Let's get real

How many among us have true dedicated listening rooms? I'll bet fewer than 1% of a fairly big audience. No, I think most people have their home audio systems in their shared living space. Part of the home decor, to be enjoyed by all who live in the house. In all the many decades I've been building audio systems I've had only one dedicated listening room in my home, and frankly speaking, I would have been better off with that setup in the living room or going for a smaller system. The large bedroom I commandeered for myself wasn't really big enough to handle the 4-piece Infinity RS1 that came into my possession after Absolute Sound Magazine's HP first hooked me up with Arnie Nudell of Infinity. Arnie demanded I "get real" and lose the Magneplanars I had at the time for some "real" speakers. Wanting to play with the big dogs, I jumped at the chance for a pair of RS1s even though I hadn't anywhere to put them. The ones pictured here are just a pair I grabbed off the internet, but mine were very much the same. Too big for a bedroom, I would have been so much happier had Terri let me take over the family's living room. That was not to be as our fourth child was ready to enter the world and the house was barely big enough for all of us—so my first dedicated room was somewhat of a letdown for a system of this size. The point of this post is not to whine but to suggest we're often best served by outfitting our homes with systems that integrate well into the family living space. Unless you're lucky enough to have a proper dedicated listening room, you're better off adjusting the main system to the home's living space and enjoying music with the family. Once I learned that lesson, life and my home music got a lot better.