I have a musician friend in Ohio who on every Halloween evening plays "war of the worlds" old school version.

Well today became a Pulse day. A friend of mine came over at around 1 and we spent the afternoon ordering him almost the whole Pink Floyd collection. He has The Wall, Wish, Dark Side but after listening to Pulse (I should say while) he had me get on Amazon. Last week I took him to "ZIA Records" here in Vegas and bought him Amused To Death and David Gilmore. He's an artist and his listening room is becoming a Pink Floyd shrine.

Audiophile fact

Did you know that your audio equipment sounds better turned on the whole time? It's true. If you leave your audio system always on playing it allows the signal path to develop something known as burn in. Burn in is when the parts are charged enough to develop patterns in the way the music flows through the system. Sounds weird but the parts actually start sounding like the music they are playing. Thats right if you turned up the signal at any part in the audio path you would be able to hear the music playing through it. It's all about vibration. I know you probably won't want to play the music at real listening volumes to keep it burning but even at very low volumes it makes a big difference. Ok, so lets say the music keeps you up at night, still keep the system on and don't turn up the sound. Even a static system turned on sounds better than a system that gets turned on only when it is played.

what, nO link ??

You mean a picture isn't good enough?

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-650

Best deal in audio! Honestly so good that I use the basic speaker for my mini-mod model.

Always a fun time here. The last two days we have had visitors. One of them was Jimmy http://dinnermusicforthegods.com/music.html a very hip group of guys who have great talent and style. Bob took him in the one room and put on The Wall. LOL, he came out and said "it's safer outside the room, intense". I take it that's a good thing lol. Later it started the debate over which is better The Wall vs Amused to Death. Tough choice but in the long run I need to say BOTH! Both are extremely theatrical with some of the best sound staging ever.

The listening continues.

If you have The Wall and don't have Amused to Death, what are you waiting for?

I was raised on Harry Belefonte,Xavier Cougat,sourei Molin, and Dwayne Eddie.


Ii got lucky.

Great artists man! I listen to Harry often.

If I had a set up like that I would open all the doors and some windows during the monsoon and crank up Bridge of Sighs

right on bro awesome room there i bet the sound is amazing cheers

And I want to tell you that RT sounds incredible on the system in the pic. The Chameleon speakers go down to 18hz and up to 26Khz. It's frightening when the whole room rumbles on recordings that you had no idea there was info that full range. That's one of my favorite demos.

Here, I'll take you on a mini tour. Things have changed a little like flat screens and computer upgrade since this magazine spread ( I love the photos they took) but it gives you an idea of this part of TuneVilla.

entry


theater


wood & tweaks


seating in theater


side system


Chameleon system


Chameleon system


small system


writing room


Of course these are the clean areas that the reviewers see LOL!

When they turn on the audioprism sound automator 100 years from now they'll be saying who was this raspy/smooth singer back at the turn of the millenium named Rod Stewart? Who indeed. Rod is a gem that will live on forever. There have been times that he has been put on the back burner to other stars but when history plays it's tunes he will be one of the first names mentioned. No one has his voice and not many have taken the major part of their career and dedicated it to histories most memorable songs. He could have like many rock stars stayed within his camp but he has given us the gift of his magic with one of the widest sets of music ever. Rod is one of those singers that I will own and continue to gather his entire collection till he stops producing squeaks. If you have not started to make the jump from his rock days to his classics redone you might want to get your bottle of wine (please let the red breathe), a couple of glasses, sit in your favorite seats and put on



Here Rod takes 15 easy going love songs (pop) and makes them his own. I know very few rockers that can take 70's 80's pop and do justice as covers but Rod does it with ease. He mixes these songs in with some of his own (remixed) and makes all of them sound like his own. I usually like sitting myself down right in one of my hot seats to listen but this CD always pulls me away from critical (it's a great serious record too) listening chairs and puts me in a lovers lounging position with crackers, cheese and my favorite beverage.

Well you guys are going to think I'm weird more than you already do but last night my new listening chair came in for my sun room and it sounds great. Yes, the furniture in our rooms make a big difference. I need to get some pics up.

I have a question. What is up with the wood under the speakers? Does it resonate the sound? I am just curious......

Yep, those are tuned platforms. They increase the fullrange of the music by more than double the speakers original output.

good eye

Needed to do an update for my people and thought I'd copy it here too.

Hi Guys

I want to take you on a little walk through on the small listening room. After playing in here a while I've learned much about how the space is working. Even without having my custom PZCs made yet the room with even basic products is sounding really cool. I'm able to shape the soundstage any way I want by making the room variable, something all of you might want to consider.

I could have closed off this room but with it being so small and the fact that from my writing/sleeping room I can hear settling changes, I decided to keep this area open and use the hall and other rooms as tuning tools.



Materials and space is what makes a room magic. This room being an odd shape gave some opportunities to my tuning of it that maybe a typical room may not have, but believe me it is not automatic. I've had to carefully listen to the pressure in the room and how it reacts when I divide the space up into varying ports and spaces within spaces. Here's a good side view of how my Tunable Wall is separating the front from back. Notice the window covering too. A major player in the voicing of the space.



I'm listening nearfield but not as nearfield as I usually do because of where the door is in the room. This was a bit of a problem for me at first cause I like to go inside of the music. The Tunable Wall is something every one should have in my opinion. Mine being a little on the shabby side has done wonders and I can't imagine being without it. Shifting from nearfield to mid and far fields is a dream come true with the wall. It's like adjusting a camera lens and gives me an inside look at the soundstage from many views. This particular T-Wall was made from left over wood from the Chicago Tunable Room (this explains the odd shaped sizes of panels used). I want to tell you something really important in this pic. See how the T-Wall is not toughing the side wall in this shot? Well the cool thing about what is going on in here is not only do I have control of front to back but I also have control of how much energy I want to get to the back part of the room. This has turned out to be huge in my tuning of this space.



The space between me and my front wall is fairly empty. I currently have 2 CornerTunes up and 3 Music Ply PZCs.



You can see that it is only 5.5' from the back of my speaker platforms to my front wall. My speaker platforms, equipment platform and PZCs (BTW also made from the same wood as the T-Wall) all are a part of my acoustical treatment as well as being my mechanical grounding tools. Moving them any little bit makes a big difference to the voicing of this system.



It may not look like it but there is 8' of space behind the Tunable Wall. 6' of it is being used as a vented port where I have acoustical product back there tuning. The changes I can make to the sound from behind me is astounding. In fact I can put myself right in the middle of the recording if I want and shape how it wraps around me.



Between the variably tuned port behind me and the door that goes into the hallway I have a ton of voicing options at my figure tips. BTW my highs don't fatigue at all. They are extended and even warm. This area of the room is a tool that helps me tons when voicing individual recordings.



My tuning does not stop at my door way. It goes far beyond down the halls to the other listening areas and casual rooms. I have a PZC at the doorway that I use to voice the energy coming in and out of the hall.



This area of TuneLand, just outside of the small room, has closet doors and openings to the rest of the place. By shaping the closet doors into patterns of open and closing plus the RT pillow tuning I can effect the sound dramatically inside of the room.



I could take you down the halls into the other parts of the place but it would be a picture of the same, one voiced space after another. Here's a view of the tuning done right outside of the small room looking at the upper space in the hall. I voice the energy before in comes back into the room. There's a great sense of fair exchange that take place in these hall areas and it's actually very nice to listen to there.



And finally a peek at a corner in one of the rooms closest to the small room. My writing/music storage room where I have the sound nice for over flow listening. BTW the wall covering is extremely sheer and all the art is not very bulky and dampened. From here I can make judgement calls on things like the music settling which is a big help to me as it tells me when to go in and listen. This room also helps to voice the hall be used as the port for some of the other spaces.



While taking these pics I was listening to Jack. So nice.



Hope everyone is having a great day of listening.

Had folks over for Saturday live jamms last night. Our local Rock Station puts on a great Sat night live rock line. Basically it feels like one of those weekends when we were teenagers partying at someones place. It's funny cause I'm pretty straight on the drinking and other stuff but when people do visit they are like "and you don't roll em?". I don't mind if my peeps (that's what we call people now right?) do but I have the right to pick on them the next morning. I live right by a major hang out. When I say right by, I mean a half a block from the Playboy Club/Palms. Tour buses roll in at out of here like the mailman. Lots of friends think it's cool to walk over and come back to hang out. It is pretty neat actually.

I have my systems inside but I also have (at this location) 2 outside systems. Living in Vegas is cool cause you can have outdoor living rooms. This may sound kind of weird if you've never been but here you can actually setup indoor furniture outside, at least I do. No it doesn't hold up for ever but it sure is comfortable and for me, I get a new setup every 2 years or so.

So last night the conversation went "wow man this is like the teenage dream come true". We (the ones who stayed outside) were looking up at the Vegas lights listening to serious live jamms and talking about mingle. Can't get them to join, but they were like so you have all these dudes writing in and saying what their listening to and stuff? Cool. If I would have had more energy I would have setup a computer outside and let them chat. I did this one time a long time ago from the boat (I think this was mingle I did this on). I was just getting in to the web thing at that time. I don't think many from the site hung out with us but it was cool for us. Anyway we were wondering if people ever setup music skype parties? What a cool thing to be jammin with your friends and be skyping at the same time. I have a feeling that parties will be that way in the future. I mean look how far we have come. We are gabbing on the net. No it's not real time but could be easily and I think will be the norm in the future. Mingle live, what a trip it would be to take this whole thing to that level.

The greatest conversations get started while listening. I do almost all of my listening in private but last night was a blast and kinda gave me the hunger for the day when you are jammin and point the remote at your screen to talk to your friends at their place while your hanging out at yours. We even talked about doing this when the music is the same at all locations and in sinc.

One of the gals said to me last night "at first I thought it was weird that you have no real living room, but after being here it's like your whole place is a living room", "like a music/video livingroom". I thought mission acomplished. I since early on decided that I was going to make my homes into places that worked for who I am. I would walk into homes that had these rooms that never were lived in. They all had the makings that something should happen in them but nothing ever did. When I was first married to number one we had a boston parlour in the front of the house. I think I sat there 10 times in 5 years. Don't get me wrong I totally dig quiet too and love sitting/vibe rooms, but to have a place and not use it is a concept breaker for me.

In this thread I enjoy sharing my place cause for me music deserves the space to play it. It's as much your favorite listen chair and your favorite spot in the house as it is the music itself. I have clients and friends who have studios and recital rooms in their places. How cool is that? One of them is a huge Elton fan and has the same musical style when he plays. He'll get up in the middle of a CD and walk over to his piano room from getting an idea and will hang out in there for hours. I have another client in Wintrop Washington who had me design a huge studio for his son in law on top of a cliff. There is really nothing like the arts and music is at the top of it's social list. I love buying a CD and running home with it to pop in. TV is cool and so are movies but there is nothing like listening.

Last night was a great time and I hope all of you had a good time too.

Well, time to go get that CD going.

Materials are everything! So much of the time we get lost in the focus of our components. For years I have been teaching getting away from the things that make us stuck and getting focused on the sound of what effects the signal, whether it be any one of the 3 parts to the audio trilogy. I'm very methodical about my listening studying each part, maybe sometimes even too much if that's possible. Since being here in Vegas I've had the chance to live with tile floors long term and even though I have sweated to make them sound good they do not sound great. You have to have a lot of space in your room to work around the character of tile. If you don't have this space it will stick out like a sore thumb and it will take you a ton more time tuning around it than many will want to spend.

Yesterday begun a new era in the small room system setup. First finding a floor that had the sonic character I wanted. I thought about different hardwoods but after hearing a sample and seeing Bob's floor I decided to try a composite wood flooring. My flooring is maybe a little lighter weight than Bob's but not by much if any. Listening to this wood on it's own was actually a nice treat and I felt was pretty balanced with low tones. BUT, hearing it on the floor is a different adventure and until the system is on it's a guess at best.

Putting the wood directly on the tile would amplify the sound of the tile and this is not the direction I wanted to go in. Bob once again showed me what he likes to use to keep the floor floating, but the question I had was what will this do to the sound. Taking a closer look at the "foam" I discovered that this is not foam rubber, it is styrofoam. A air sealed plastic foam that was more of an air barrier. Now we're talkin. Watching Bob lay down this floor is an experience. First goes down the foam, again not "foam rubber" more like a plastic air floater. In the picture below you can see how thin the floater is.



Once the floater is down the wood can start being locked together. The trick here is to put the same amount of force on each seam. DIY, after seeing Bob do this I would question doing something like this on my own. Leave it to the pros.



Listening so far has been a treat! Bottom end has extended and room clarity (evidently caused by the tiled floor) is gone. I will be doing serious listen over the next couple of days but so far I would have to say this was more than a different move, it was a step in a good direction.

For those following my little room adventure you might be noticing something of a change besides the floor. I have turned the room side ways. What? It's ok, when exploring a room I try about every setup there is so I can answer questions for myself as well as others.

Setting up side ways has cast a very wide sound stage for this little space but the challenge will be depth. I'm having a fun time voicing the front window though. Looks like something out of pink floyd movie. Very fitting cause I'm listening to a lot of floyd right now (very telling).



With the 60's being a ways from the side walls the Wall Mount DecoTune did a fantastic job of focusing the bass and stage focus.



At first I was starting to do some fancy stuff with the acoustics in here but then I said not so fast Mr. Golden Ears (right lol). Before I get lost lets stick to the basics.



I've incorporated 3 of the tools so far and thinking about Sound Shutters, but first I want to get to know the space better.



I'm not crazy about dealing with this window but as long as I have the room turned this way it will need to become a fine tuned acoustical tool. Here's the beginning but in no way is it the end. Yes. that is an RT XLT above the window.



No, I do not believe in first wall reflections as such, howevr I do believe in pressure zone build up and this DecoTune is controlling this area well. The speaker is about 3' from the side wall.



just beginning

Hi listeners

I have been pretty busy but it looks like I may get a few days to enjoy my new little listening space. I bought another CD collection a couple of days ago and was so disappointed in the selection for as big as it was. I ended up taking most of the music to my local music hang out and traded them in. I think I'm getting a little spoiled by the great deals you can get now buying up CDs used and it has made me a little "bratish" when I don't find what I want. Silly isn't it. Even with the disappointment I still ended up paying about a dollar a CD. I'm sure once I take a realistic second look I'm going to find some gems. One of those gems is Donald Fagen's



For some weird reason after The Nightfly I thought Donald would never top this recording and maybe it was a fluke and will never be repeated. What was I thinking? If you have Nightfly you must pick Kamakiriad up. Donald has a grove that no one else in the biz has ever been able to copy. You can't help but bounce your shoulders and do the shuffle when this is playing. The timing and rhythm makes me want to learn to moonwalk. This has a wonderful sound stage that stays in place like a concert done for your own private party.