What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

That could prove a very difficult thing to achieve        

"Happy wife, happy life". 

PD

[DavidW]

Thanks - we are planning to get some large rugs for both rooms.

If you have any pets they'll thank you too!  My dog absolutely hates hardwood floors.

[DavidW]

That could prove a very difficult thing to achieve        

I wonder if she also appreciates the most depressing neoromantic symphonies!

[DavidW]

On the other hand, carpets can muffle sound. Good sound reproduction system would include acoustic room treatment, vibration control, et al. 

You make it sound equal, but it is not at all.  It is far superior to have carpets, plants etc. instead of long planes of hard floor, walls, ceilings.  That is part of room treatment.  It doesn't have to be about throwing huge amounts of money at acoustic panels.  You can just use common sense.  Carpet the floors, curtains for the windows.  Maybe some plants.

[DavidW]

Can yes, but if then are thin enough it will work in a positive way. That's how I did it in my listening room.  The sound is not muffled, but beautifully balanced.

The kind of thick rugs he is talking about are difficult to vacuum anyway.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

If you have any pets they'll thank you too!  My dog absolutely hates hardwood floors.

Yes, I suspect his cat (Who I hope is still doing well).  And, yes, claws on hard wood floors can lead to a lot of slipping and sliding!

PD

[AnotherSpin]

You make it sound equal, but it is not at all.  It is far superior to have carpets, plants etc. instead of long planes of hard floor, walls, ceilings.  That is part of room treatment.  It doesn't have to be about throwing huge amounts of money at acoustic panels.  You can just use common sense.  Carpet the floors, curtains for the windows.  Maybe some plants.

I didn't make anything equal, I just said they can. Likewise, speaker placement can play a huge role in the specifics of the sound. Even a slight movement left-right or back and forth can be well perceptible.

[DavidW]

I didn't make anything equal, I just said they can. Likewise, speaker placement can play a huge role in the specifics of the sound. Even a slight movement left-right or back and forth can be well perceptible.

I've noticed that too.  With both the speakers and my listening position.

[Daverz]

I didn't make anything equal, I just said they can. Likewise, speaker placement can play a huge role in the specifics of the sound. Even a slight movement left-right or back and forth can be well perceptible.

A Stabila laser distance measurer is one of the best investements I ever made in "audio" equipment.

My listening room is difficult for setup because of the lack of symmetry or even a sufficient length of wall behind the speakers to measure against.  (Pic below is taken from the loft above the semi-open kitchen).  To deal with the lack of symmetry, I have the bookshelf speakers on stands well out into the room away from any side walls and sit fairly close (within 2.5 meters).  That results in some pretty ragged response in the low bass, so to deal with that I cross over the mains to a subwoofer at 120 Hz with a very steep crossover filter. I don't hear the subwoofer as a separate source of sound with this setup; the bass is smoothly integrated with the mains. 

I can actually do without the subwoofer much of the time, though.  It does add solidity on the very bottom end and takes the stress off the main speakers in big climaxes those rare times I can crank up the volume.

 

[Valentino]

Oh, @Daverz. That might be one of the most difficult rooms I've seen. Every natural place for a speaker is a traffic area.
Your solution is good though.

[vandermolen]

If you have any pets they'll thank you too!  My dog absolutely hates hardwood floors.

Our cat is more or less permanently ensconced on a small white fluffy rug in front of the wood burner.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

A Stabila laser distance measurer is one of the best investements I ever made in "audio" equipment.

My listening room is difficult for setup because of the lack of symmetry or even a sufficient length of wall behind the speakers to measure against.  (Pic below is taken from the loft above the semi-open kitchen).  To deal with the lack of symmetry, I have the bookshelf speakers on stands well out into the room away from any side walls and sit fairly close (within 2.5 meters).  That results in some pretty ragged response in the low bass, so to deal with that I cross over the mains to a subwoofer at 120 Hz with a very steep crossover filter. I don't hear the subwoofer as a separate source of sound with this setup; the bass is smoothly integrated with the mains. 

I can actually do without the subwoofer much of the time, though.  It does add solidity on the very bottom end and takes the stress off the main speakers in big climaxes those rare times I can crank up the volume.

 

Aiee!  Yep, that's a hard one!  Do you ever use the fireplace?

PD

[Daverz]

Aiee!  Yep, that's a hard one!  Do you ever use the fireplace?

PD

No, a silly thing to have in Southern California. I have a pair of big monoblock tube amps for chilly days.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

No, a silly thing to have in Southern California. I have a pair of big monoblock tube amps for chilly days.

Tubes are great in the wintertime!  Not so much so on a hot summer's day.

PD

[drogulus]

     I'm seriously thinking of getting a real Oppo again! The cool thing is the reason is I want to rip SACDs. Why I do this? I don't have any SACDs.

     Well, I do have a whole bunch of SACD ISOs I unpack to dsf/dff files. Though in some cases they aren't much different from the CDs, in other cases they are. To me it's immaterial why a Dire Straits song is noticeably better on the SACD. It might have nothing to do with the virtues of DSD. I only care about the result, not the reason for it.

     I suspect the more important reason to do this is that it's the next stage in my project of getting all my music onto my file/folder/disc archive and playback system.

[AnotherSpin]

I'm seriously thinking of getting a real Oppo again! The cool thing is the reason is I want to rip SACDs. Why I do this? I don't have any SACDs.

     Well, I do have a whole bunch of SACD ISOs I unpack to dsf/dff files. Though in some cases they aren't much different from the CDs, in other cases they are. To me it's immaterial why a Dire Straits song is noticeably better on the SACD. It might have nothing to do with the virtues of DSD. I only care about the result, not the reason for it.

     I suspect the more important reason to do this is that it's the next stage in my project of getting all my music onto my file/folder/disc archive and playback system.

The difference between dsf and FLAC files of the same album may depend on the playback system. On the system I had a few years ago, the difference in sound was more than noticeable, however, not so much now.
 
One more note, sometimes there is a temptation to unpack the ISO to dsf/dff, then convert the dsf/dff to FLAC. When using conventional converters, there can be a clearly audible loss in sound quality after second step. I prefer to keep the dsf/dsf without making FLACs out of it.

[drogulus]

One more note, sometimes there is a temptation to unpack the ISO to dsf/dff, then convert the dsf/dff to FLAC. When using conventional converters, there can be a clearly audible loss in sound quality after second step. I prefer to keep the dsf/dsf without making FLACs out of it.

    What??? No!! I would never do such a thing.

     My AVR, like almost all modern ones, handles DSD just fine through HDMI. So does my PC through my USB Dac.

[AnotherSpin]

What??? No!! I would never do such a thing.

     My AVR, like almost all modern ones, handles DSD just fine through HDMI. So does my PC through my USB Dac.

Since my systems could play dsd/dff always, I never did such conversion as a rule, for tests only. However, I have known people who had to do it, either out of necessity or convenience.

[drogulus]

Since my systems could play dsd/dff always, I never did such conversion as a rule, for tests only. However, I have known people who had to do it, either out of necessity or convenience.

     One reason people do this is they are told it's difficult and expensive to get DSD natively from a player to a DAC. It just isn't true. But if you look online for guidance you'll run into the audiophile nomenklatura that wants you to pay $$$ for exotic hardware. They'll say (or darkly imply) you can't send DSD over HDMI, which is only true for computer connections, not for BD/SACD players.

     

[Bachtoven]

When we first got married, my wife and I found this awesome piano rug--just had to have it! I'm sure it helps to tame reflections from the hardwood floor. Our living room is great for audio--the ceiling slopes upward toward my listening position, which probably helps with the acoustics, too.