I had the pleasure of experiencing your new listening lab when I took a tour there last December. They said I was the third person outside of PS Audio to see the lab, and the first person outside of PS Audio to hear your new subwoofer. Paul was on vacation, so I didn't have a chance to chat with him.
PS (Pun intended): I can actually hear how awesome that room is from the audio in this video: It is completely quiet, no echo etc. (Even with your limited mic)
Spectacular looking room Paul, looks so warm and inviting, well done sir! Just by listening to your voice in the room, it would appear to be worth spanning the thousands of miles just to experience it.
My system didn`t work right on the front wall. I took your advice and have all the gear on the side wall. Then over time I finally got the sound stage right.Thanks Paul.
Looks fantastic, amazing, the room and of course the equipment, i´m sure it must sound great...Congratulations, i wish you many good auditions. A big hug from Portugal
Congrats 🍾 The room dimensions don’t appear overly large…I’m intrigued by the 3 seats ..as to have a wider sweet spot. Hopefully,next year at Toronto Audiofest..you’ll get a better room . Have a great week.😊
Beautiful room, Paul! Congrats to all at PS Audio! Looks so much more inviting than the previous all-white listening room. I must admit that I’ve been a bit stressed out of Paul’s hard line on nothing but amps between the speakers. Tried going with long XLRs from pre to amp (Mogami), and then back to all equipment (sources, pre and amp) between and behind (couple of feet) the speakers (but much lower than Paul’s new system)connected with some high end (shorter) XLRs, and the this latter setup was better to me. So, within limits, now I’d always go for the best XLRs over the idea of “sacred space” behind the speakers.
Surprised Paul that you retained the hardwood flooring. I see the mat under the chairs but would have thought full carpet on the concrete floor would have been preferable sonically!
Hi Paul - that's a very generous offer to your customers. Assuming I can tolerate the schlep of the journey from north London, UK to Boulder Colorado, USA I may well take you up on the invitation one day. In the meantime, I'll keep watching the videos - I love what you're doing!
I see what looks like absorption panels on the front wall. I remember you saying that you should only use diffusion on the front wall. What changed your mind?
They're simply eyeballing it, ie., ... whatever they think will be about right. Akin to a C+ is good enough approach ... vis-à-vis a A+ properly executed, acoustically designed space. I get it, Paul mentioned budget, but meh.
@@talosian Ideally you'd want both in this particular case. Full tilt absorption wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, along that front wall ... thick and effective. Faced with diffusion/scattering. Essentially a big low-passed bass trap. Retain ample liveliness while damping the LF ringing, thus tightening bass without diminishing MF/HF reflected energy. Goal to retain decay time uniformity, across the spectrum. Most every room has excessive LF decay vis-à-vis HF decay.
What a great room and there has been a lot of work gone in it to maximize the experience, really nice, and, oh the gear is fantastic too, we now want to know how it sounds, just a tiny presentation although YT has off course its limitations.
You remind me of my buddy joe. Always so happy to make other people happy about audio. It's a pleasure to hear you explain your audio experiences.. thanks ❤
Looks amazing! Hopefully it will be available for tours. I'm also wondering if there is a subwoofer near the back wall or if the room is good enough that you don't need one?
Looks like a big upgrade from before, both sonically (presumed) aesthetically, so kudos on that. It's also always nice seeing a listening room with chairs that don't have headrests. I never understood why so many people buy things like the Eames chair for their expensive audio systems since having a barrier right behind your ears ranks pretty high on the list of bad acoustic choices.
I have been telling you to use acoustic treatments for years I told you when you had the infinity irs that it can’t sound good in that little room you had them in without treating the room (remember me)?
Nice space for sure! WRT rack on front wall - I'd still say it's an important item to adjust the components to sit lower. There is still space to get them lowered by means of several amp stands or a couple two tier stands (get components at least as low and the amp stack). Additionally, I bet there is a space width wise to put that existing rack on side wall using the gap between QRD + absorber. Well at least its worth trying / experimenting.
Hi Paul, Enjoy your videos daily. I'm a bit confused. You mentioned that you are moving Octave studios to your main plant. If memory serves, didn't you take us through a tour of a newly constructed studio on an offsite location a year or more ago, where you said you paid big bucks to locate? Thanks and keep up those informative videos. Ed Cala
I guess that the straight forward facing speaker alignment is to give a wide sound stage to all 3 seat positions? If it was just a centre seat, would all those speakers be angled in somewhat!? Cheers
Who knows in this case. However, oftentimes off axis orientation can avoid diffraction effects emanating off the baffle front ... smoothing aberrant freq response from a comb filtering peaks/nulls. Aiming axis is like adjusting a big joystick of characteristics; tonal balance, focus, apparent source width, spaciousness, and the diffraction effects.
Had a drop ceiling in the basement of my last house. Used those heavy 2X4 tiles (looks like recycled paper). I have to say I did like it better than the drywall over insulation I have in my basement now. Between the drop ceiling and the wall to wall carpeted concrete floor there was no need for room treatments.
In my "listening room", I have raised pitched ceiling, that is like the roof of my house with 4 feet of insulation above. I wondered if a pitched ceiling makes a good or bad diff?
I would have to have the gear in the middle of the sound stage. How can I not look at all that beautiful equipment? BTW my OCD is focused on that right diffuser panel being an inch lower than the others. lol
You can hear how good this room sounds by the way Paul's voice sounds. I don't understand jays audio lab as his room sounds horrible. You can tell all of this just by the way people's voices sound in their videos. I will be making a trip to Boulder at some point just to hear this setup. I bet it's outstanding
Eh, his mic is close to his mouth and the audio set so you don't hear much beyond a foot or so from his voice. Simple as that. However, the room looks pretty dead for sure.
Lovely room, Paul. But I rather suspect most people will never get close to that. Their systems typically end up in a living room or basement rec room where the space is shared with other activities and furniture. How about doing a segment on setting up a living room for a decent stereo that doesn't need to take over the entire room?
Laughed out loud when I saw the gear stacked between the speakers. Great choice though, room looks fantastic and who doesn’t want to be able to admire their gear while listening - especially gear like that.
Why set up on the short wall and not the long wall? What are the pros and cons to each? I prefer the long wall myself. Maybe those big towers need to be more far field because their dispersion characteristics won't work well when more nearfield like you would be on the long wall?
Hi Paul. Great looking room. I wonder if you are a believer of externally battery powered high end electronic devices? Few UA-camrs use them and swear by them.
It’s good to place equipment in the middle of the soundstage. That’s how the majority of your customers will have it. Plus, once you get to know the room, the most important thing is whether it gives you predictable results.
For those, etc., I had to dial up about 4-5:1 compression to hear the remaining clap echo and even then it was something I would be happy with. I suspect it was the exact trade of dead vs live that Paul has always espoused.
@@FOH3663 thanks, yes but do they have specific plans or do you have to do tons of math to get something to build. I can do math, but I'd rather just have a set of proven plans that work.
Absolutely OK to put that beautiful equipment in the middle. Well worth a tradeoff of what, one percent of perfect sound? I want to hear the system play and I want to hear your reference tunes. Please don't tell is that your lapel mic is the only one you have access to. Get the the mic of your choice and crank this puppy up!
You wouldn't be able to appreciate the real sound in that room via the UA-cam sound restrictions and your own system. Not worth the effort - even with some top notch mics.
Hi, Paul. I know it wouldn't be initially accurate. But could you record some of the Octave music using a Neumann Head just to give us a tiny taste of what that equipment sounds like? Fingers crossed!!!
They are/were. Very curious now if the new studio upstairs is an extra or replacement. I thought they were running out of space not having the luxury of spare rooms…
isn't it a bit narrow? the width and hight seam pretty close to each other (maybe just the impression from video, but not even close to 1.6 golden ration)
Paul - all that work, time and effort in building out Octave Studio's what happened? Are you expanding or did you decide to sell the other building and consolidate into one building?
Right? Sunk costs. We were only leasing the other building that we invested a quarter of a million into building out Octave studios. Sigh. Good news is that we've moved them to the PS Audio mother ship and the new rooms are going to be significantly better than what we had. Wish we had done that in the first place but then...that's the 20/20 of hindsight.
@@Paulmcgowanpsaudio Ah yes hindsight - "After the event, even a fool is wise" - Homer. I hope that you also document the build-out of the new studio and I will be looking forward to more wonderful Octave Records music in the future.
He could get rid of the costs for the leased space in the other building by relocating the equipment to the PS Audio building. Scroll down to the other comments where Paul already answers this question.
I had the pleasure of experiencing your new listening lab when I took a tour there last December. They said I was the third person outside of PS Audio to see the lab, and the first person outside of PS Audio to hear your new subwoofer. Paul was on vacation, so I didn't have a chance to chat with him.
Great to see you still get excited about great sound! Congratulations on the new room.
PS (Pun intended): I can actually hear how awesome that room is from the audio in this video: It is completely quiet, no echo etc. (Even with your limited mic)
Terrific room Paul! Thanks for the tour.
I like it. Love the colours, warm and fresh looking. Cheers, Lee UK
I was going to go the opposite 😂. The colour combination makes me uneasy. Red, brown should contrast to darker earth colours, not white.
I love that it’s called a listening lab. Moving things around and swapping equipment and listening for changes feels like science.
It is, Only one variable allowed at a time.
Looks and "sounds" awesome Paul!! Enjoy the heck out of it!
Spectacular looking room Paul, looks so warm and inviting, well done sir! Just by listening to your voice in the room, it would appear to be worth spanning the thousands of miles just to experience it.
Congratulations with your new Demo Room Paul. 🎉 It’s great! 👍
My system didn`t work right on the front wall. I took your advice and have all the gear on the side wall. Then over time I finally got the sound stage right.Thanks Paul.
Very nice colours.😮
Edit: Paul, you are a very lucky man. The room is fantastic!
Beautiful room and truly a dream system.😍🔥👌
Totally awesome. That's some fine work there, Paul. 👍
Congratulations Paul, it looks great! 👌
Congratulations on your new listening room. I’m sure it’s spectacular.
Room symmetry is a must. Hands down. You’ve nailed it!
Looks fantastic, amazing, the room and of course the equipment, i´m sure it must sound great...Congratulations, i wish you many good auditions. A big hug from Portugal
That looks like a very nice and welcoming space. If I ever find myself in your part of the world I would love to visit PS Audio.
Just stunningly beautiful.
Congrats 🍾
The room dimensions don’t appear overly large…I’m intrigued by the 3 seats ..as to have a wider sweet spot.
Hopefully,next year at Toronto Audiofest..you’ll get a better room .
Have a great week.😊
Your voice sounds great, so I can tell the acoustics are top notch!
The excitement in Paul's voice shows you how special it really is. I'm definitely going to have to come check it out next time I'm up that way.
Beautiful room, Paul! Congrats to all at PS Audio! Looks so much more inviting than the previous all-white listening room.
I must admit that I’ve been a bit stressed out of Paul’s hard line on nothing but amps between the speakers.
Tried going with long XLRs from pre to amp (Mogami), and then back to all equipment (sources, pre and amp) between and behind (couple of feet) the speakers (but much lower than Paul’s new system)connected with some high end (shorter) XLRs, and the this latter setup was better to me. So, within limits, now I’d always go for the best XLRs over the idea of “sacred space” behind the speakers.
I like the drop ceiling treatment.
Paul, it looks fabulous.
Love that it's more colorful. It's a much better-looking room.
Well done, Paul. Looks great!
The room sounds nice
It looks great 👍
Surprised Paul that you retained the hardwood flooring. I see the mat under the chairs but would have thought full carpet on the concrete floor would have been preferable sonically!
It looks perfect and it certainly is. A paradise for true sound lovers.
It looks amazing!
Hi Paul - that's a very generous offer to your customers. Assuming I can tolerate the schlep of the journey from north London, UK to Boulder Colorado, USA I may well take you up on the invitation one day. In the meantime, I'll keep watching the videos - I love what you're doing!
I see what looks like absorption panels on the front wall. I remember you saying that you should only use diffusion on the front wall. What changed your mind?
Thinking about the same thing. I hope Paul will elaborate on that in his next video.
No he will not.
They're simply eyeballing it, ie., ... whatever they think will be about right.
Akin to a C+ is good enough approach ... vis-à-vis a A+ properly executed, acoustically designed space.
I get it, Paul mentioned budget, but meh.
I've heard the opposite. All absorbtion on the front wall.
@@talosian
Ideally you'd want both in this particular case.
Full tilt absorption wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, along that front wall ... thick and effective.
Faced with diffusion/scattering.
Essentially a big low-passed bass trap. Retain ample liveliness while damping the LF ringing, thus tightening bass without diminishing MF/HF reflected energy.
Goal to retain decay time uniformity, across the spectrum.
Most every room has excessive LF decay vis-à-vis HF decay.
What a great room and there has been a lot of work gone in it to maximize the experience, really nice, and, oh the gear is fantastic too, we now want to know how it sounds, just a tiny presentation although YT has off course its limitations.
Looks fantastic!!
Very impressive it looks very inviting.
It looks impressive Paul well done
It does look tremendous. Great room treatment.
Absolutely beuitful great work
You remind me of my buddy joe. Always so happy to make other people happy about audio. It's a pleasure to hear you explain your audio experiences.. thanks ❤
I like the optical and acoustic warmth that the room exudes. I would feel very comfortable in it, when listening to music.
Looks amazing! Hopefully it will be available for tours. I'm also wondering if there is a subwoofer near the back wall or if the room is good enough that you don't need one?
great room Paul, the only hint I got is the perceived RT..assumed to be excellent..😊
Looks like a big upgrade from before, both sonically (presumed) aesthetically, so kudos on that.
It's also always nice seeing a listening room with chairs that don't have headrests. I never understood why so many people buy things like the Eames chair for their expensive audio systems since having a barrier right behind your ears ranks pretty high on the list of bad acoustic choices.
WOW!!!
I’m wondering about the dimensions…
Looks fabulous!
I have been telling you to use acoustic treatments for years I told you when you had the infinity irs that it can’t sound good in that little room you had them in without treating the room (remember me)?
Nice space for sure! WRT rack on front wall - I'd still say it's an important item to adjust the components to sit lower. There is still space to get them lowered by means of several amp stands or a couple two tier stands (get components at least as low and the amp stack). Additionally, I bet there is a space width wise to put that existing rack on side wall using the gap between QRD + absorber. Well at least its worth trying / experimenting.
Hi Paul, Enjoy your videos daily.
I'm a bit confused. You mentioned that you are moving Octave studios to your main plant.
If memory serves, didn't you take us through a tour of a newly constructed studio on an offsite location a year or more ago, where you said you paid big bucks to locate?
Thanks and keep up those informative videos.
Ed Cala
I like the three SVS Cylinder subs behind the chairs!
I guess that the straight forward facing speaker alignment is to give a wide sound stage to all 3 seat positions? If it was just a centre seat, would all those speakers be angled in somewhat!? Cheers
Who knows in this case.
However, oftentimes off axis orientation can avoid diffraction effects emanating off the baffle front ... smoothing aberrant freq response from a comb filtering peaks/nulls.
Aiming axis is like adjusting a big joystick of characteristics;
tonal balance, focus, apparent source width, spaciousness, and the diffraction effects.
Looks good.
Glad to see that you did not use Vicoustic's' panels. Didn't want any to break loose and fall?
Had a drop ceiling in the basement of my last house. Used those heavy 2X4 tiles (looks like recycled paper). I have to say I did like it better than the drywall over insulation I have in my basement now. Between the drop ceiling and the wall to wall carpeted concrete floor there was no need for room treatments.
Nice to see a listening space for more than one person.
Reference but with gear between the speakers also realistic. That too is part of reference
Paul, can you bring your speakers and gear to Florida Audio Show in Tampa this February?
Looks great. Couple questions.
What are the dimensions?
Is the floor concrete?
Can I assume you will put a carpet in front of the speakers?
Looks pretty awesome Paul just curious what are the dimensions of that room?
In my "listening room", I have raised pitched ceiling, that is like the roof of my house with 4 feet of insulation above. I wondered if a pitched ceiling makes a good or bad diff?
That looks just like my listening room!
I would have to have the gear in the middle of the sound stage. How can I not look at all that beautiful equipment? BTW my OCD is focused on that right diffuser panel being an inch lower than the others. lol
Speaking of Octave Studio, how is it going with getting Tori Holub or Trish Regan in the studio?
What happened to the old Octave Studio that you spent so much time and effort building a couple of years ago?
Probably dont want to pay for the space. Hi Fi certainly is a decaying industry....much as we hate that.
Wow!! You must be proud, Paul.
Paul can you share the brand/company you bought the drop ceiling tiles from?
Beautiful
Awesome. What are the room dimensions and do you have to worry about the ceiling tiles making noise when the subs hit hard?
You can hear how good this room sounds by the way Paul's voice sounds. I don't understand jays audio lab as his room sounds horrible. You can tell all of this just by the way people's voices sound in their videos. I will be making a trip to Boulder at some point just to hear this setup. I bet it's outstanding
Eh, his mic is close to his mouth and the audio set so you don't hear much beyond a foot or so from his voice. Simple as that. However, the room looks pretty dead for sure.
👋 MAYBE SOMEDAY WE WILL GET TO VISIT 🤗😎💚💚💚😊
Lovely room, Paul.
But I rather suspect most people will never get close to that. Their systems typically end up in a living room or basement rec room where the space is shared with other activities and furniture. How about doing a segment on setting up a living room for a decent stereo that doesn't need to take over the entire room?
Laughed out loud when I saw the gear stacked between the speakers. Great choice though, room looks fantastic and who doesn’t want to be able to admire their gear while listening - especially gear like that.
Is the red panel on the right about to fall off the wall?
Looks very nice.
What is the rationale behind choosing a room that relatively narrow and long? Wouldnt you prefer a wider room, for realistic sounstage width?
very nice room
Fantastic Paul! Where/what is the phono preamp?
Why set up on the short wall and not the long wall? What are the pros and cons to each? I prefer the long wall myself.
Maybe those big towers need to be more far field because their dispersion characteristics won't work well when more nearfield like you would be on the long wall?
Where did you place the 2 subwoofers that you like so much 😢
We'll find out as soon as the new PS Audio subwoofers are in production, and we may see a pair of R & D test pairs in there before full production.
Great and amazing
Paul, thanks for the intro to a gorgeous room.! One thing though, what does the ceiling look like? Any special treatment there?
You can see it in the video and he talks about it.
Hi Paul. Great looking room. I wonder if you are a believer of externally battery powered high end electronic devices? Few UA-camrs use them and swear by them.
Are those bass rounds like studios use in the corners? Are there any in the back corners?
It’s good to place equipment in the middle of the soundstage. That’s how the majority of your customers will have it. Plus, once you get to know the room, the most important thing is whether it gives you predictable results.
For those, etc., I had to dial up about 4-5:1 compression to hear the remaining clap echo and even then it was something I would be happy with.
I suspect it was the exact trade of dead vs live that Paul has always espoused.
That setup would look great in my living room. Lol.
Where did you get the design for the side panels, I'd be interested on seeing it and maybe build my own.
There's TONs online for diy panels.
Bob Golds
Arqen
Ethan Winer's white paper
@@FOH3663 thanks, yes but do they have specific plans or do you have to do tons of math to get something to build. I can do math, but I'd rather just have a set of proven plans that work.
@@wally6193
No math, just search ... it's all there!
Easy, inexpensive, and the single biggest bang for buck performance one can achive.
So what the status of Octave, I take it you are in the middle of a recording hiatus due to a move?
Absolutely OK to put that beautiful equipment in the middle. Well worth a tradeoff of what, one percent of perfect sound?
I want to hear the system play and I want to hear your reference tunes. Please don't tell is that your lapel mic is the only one you have access to. Get the the mic of your choice and crank this puppy up!
You wouldn't be able to appreciate the real sound in that room via the UA-cam sound restrictions and your own system. Not worth the effort - even with some top notch mics.
Hi, Paul. I know it wouldn't be initially accurate. But could you record some of the Octave music using a Neumann Head just to give us a tiny taste of what that equipment sounds like? Fingers crossed!!!
Hi @Paul, I thought Octave Studios were in its own separate location/building?
They are/were. Very curious now if the new studio upstairs is an extra or replacement.
I thought they were running out of space not having the luxury of spare rooms…
Am I able to bring my own vinyl to have a listen?? If so it's Issac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul Craft Recordings remaster.
He already said in an older video that he's okay with bringing your own stuff.
What happened to the dedicated studios building?
isn't it a bit narrow? the width and hight seam pretty close to each other (maybe just the impression from video, but not even close to 1.6 golden ration)
Does this mean you have closed the building that you created for octave records.
But doesn’t equipment behind and between the equipment create a desired diffusion effect? Mine are four feet behind the front baffles of my speakers.
What's happening with the "old" octave studios if your moving that upstairs? I remember your videos of building octave studios not that long ago
Can we have a demo please?
Paul - all that work, time and effort in building out Octave Studio's what happened? Are you expanding or did you decide to sell the other building and consolidate into one building?
Right? Sunk costs. We were only leasing the other building that we invested a quarter of a million into building out Octave studios. Sigh. Good news is that we've moved them to the PS Audio mother ship and the new rooms are going to be significantly better than what we had. Wish we had done that in the first place but then...that's the 20/20 of hindsight.
@@Paulmcgowanpsaudio Ah yes hindsight - "After the event, even a fool is wise" - Homer. I hope that you also document the build-out of the new studio and I will be looking forward to more wonderful Octave Records music in the future.
@@PaulmcgowanpsaudioOuch! Thank goodness Aspen’s selling so well then, eh?
Paul, you spent a significant amount of money on a studio for Octave records. Why the need for a studio at the PS Audio offices?
He could get rid of the costs for the leased space in the other building by relocating the equipment to the PS Audio building. Scroll down to the other comments where Paul already answers this question.
Are the cylinders behind the chairs extra seating ( stools ) or is that an acoustic treatment of its own?
Extra chairs
Did Octave Records move out of the building you purchased and remodeled for it?
This is likely a solution to downsize a bit due to the struggling economy.