Paul's Posts — 24 November 2011
By Paul McGowan
In one of my posts called The Man Cave, I stirred up a bit of controversy about the decline of the dedicated audio sanctuary.
Several people asked me if I wanted to see these go away and be replaced. No. I think having a dedicated audio or home theater room is a great thing to aspire to if you’re fortunate enough to have the real estate and an understanding partner. And, for those of you that possess such a room, do whatever it takes to enjoy and share it with as many people as possible.
There’s nothing I like better than going into what we call “the sound room” and others the “music room”. A room dedicated just to audio – a temple – where every ounce of energy has been spent preparing the room, the cables, the speakers, even the decor to serve the audio. Having such a room is something unique to what we do and something I hope we can always preserve as what many of us aspire to. I am envious of those who have this in their homes.
I can recall on numerous trips overseas and in this country being shown someone’s dedicated audio room – perhaps a converted garage, a spare bedroom, basement, even wholly built structures – but all shown with a great deal of pride and rightfully so.
The bigger point I was trying to make about the declining number of these sanctuary’s is this: as designers and manufacturers of the equipment in those rooms, we should be working on solutions that can be appreciated in them but not dedicated to them.
While most of us aspire to have such a temple of audio, most of us will not – yet we still want to enjoy the benefits of high-end audio in what area we have to work with.
That, my friends, is the challenge.
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Paul,
I’m also jealous of the dedicated audio room, but I also love the fact that my equipment can be enjoyed by my wife and friends throughout my home. I don’t achieve the “absolute sound” but more people get to share the joy of music and, in my opinion, the music is the thing. Meanwhile, there are plenty of man caves for me to visit when I want to see what’s possible but out of my reach.
Todd Bankers
I have a music/ theater room and it’s used by the entire family. We set aside a few nights a week to get togather and listen to music everyone brings whatever they would like to listen to. And i believe we have been using this room more for music than movies as time goes by.