Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams

microstrip · May 11, 2013

Steve,

You really did your homework looking for the best solution for the design of your new room, went through more than three months of building and are now rewarded with glorious sound. I really feel happy for you and congratulate you again on your new room, although I can not deny having a little of jalousie because I do not have a Dr. Bonnie Schnitta close to me ...

It was great to read your summary of the process of designing and building the room. It shows the complexity and the resources that were needed, and I am sure that this thread will become a star in WBF. I only hope that you have the patience to answer all the questions that will follow ...

Dr. Bonnie Schnitta says most of it when she comments "It felt like a room of dimensions greater than it was" and " The pressure wave interaction within the room was optimized so that the room “felt wonderful”. For me this is the most critical part of small room acoustics.

amirm · May 11, 2013

Late congrats from me also. It must have been tough waiting all that long to get your listening space back. I will have to stop by next time I am in LA.

Steve Williams · May 11, 2013

microstrip said:
Steve,

You really did your homework looking for the best solution for the design of your new room, went through more than three months of building and are now rewarded with glorious sound. I really feel happy for you and congratulate you again on your new room, although I can not deny having a little of jalousie because I do not have a Dr. Bonnie Schnitta close to me ...

It was great to read your summary of the process of designing and building the room. It shows the complexity and the resources that were needed, and I am sure that this thread will become a star in WBF. I only hope that you have the patience to answer all the questions that will follow ...

Dr. Bonnie Schnitta says most of it when she comments "It felt like a room of dimensions greater than it was" and " The pressure wave interaction within the room was optimized so that the room “felt wonderful”. For me this is the most critical part of small room acoustics.

I think Frantz explanation was dead on The Lamm ML3's might not have been sufficient in the last room but as I said earlier, when I powered it on and listened for the first time, my first thought was , "OMG, I don't need subs"

Steve Williams · May 11, 2013

amirm said:
Late congrats from me also. It must have been tough waiting all that long to get your listening space back. I will have to stop by next time I am in LA.

I have never been without a system for the past 50 years, so to have it in crates in one of my garages for 8 months and reading about everyone else's listening experiences in their own rooms made me have separation anxiety

Steve Williams · May 11, 2013

jadis said:
Congratulations Steve. Nice, cozy, and neat. Great thing is, it sounds great. I can imagine the effort and strain you went through in moving houses and rebuilding and redesigning a listening room so much different from the previous one. I had done that and I might do that again if my plan materializes. Will definitely make your place a destination if I visit the San Diego area.

Phil I will never forget the day you visited me a few years ago in Feb IIRC when it was one of the coldest days in the year. It's not often you see guys from Manila dressed in winter clothes and shivering. Hopefully when you're in Southern California this will be a non issue. We're having Manila weather today with temps mid 90's

still-one · May 11, 2013

Steve
I did not have time to get back to this thread yesterday after I PM'd you as I got tied up watching the Wings/Ducks Game 6. I just wanted to follow up again on what a nicely detailed thread you created. At first glance you think the photographs tell the story but in fact they only touch at what went into the planning and execution.

Photos tend to make the room look smaller than it actually is. As I noted my room is about a foot narrower and 18" shallower than yours and my X2's seem to work nicely even though I only wish I could have gone to your lengths in designing a better environment. When you indicate that your Alexandria's are positioned 3 1/2' from the wall, is that from wall to the back of the speaker or wall to the front?

Steve Williams · May 11, 2013

It's from the front wall to the inside rear corner of the speaker

mauidan · May 11, 2013

Steve Williams said:
It's from the front wall to the inside rear corner of the speaker

For Wilson owners, here the WASP worksheet:

Roger Dressler · May 11, 2013

I'm sure the acoustics are superb. But how well does it isolate external noise? Those OC Housewives make quite the racket.

Steve Williams · May 11, 2013

They do a lot of filming of the Housewives of OC at the clubhouse up the street from me.

ack · May 11, 2013

Steve, if only all reviewers were to write so eloquently. I really enjoyed reading all about it as much as I did looking at the pictures. Very impressive work, I hope you get to enjoy every minute of it in health. And of course, as in most cases, it's our spouses that really make all this happen. God bless them... she deserves an extra big "kiss" - from Cartier

- tomorrow

slowGEEZR · May 11, 2013

Steve, congratulations! Great thread which I will refer to from time to time, I'm sure.

Dre_J · May 11, 2013

Steve,

The new room looks wonderful. Wish I could make it to Newport for The SHOW a little over two weeks from now but things just won't allow the trip this time.

Dre

rbbert · May 11, 2013

Steve Williams said:
No HT this time around

Presently I have been using Nick's advice re the crossover and so far I am using 50 Hz but am thinking I might go down to 47.5 Hz

Steve,

Looks fantastic and reading all the details is very enlightening.

Are you still running the Wilsons full-range and talking about just the low-pass filter for the subs?

Steve Williams · May 12, 2013

rbbert said:
Steve,

Looks fantastic and reading all the details is very enlightening.

Are you still running the Wilsons full-range and talking about just the low-pass filter for the subs?

Yes

Wilson's full range and crossing out at 50 hz but still playing wik the crossover.

jfrech · May 12, 2013

Steve, thanks so much about posting your journey to a new listening room. You can't argue about the big Wilson's adjustability into differing environments...a big plus for these speakers!

I am surprised you feel the need for subs still...of course I've never tried subs with my former Maxx 3's and current Rockports (never really felt I need to do consider)...is it just giving you some bass support in the very bottom or helping all over...I know cleaner bass can provide more benefits in imaging cues and better mids even...like bass traps do more than just the bottom end...

Steve Williams · May 12, 2013

jfrech said:
Steve, thanks so much about posting your journey to a new listening room. You can't argue about the big Wilson's adjustability into differing environments...a big plus for these speakers!

I am surprised you feel the need for subs still...of course I've never tried subs with my former Maxx 3's and current Rockports (never really felt I need to do consider)...is it just giving you some bass support in the very bottom or helping all over...I know cleaner bass can provide more benefits in imaging cues and better mids even...like bass traps do more than just the bottom end...

Hi John

If you recall in the beginning of my write up, the first time I powered the system on, my initial comment was "OMG, I don't need subs." Having said this however I do use them to reinforce the bottom end up to 50 Hz although as I said, I am still playing with the crossover. Looking at your room, it seems much larger than mine and I would suspect some distinct improvement with a pair of subs

RBFC · May 12, 2013

Subs can help to smooth out the bottom end response even though they may not be needed for SPL output capability. Steve certainly found this, as have others!

Lee

Steve Williams · May 12, 2013

I agree Lee

What I have found is minimal increase of the master volume on each sub can produce significant changes in listening experience. If anything I have been ever so slightly turning the volume down on the subs

R Johnson · May 12, 2013

Steve,

Thanks for a great writeup of your odyssey! It's good to read that it has worked out so well.

As a structural engineer myself, I found your story of particular interest. But I think you have a typo... I suspect that the new floor is designed for 150 pounds per square foot, not 1500. (The normal residential design is for 40 psf.)

Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams

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