Creating the Ultimate Music Listening Room – What you’ll Need

Music listening room with Eames Chair

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Listening to music is a hobby for a lot of people. Most of us listen to music while commuting, working, or during our leisure time. But if you are a serious music listener and would like to feel all the rhythms and beats, a dedicated listening room is a perfect place for that. 

For me, it’s my happy place. The place where I can turn off all the external distractions of the world and relax in to the music.

In some ways it’s a physical experience where my tight muscles relax while the sweet vocals and impactful bass notes chill me out.

No matter how much you pay for your music equipment, your music won’t sound good unless you use the fitting room to listen and your equipment is placed correctly. 

In this article, we’ll discuss how to create a music listening room.

Short Look On Requirements

Most of the time, we buy ourselves a hifi system, new speakers, record player or streaming amp and bring them home, turn the volume up, and are then left wondering why the speakers don’t sound the way they are supposed to.

The first thing you should do is buy your speaker and allocate the remaining budget money towards getting the required equipment. 

This way, you’ll be able to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of each piece of sound equipment which will further help you optimize your room for music listening.

Let’s see what are those five things you should consider while making your music listening room:

  1. Speakers
  2. Room layout
  3. Placement
  4. Chair / Couch
  5. Sound-proofing & Sound-absorbing
  6. Other equipment

Let’s zoom in on each of these points.

1: Speakers 

Speaker on a stand for music listening room
Choice of speakers will make one of the most significant impacts on your music listening room

You can have separate components for your audio system instead of having it all in one box. For example, I recommend you get a two-channel speaker for your stereo. It will save you some money, and it won’t sacrifice the quality of the sound. 

Just ensure that your speaker comes with an amplifier and woofer pre-installed in it. Then, if you like bass music more, you can get yourself an external subwoofer. 

If you’re building your music listening room with limited space, bookshelf speakers are a better option. If you have more space, go for tower speakers. 

It’s important to remember that your speaker is an essential component of your whole system. So don’t second-guess yourself by trying to save money on it.

2: Room Layout

Diagram of a room layout for music listening
Room layout will impact how you hear what comes from your speakers – reflections and sound movement

Have you ever felt that one of your speakers is making more sound than the other? If yes, that is your room’s symmetry problem.

To reduce echo and improve the sound, place your speaker at a position where you find your room more symmetrical and then place your other furniture in a way that balances out the sound a bit.

Also, Windows and glasses are very reflective; they can reflect your sound in the wrong direction, creating a bad sound experience for you.

Here are two things you can try for this problem –

  1. Keep in mind that you do not have to sit in front of the window or keep your speaker in front of the window. The window should always be on your left-hand side or right-hand side.
  2. Apart from this, there is another option – you can install a soundproof curtain in your window; this will evenly reflect & absorb the sound, and you will not hear any echo.

When you play music in a room, the bass sound can build up in the corner of your room. Put something like a table lamp in the corner of your room to avoid building up bass and get a better sound. Make sure you don’t put your speakers in the corners of the room.

3: Placement

If you’re listening to music, you are more likely to have a better sound if you position the speakers of your sound system correctly. There are two ways to improve the sound in your room. 

  1. One way to get a more balanced sound is to place & test your speakers throughout your room.
  2. The other way is to move different stuff in your room.

You have tested these things out to figure out the best setup for your music listening room.

4: Seating arrangements – Chair/Couch

Armchair for music listening room
A chair is a personal choice. Model not included…

There is a fairly widely accepted belief that the Eames chair is probably the most comfortable chair for using in a music listening room.

I have to agree…but…

I do think there is something to be said for having a chair with less of a headrest to allow some of the sound to pass you rather than getting caught and reflecting right next to your ears.

Ultimately it has to be comfortable and the Eames is certainly that. It’s also very expensive and not easy to justify unless you have the money.

You’re better of spending the money on your speakers, amp and some bass traps than on the most expensive chair available. There are plenty of Eames and relaxing chairs you can pick, just give it a good trial in the store first.

5: Sound-proofing & Sound-absorbing

Picture of Green Glue soundproofing compound
Green Glue is just one product to help dampen and soundproof your home

Yes, both of these words are different. Sound-proofing reflects the voices while sound-absorbing reduces the echo. 

By installing soundproofing material in your room, you’re blocking the sound coming from outside but still allowing your family to hear the sound of your speaker.

I once soundproofed my townhome basement using a combination of and QuietRock acoustic drywall. I could have used one but I used both as I was trying to be extra awesome.

This wasn’t really needed. Because the ceiling was not soundproofed there is only so far soundproofing will take you. It’s like a fish tank with water. You can’t just seal one side and hope the water stays in. In the same way, you have to treat as much of the room as possible else the sound will leak through any spaces that are not covered.

That is an extreme view of course. Any panels, green glue or acoustic panels (bass traps) you can add to the walls etc will help absorb sound.

With Sound-absorbing material, your voice or music coming from the speaker cannot escape the room. Acoustic foam is the material used for sound absorption, and you can use some soundproofing curtain if you’re living in a noisy environment.

Before buying them, make sure you need them because they are costly.

Bass traps and acoustic panels

Acoustic sound panels for music listening room
Acoustic panels and bass traps can help catch unwanted sounds in your listening room

In the sound improving space you can also add wall panels, acoustic panels or bass traps as they can be known by.

This helps reduce unwanted reflections and audio artefacts in your music listening room. There are a load of companies that sell these from low end companies to high end brands like Vicoustic.

6: Other Equipment

If you want to add a woofer, you can. But for your information, all the speakers I mentioned earlier come with in-build woofers, and they’re very loud. But If you appreciate bass, you can take a woofer and hook it up to your speaker.

But apart from that, the vital thing is that how will you play the song?

You can also use Bluetooth to listen to music. But it’s expensive to set up such an environment, and it seems strange to play songs through Bluetooth. My suggestion is that you get an android based TV. It has three advantages in total – 

  1. It will be much easier for you to control things. You can fully control your audio system only through your TV.
  2. It enhances the setup of your room.
  3. If needed, you can use this TV as a home theater. 

You can also consider projectors and if your room is small you could get a short throw projector.

There are many possibilities with the ways you can connect your equipment and make for a beautiful recreational experience. 

Conclusion

Finally, it’s the end; you now know everything necessary to make a music listening room and practical things required to enhance your music listening experience.

Endless hours of experimentation, professional work, and personal investment in Home Theatre, Hi-Fi, Smart Home Automation and Headphones have come to this.

Former owner of Headphones Canada, a high-end headphone specialty retailer.

This post was last updated on 2024-10-31 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.


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