If only one could miniaturize a symphony orchestra, Brent Payne's home theater would be complete.

This rock drummer-turned-motivational speaker knew that a typical home theater could never meet his needs. He wanted a space in which his beloved B&W Nautilus 801 speakers could sing, and slam, and play as loud as his ears could stand (a level few ordinary listeners could tolerate for long). In short, he wanted a room designed for perfect music reproduction, but that could also double as a theater when he wants to bring the family in to watch DVDs. And he emphatically insisted that his space not resemble the typical cinema-styled home theater. As I play my test CD full of the most demanding stereo recordings I have collected through the last 15 years, I hear that Payne's wishes were fulfilled.

 

 

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The rear view of Payne's Rives-designed listening room, showing two B&W Nautilus speakers, a Runco projector, and DVD and CD racks that help diffuse sound. (Click image to enlarge)

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Payne's demands were sufficiently unusual that they fell outside the experience of most custom installers. "He wanted a miniature concert hall," says Richard Rives Bird, president of acoustical consulting firm Rives Audio. The story of how Payne got his unique listening room—and his first-class practice studio down the hallway—highlights a growing trend in custom installation: the use of acoustical consultants who specialize in designing listening spaces, and leave all the electronics, wiring, and automation to custom installers.

Chad Hollander, president of Masterpiece Home Entertainment, the Phoenix company that designed and installed the audio/video systems in Payne's home, explains: "Most people don't realize the effect the room has on performance. Partnering with Rives Audio on our theaters and listening rooms is the best way we can design a room that matches the performance of the systems we install."

Anatomy of a Listening Room
The first thing Rives Audio told Payne was that he chose the wrong room. "When Chris Huston, our engineering VP, visited the site and saw the space they wanted to use, he told them right away it would never work," Bird reports. "It was way too small to accommodate large speakers and seating for six. But as soon as he walked into Brent's gym, he told him, 'Now here's your listening room.' After Chris explained why the smaller room wouldn't work, Brent agreed to let us use the gym, and we ended up converting the smaller space into a drum practice room."

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The client's drum rehearsal room is designed as a "room within a room" so very little sound from the drums leaks into the rest of the house. (Click image to enlarge)

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Struck by the listening room's unique look, I ask Bird to describe the various design elements Rives Audio employed to convert what was originally a nondescript, rectangular room into the quasi-concert hall I see before me.

"First, Brent loves two-channel stereo audio, so we optimized the room for that," Bird explains. "To create the enveloping sound he wanted, we needed a longer reverb time [the time it takes for a reverberating sound to decay to inaudibility]. That's why you see so many hard surfaces here—the wood flooring, and the wood panels on the walls. But it gets annoying when sound bounces back and forth between reflecting surfaces, so we made sure to use almost no parallel surfaces in the design.

"In all four corners, we use traps [large spaces filled with fiberglass] to control the bass. These help eliminate the big peaks and valleys that most rooms have in the bass; you don't get that booming sound you hear in so many rooms. No matter where you sit, the biggest difference you hear in the bass in this room is plus or minus 3 decibels."

Bird catches me running my hand across the rich wooden wall panel at the front of the room, behind the center speaker. "The space behind that panel works as a resonator; it minimizes the bass resonance from the front of the room to the back," Bird says. "It's also curved so it reflects sound across the front of the room, rather than allowing it to bounce back and forth from the front wall to the back."

I notice that the room's ceiling is not the usual flat surface, but a complex, engineered shape. "We usually have some irregularity in the ceiling to break up the sound," Bird points out. "What you're seeing is just a fabric covering, which hides sound baffles."

I have heard B&W Nautilus 801s in spaces ranging from dealer showrooms to recording studios to home theaters, but have never heard them sound as good as they do here. The soundstage is remarkable; I hear not only a strong center image between the two speakers, but also distinct instruments placed at various points across the room. Orchestral recordings particularly impress me, as an entire string section appears to stretch from the center of the room to its left edge and beyond.

A New Direction
The success of Payne's listening room points to a new way of thinking about home theaters and media rooms—a focus as much on the space itself as on the audio/video gear that inhabits it. "The room is the first thing I discuss with my clients," Hollander reports. "Other installers sell the equipment first. I tell my clients, 'I have no idea at the start what equipment I'm going to give you, but I will guarantee you a specific level of performance.' It's so different from what they hear from other dealers."

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The front of the listening room shows the angled wood paneling that helps eliminate flutter echo (sound bouncing back and forth between parallel walls) while retaining a "live" sound. (Click image to enlarge)

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Bird adds, "In a home theater, 40 to 50 percent of the sound is reflected by the room, not coming directly from the speakers, which tells you how important acoustics is. With these high-end systems, it's crazy not to do an acoustically engineered room. It ends up costing a fraction of what the gear costs, yet it's the most important part of the installation."

Hiring an acoustical consulting firm is a more involved process than, say, selecting a speaker system. The first step in working with Rives Audio is for the client or the installer to complete a six-page form that describes the dimensions of the space, what kinds of listening the client intends to do in it, and what equipment is planned for the space. A Rives consultant then calls to discuss the plans, and determine which level of consulting—Level 1, 2, or 3—is most appropriate. "Then they can think about whether they want to hire us," Bird says.

For a Level 1 job, Rives Audio starts by suggesting the best dimensions for the room if the home has not yet been built. Then the company recommends specific acoustic treatment products, provides drawings that show how and where to place them, specifies placement of the speakers and seating configuration, and also makes recommendations for quieting the heating/air conditioning system. A Level 2 job brings in more technology: The installer performs acoustical measurements of the space, using equipment provided by Rives Audio, in order to aid the company in its design and confirm the results.

A Level 3 job such as Payne's listening room is a fully custom design that includes two visits from a Rives Audio consultant—once in the middle of the project to confirm that the installation is going according to plan, and once in the end to perform acoustical measurements and fine-tune the room to perfection. All of the acoustical products are custom-designed to suit both the room's technical needs and the client's tastes in interior design. Full construction documentation is also provided.

Rives Audio's services start at $1,050 for a Level 1 consultation on an existing room, and run as high as $8,000 to $10,000 (plus travel costs) for a Level 3 consultation—less than the cost of the front left and right speakers in a many high-end home theaters.

After enjoying DVDs and CDs in Payne's listening room—and hearing him play drums in his Rives-designed practice room—I cannot argue with the results Bird and his team have achieved. I am convinced that using outside acoustical consultants to design home theaters is a trend more and more homeowners—and more and more dealers—will soon embrace.

Rives Audio: 800.959.6553, www.rivesaudio.com