Audio footprint

[ssfas]

My meanderings around this forum lead me to believe that that aim of high-end hifi is to consume as much real estate as possible. May be due to living in London.

I'm a less is more type of person and would love to have less hifi components. I have however limited myself to whatever fits in a rack I had made that is 650mm wide, 450mm deep and 1,100mm high.

Am I alone in this ergonomic endeavour?

p.s. On a completely separate real estate matter, I need to get a house remodelled/extended in LA (Roxbury). Anyone in that area have any recommendations?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

i view an 'audio footprint' as much mental as physical. not everyone has the equal spare room in their heads for this hobby. some have many other things in their life and other priorities. in my case, grown children, and zero grandkids. so i have spare time to allocate. for 3 decades hifi was my main thing. and it returned much satisfaction in kind. my wife has her own interests too. and i live out of the city and have the space. city life/living density can influence the space you have to allocate. and maybe the mental space too as city life has more things pulling you away from hifi.

then there is whether you have a job that takes lots of time and ties you to home, or whether you travel, or maybe have a second home....or are retired. all these things influence how spread out your hifi footprint might be. maybe you have two more modest sized hifi systems instead of one larger one.

how serious are you about the hobby? how hard do you pursue higher performance? what limits to you place on your pursuit? these differences have infinite levels. and then there are interests in multiple formats, and wanting to have multiple sources. no right or wrong, just variances in the approach to the hobby and music. and of course, levels of physical media you want to own.

for me i just bought a motorhome and want to take some time to travel. which may lead to downsizing my home, and my hifi system in a year or two. changing priorities. so life does present forks in the road.

hard to judge other's elaborate and spacious hifi footprints. it's a reflection of many things in their life, not just a simple decision.

 

[slowGEEZR]

It absolutely makes sense to have a smaller sized system in a smaller space. Fortunately, there are many excellent ways to assemble such a system, especially with the abundance of stellar integrated amplifiers. Also, the bigger the system, the more a PITA it is to reassemble! Here're a few pics showing my reassembled gear, in tear down and finished product.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...what a relief, right? Breaking down and moving is such a chore. Looks great. Job done!

 

[Republicoftexas69]

I prefer a smaller room, matter of fact the entire second floor of my home is empty and I chose to have my listening room to be ths smallest room in my home. I would not want it any other way.

 

[Argonaut]

for me i just bought a motorhome and want to take some time to travel. which may lead to downsizing my home, and my hifi system in a year or two. changing priorities. so life does present forks in the road.

Bravo … Whilst we still can !

 

[PYP]

I prefer a simple system comprising as few boxes as possible and a multi-purpose room with windows with a view of nature and lots of sunlight. Perhaps I'm unconsciously claustrophobic. Or maybe it is the pleasant memories of listening to music (or seeing a play) outdoors as the sun sets. At any rate, I need a relaxing environment to get the most out of listening to music.

Many years ago, a relative visited us and saw all these boxes (gear) and asked: Why do you need all of that to play music? I had no answer and it got me thinking, so I started an experiment to consolidate while improving the sound. Can't explain the motivation other than a general desire to reduce variables and complexity. Yet when I see a well setup hifi taking up a large room, I think it looks great. Also, my setup is all digital but I love the look of certain turntables and tape decks. It isn't the vicarious thrill but an appreciation for the aesthetics. I appreciate great industrial design, which to me is an art in itself.

We are all wired differently.

 

[ssfas]

It absolutely makes sense to have a smaller sized system in a smaller space. Fortunately, there are many excellent ways to assemble such a system, especially with the abundance of stellar integrated amplifiers. Also, the bigger the system, the more a PITA it is to reassemble! Here're a few pics showing my reassembled gear, in tear down and finished product.

I also did a strip down, this weekend. Dusted everything off. Cleaned the plugs and contacts. A small amount of reorganisation. I think it took me a couple of hours. When working in Ltd space things like the Puritan floppy cables are a massive advantage. ventilation becomes a major concern.

 

[Holmz]

My meanderings around this forum lead me to believe that that aim of high-end hifi is to consume as much real estate as possible. May be due to living in London.

I'm a less is more type of person and would love to have less hifi components. I have however limited myself to whatever fits in a rack I had made that is 650mm wide, 450mm deep and 1,100mm high.

Am I alone in this ergonomic endeavour?

No - I don’t think so.
Lots of systems are pretty (insanely) massive.
There is a look of what is perceived as high quality, that is dominated by large masculine boxes.
Many of the European manufactures have equipment that is more along the lines of the mid century modern, Danish Modern, or Scandinavian Minimalist look, that seem to not put 1/2 the population ill at ease.

The Haus-Boss here enjoys the Feng-Shui of smaller gear, and also in silver rather than black.
And she does not easily abide massive amps sitting on the floor.

This gave me an opportunity to change out some gear after a few decades of happy ownership.
She gave the nod to the gear based upon looks alone.

 

[ssfas]

It absolutely makes sense to have a smaller sized system in a smaller space. Fortunately, there are many excellent ways to assemble such a system, especially with the abundance of stellar integrated amplifiers. Also, the bigger the system, the more a PITA it is to reassemble! Here're a few pics showing my reassembled gear, in tear down and finished product.

I was looking at your main thread and rather like your bar. Is there a spelling mistake on the wall? Were you drunk when you placed the order?!

I wanted my bar to be in my music room. No luck. It's in the main living area, a little more discrete and a much smaller footprint.

 

[slowGEEZR]

I was looking at your main thread and rather like your bar. Is there a spelling mistake on the wall? Were you drunk when you placed the order?!

I wanted my bar to be in my music room. No luck. It's in the main living area, a little more discrete and a much smaller footprint.
View attachment 146945

Ha ha, good question! I had some audio buddies from Texas visit (I live in Colorado) and I showed them a poster I had purchased for my record room. It arrived with a similar mistake. It said, "Steve Record's Room". We laughed about that. As the night went on and we had a few drinks, one of my friends said I should put a sign behind the bar that says, "Steve Place's". We had a good laugh and I forgot about it. Anyway, a few months later, I visited my audio buddies down in Texas and while listening to that friend's system, he handed me a package. The sign was inside. It's great having good friends. The only thing is, that I have to explain the sign to guests who notice the mistake! There's usually a chuckle or two. You'd be surprised how many people don't even notice the mistake in the sign.

 

[Tangram]

I’m definitely in the less is more camp. Do as little harm to the signal and all that. It just makes sense to me. Every time those electrons go through another wire or relay or switch there is a chance for degradation of the source signal. It can only be made worse, never better. I have a grand total of three interconnects and that would be two if I didn’t use a SUT. Four tubes in the entire signal chain. I prefer to focus on just one source. My only occasional foray into “maximalism” are my subs, the need for which I flip flop on every so often. While I consider myself “serious” about the hobby, I don’t want to feel like keeping it all in good nick is a burden.

 

[ssfas]

Ha ha, good question! I had some audio buddies from Texas visit (I live in Colorado) and I showed them a poster I had purchased for my record room. It arrived with a similar mistake. It said, "Steve Record's Room". We laughed about that. As the night went on and we had a few drinks, one of my friends said I should put a sign behind the bar that says, "Steve Place's". We had a good laugh and I forgot about it. Anyway, a few months later, I visited my audio buddies down in Texas and while listening to that friend's system, he handed me a package. The sign was inside. It's great having good friends. The only thing is, that I have to explain the sign to guests who notice the mistake! There's usually a chuckle or two. You'd be surprised how many people don't even notice the mistake in the sign.

I wouldn’t be surprised how many people are illiterate! The test is to ply them with enough alcohol so they don’t notice it, even if they are literate.