As far back as I can remember, my listening space has always been a multipurpose area – either a living or family room. Even as a kid, my dad’s Heathkit stereo with a Garrard turntable held court in our living room, ensconced in a designerly cabinet.
Now, there was a brief moment at our last house where we discussed dedicating a spare bedroom for that purpose, but after acoustically treating our adjacent family room, I decided that it was too small and square, and would have been a royal headache to try and fix up.
When we discussed the finishing of our basement in our current house, I’d initially planned on building a separate, enclosed A/V space there, however, those plans were scuttled when we discovered how that would shrink our usable space. Now, my listening and A/V area resides in the front half of an open-plan area serving as a family room, while the back half acts as a dining room for special occasions housing Belle’s massive dining table, with my home office tucked off to the side in an alcove (you can read an article on how we built that HERE).
A/V Furniture and Accouterments Through the Years
When I was single, my audio electronics resided in a TV armoire that I was gifted during my first marriage, and later atop a hot water radiator cover, and then a low-lying shelf, and a repurposed sewing table from a garage table. When I married Belle in 2011, they were relocated to an oversized media console with a TV armoire in the middle and two storage shelving units to the side that took up the better part of the front wall in our first two homes together. Eventually, we dispensed with that and purchased a media shelving unit called the Simpli Home Skyler TV Stand that we kept for roughly five years. (We sold the shelving units and kept the TV armoire for extra storage.)
Listening area furniture has generally been cast-aways from our formal living room; as we upgraded furnishings in our statement room, the displaced usually ended up in the A/V area.
There were several exceptions, the most notable being the BDI Corridor Media Console, which was quite pricey at roughly $3,000. However, this gorgeous furniture piece helped hide the clutter of various electronics and their dangling power cords and interconnects that remained visible with the Simpli Home Skylar stand, providing a well-ventilated enclosure while maintaining her preferred minimalist aesthetic. To this day, she still says that the purchase was one of the best we ever made!
Currently, my Pass Labs X150.8 amplifier sits on a ¼” thick steel plate on a repurposed Sound Anchors monitor stand to the side of the BDI console.
I picked up a retro tripod lamp we love from an art, furniture, and decor shop called Sgt. Pickers in Kenosha, Wisconsin (as well as a vintage framed Jimmi Hendrix poster that sits in my office nook) and a survey-stand-type lamp on eBay to round out the look.
Acoustic absorption panels were homemade and generally covered in fabric which we both agreed upon to blend with the decor. And, like the listening room furniture, area rugs rotated-in from the living room as upgrades were made there (with the caveat that the rug has a nicer wool underlayment for better acoustics).
The Latest Furniture Upgrade
For over 10 years, Belle has been jonesing for a nice sectional couch for her living room and, finally, we ordered one. That meant the dark gray leather couch set in our family room/listening space would have to go, as the nicer living room set upstairs would take its place. I was comfortable with the existing listening room furniture, but she wasn’t; she felt it made the room look dark and dank, while the upstairs couches were a brighter, seafoam green. I didn’t see the need to let go of the basement set, but she had a point: We had discovered that set in Florida on vacation several years ago and looked long and hard to find it under another brand in Illinois. There’s no way we were willing to give up that cherished couch and loveseat set!
As I pondered a dedicated listening chair or two, I thumbed through used furniture on Facebook. There were some nice options available at reasonable prices. However, Belle offered to bring down her white Sherpa accent chairs to save money. Since our new living room sectional cost us several thousand dollars, and we have an upcoming out-of-state vacation costing several more, that made sense to me. Currently, I do my critical listening from the center of the couch, while the fluffy sherpas sit at an angle to my right, while the loveseat sits, angled, to the left. Even though they are situated just to the front of the center of the room, acoustically speaking, it’s a very satisfying arrangement.
So, after working out the particulars, we donated the old family room couch set and, when church volunteers came to move it, they carried our living room set down to the basement for us (a task that involved removing the basement door, unscrewing feet, and enlisting three or four younger men to do the heavy lifting). As you’ll see with the photos, the results were quite stunning!
Looking Ahead
Although we have some limited artwork – some Thomas Kinkade reproductions, a large framed portrait of Belle and me, and an abstract oil painting by my late uncle, Al Wynne, I plan on resuming my painting in the coming years, and when I do, some will no doubt line the wall to the right of the listening space in the nook by the stairwell. No doubt, I’ll line the back of the paintings with acoustic absorption material (as I’ve done with the Wynne and the Kinkade pieces). As a writer and educator towards the tail end of his career, I am more mindful of our expenditures, so whatever we do, we strive to decorate with good taste, fiscal responsibility, and comfort in mind. So far, it’s working wonderfully for us!