ᐅ Lower the ceiling using an acoustic suspended ceiling to reduce sound transmission.

I have a sprayed-in ceiling finish in the living room. It looks great and has really helped. However, it was only the first step.

hampshire schrieb:

@untergasse43 For acoustic optimization, I’m not focused on music but simply on everyday living comfort. A room with echo and harsh reflections is just very unpleasant. Our ceiling height is just under 7m (23 feet), but it doesn’t feel like a church. The music comes from fairly basic hi-fi systems from Atoll, Naim, Triangle, JM Lab. High-end was something I used to pursue, but that’s behind me now.

although I would still categorize Naim as nearly high-end 😉 even if not everyone agrees. You just have to like it. But that’s just my personal impression. It’s common for people of older generations to experience a decline in hearing. This is an irreversible process called wear: the tiny hair cells in the cochlea get damaged. Suddenly, good hearing is gone. Aging naturally accelerates this process, and it can be worsened by things like motorcycling, clubbing, and so on.

When I was younger (around my mid-20s), I used to listen to systems costing over 100,000 (currency) for fun (High-End fair in Frankfurt, Hotel Kempinski?), though I couldn’t afford them. I at least tried to get reasonable listening enjoyment with more affordable components. Back then, I lacked hearing experience; now I lack “quality” in my ears. The advantage is that much cheaper systems are enough to satisfy my listening pleasure 😳 I used to arrange a whole room around my audio system; today I just take the space that’s available.

superzapp schrieb:

In the past, I used to arrange a room around my system, now I make use of the available space.

I feel the same way. In the 90s, you could find me at Kempinski as well, even as an exhibitor. Back then, the system was the centerpiece of the apartment. Today, everything blends in. That’s what I mean by no more high-end. The Atoll, Triangle JM Lab combination is really good. The Naim Wi-Fi speakers offer good sound along with the convenience of streaming and are used more often. This really isn’t high-end anymore. It doesn’t always have to be Gryphon.

If anyone in the Rhine-Main area (or really anywhere) is interested, I can gladly recommend a professional acoustician. We work with him very often, and the results are outstanding. Speaking of high-end: in our last home theater project, the Trinnov field service almost left with tears of emotion in their eyes 🙂

superzapp schrieb:

although I would classify Naim as almost high-end

That also bothered me a little.

hampshire schrieb:

In the 90s, you could also find me at Kempinski, as an exhibitor.

With what / as who exactly?

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11ant schrieb:

That also bothered me a bit...

Well, I mean the "old" Naim NAC / NAP amplifiers (definitely not the current Wi-Fi boxes – what are they even building nowadays?) that already offered XLR connections "for home use" at a time when no one had the right cables :-(
Certainly not comparable to, for example, Burmester or others (just came to mind), which I found very well crafted back then. But back then, High-End was classified in magazines ("Low," "Mid," "High"-High-End...) and it wasn’t just the price that defined the category. The typical English "soft" sound was praised, minimalist features criticized, but in the right system AND with matching components, Naim amplifiers could reproduce very good listening experiences (instrument placement...) (I can only share how I remember the tests and experiences from back then, perhaps my memory is faulty, as almost 30 years have passed).