process goes as smoothly as possible for you.

I skimmed this thread and saw no mention of a basement... is this to be a slab foundation? If there's a basement, that would certainly open up your options.

If not, and if it were me, I would modify the plan and see what I could do to carve out as much space as possible on the second floor over that 3-car garage.

My office/2-chan room is over my 24x27 garage and it has been an ideal setup (for me).

Cheers

I bet I could have them pull the 2nd floor family over the garage probably 4-6 feet.. making it a total of 14x17 to 14x19. That should be a good size right? They quoted me about 12K to build an exercise room over the 4th car garage next to the master bath - so I assume stretching it out another 4-6 feet towards the 3-car should not cost more than $5-$7K. Probably a good idea....

Though I was thinking that shrinking the massive laundry room would be *ahem* cheaper!

Oh and there is a full basement - we chose the 10 foot poured concrete (added option). Probably a 9 foot ceiling once built/finished. The basement is the IDEAL area... but I cannot have it finished currently, it would add about $100-150K to the price considering the sheer size of the plan.

Hey Joey,

I'm not very good at visualising, but could you not make the Library your audio room and your 2nd floor family room into your Library/Office? There might even be a little wiggle room in your Library room to make it a little deeper if you shrink the mud room. Just a thought at first glance.

BTW, looks like it will be a very lovely home. Good luck!


Glen

Glen,

Thanks! I hope it will be a lovely home! A house does not itself make a home... a dog is in the works so we can place him in the mudroom and he can roam freely downstairs. Probably kids in a couple of years!

I did think about taking over the library... believe me. But I have no idea about what a 2nd floor library will do to resale? I've never seen one and I don't want to ruin the house because of the audiophile in me.

I've just remembered about the third floor room I have over a double garage. It is made of solid concrete slabs, presumably steel re-inforced, but I don't know. That differs from the rest of the non-ground floors. So it might be worth asking what the floor in that room is made of. If it is like mine, it'll be better. Pretty good, I reckon, though you can't beat direct-coupled with the ground if you like high volumes and big speakers/subs.

Just my strongly felt opinion in this area.

Good luck! Nice house, by the way. Even doctors over here would struggle to achieve anything like that at your age. They wouldn't have a chance of it, in fact - without help, that is!

Thank you sir... elbow grease helps for sure. We have decided to post pone the signing of the contract from 12/2011 to 12/2012 to allow for me to amass an 8 month rainy day fund... just in case. The wife talked me into waiting just 12 months to really get our financial foundation straight before jumping into the 15y mortgage.

In my house I swapped the dinning room with the 2nd lounge, as the dinning room is downstairs.

You NEED to get downstairs, with a solid concrete floor. I reckon this is paramount and always have. My last place had suspended floors even on the ground floor. Trust me - it doesn't work and acts as a lousy badly controlled sub.

Solid floors rock. I'm not sure how most US houses are constructed floorwise. If your downstairs room of selection doesn't have it, see if you can get some poured in somehow. Then carpet it. With underlay. And throw a big rug on top too.

Me? Room treatments? Never...:devil:

Downstairs would be ideal (basement I mean)... I guess this could be a temporary room that I should treat as a room that might be permanent in the event that I'm never able to finish the basement?

I mean, if I turn the 2nd floor family into a listening room... I can always turn it back if I upgrade to the basement. However, if I take apart the library in the 1st floor, use it as an interim audio room... I could be shooting myself in the foot because I won't have a library anymore when I do transition to the basement.

 

[Tj Bassi]

If it were me; I'd pull rank and take over the library :devil:

That's almost enough to go Lavigne-room.

When our home was nearing completion, I had plans of using the basement for an audio-room build, but our post-construction budget would not allow that project for a while. I had the electrician put in a few dedicated outlets into a spare bedroom adjacent to the master suite and made that my two-channel room for the time being. The upstairs location works out well; it is quiet and out of the way of normal first-floor traffic.

It's a great place to get away for a while....if you know what I mean.



Tj

 

[Bernard]

Joey, Bedroom C is too small for an audio room. If you do as I suggested and move the laundry room to where Bedroom C is, you would not have to pay for extra plumbing to a laundry room as it would be right next to a bathroom (plumbing right there).

The fourth car garage would be too cold for an audio room, or of course you could expand it and get some large tube amps to heat it. You would also have a concrete floor, which is what Justin is advising.

BTW what are you planning to do with that large ground-level family room ? Waste it on HT ?

 

[tsv_1]

concentrate on the basement option... you may need a beam or two in order to clear any support poles (lally-columns) out of the area. I would go big... 24x18 if at all possible. Also, framing, paneling (maybe shiplap barnboard), carpeting (as Justin mentioned), some wiring and a ceiling.... done. Waaaay less than $100K. No need to finish the rest of the basement... just the one room, and perhaps the stairs leading down and a bit of a hall.

It's so damn easy spending other people's money

Cheers

 

[Joey_V]

I think that making the 2nd floor family room expanded over the garage would be much much less costly. I cannot fathom the cost of fully finishing the basement and I have not fully entertained the idea of finishing only enough for an audio room...

 

[Joey_V]

Joey, Bedroom C is too small for an audio room. If you do as I suggested and move the laundry room to where Bedroom C is, you would not have to pay for extra plumbing to a laundry room as it would be right next to a bathroom (plumbing right there).

The fourth car garage would be too cold for an audio room, or of course you could expand it and get some large tube amps to heat it. You would also have a concrete floor, which is what Justin is advising.

BTW what are you planning to do with that large ground-level family room ? Waste it on HT ?

I don't think I can claim the family room... I have a better shot at claiming the living room.

Btw, the 4th car garage would be built into a room and not left as a garage... Lol!

 

[tsv_1]

I think that making the 2nd floor family room expanded over the garage would be much much less costly. I cannot fathom the cost of fully finishing the basement and I have not fully entertained the idea of finishing only enough for an audio room...

Totally understand... just stating what I would do. Also, I concur with Justin's comments about having your setup on cement. The less room interaction (including flexing floors), the better.

Cheers