Are those tall things the speakers? (What we do for love :) )

Color. Maybe a long upholstered bench with a colorful fabric.

Yup - those are the speakers.... I was thinking about some chairs like this by the window if they would fit. I wouldn't want just one. Then I could do some kind of smallish ottoman/bench by the half wall.

swivel chairs

They do need a place to sit by the window but that window in the middle doesn't open so I'm looking for a different spot by a window that opens. I wouldn't be opposed to opening the blind a bit at the bottom for them to look out though as I think if I do put some kind of a bench there they will be the main users of it.

I would put a bench where the kitties can look out at the world. Simba and Toby's favorite places in the house are by the French doors in the library where they have a perfect view of the bird feeder, my long kitchen window sill where they watch for deer, and the living room window that is closest to our pine trees along the drive.

Is there enough room on the half wall to put two small tub chIRS THERE?

Nope - not enough room for two chairs there plus they would stick out too far and obstruct the sound. I do think there's room for two chairs by the window though. The ones I linked to are 29" and I have 80 inches between the heat ducts which are in line with the vertical panels. That would be nice for conversation to have chairs there.

I feel deeply for you Gibby! My DH is also an audiophile, but luckily we have a separate guest house that he took over for that purpose. I could not handle having that in my main living areas, look wise or sound wise.

I do actually enjoy the music too though I don't have an ear for the quality of the sound as he does. And I'm not particularly "into" interior decor so that's probably why I'm more willing to compromise on the appearance than most people. None the less I don't want whatever I add to the room to make it look even more bizarre than it does now....

I do think I'm going to have to put my foot down on putting the old albums in the living room. I need to get some more furniture quick before he takes up the space with those. We had them in our lower level family room for the last 23 years which I was okay with.

For a living room this looks strangely underfurnished. Do you watch TV somewhere else or is the TV in the armoire? If so, is there room for a small love seat against that half wall, with perhaps a small glass coffee table in front of it to give it the feeling of a completely furnished room? The kitty bench under the window with a nice covering material to add some color would be very nice.

I guess there is no chance a smaller sofa might fit into your space?

I also can sympathize with you, our speakers used to be like those (so happy they are gone now). I like the chairs, and a printed fabric bench also. For balance I'd prefer

a chair on the half wall, but those look like move able pieces. I live with these now.

This seems like an awkward room for an audiophile because it is so open and echoey...is there a long rectangular room elsewhere in the house (e.g. family room) that would provide better acoustics?

That said, you know what, it is now 1000% a listening room and I would decorate accordingly. So I would say goodbye to the living room idea, actually embrace the albums and treat the room as a library of sorts. Is there another place in the house that could act as a living room? In this room I'd be thinking, dark walls, lots of shelves of records, and just basically treat it as what it is.

Since you have to have the speakers, I would absolutely embrace it. I'd do built-ins under the windows for records that also extend to the sides to create a perfect spot for speakers. Maybe a cool vintage guitar. Some really artistic rock posters painted on canvas.

Our big TV (with another audiophile sound system attached) is in our lower level. We also have a very small TV in the room behind the listening room and another one in our bedroom so no need for TV in this room. The room isn't echoey and the acoustics are really quite excellent. We had no carpet in our last house so this is actually better. Maybe you're right - I should just go with the music theme. The photos are helpful - thank-you!

We used these frames to hang our old LPs (with records in them) on 2 walls of the guest house music room. Easy to put up.

http://www.recordsonwalls.com/

You can enjoy the record covers and easily remove to play the records. We have a metallic duo sisal wallpaper (grasscloth-like) on the walls and the record covers look great on it. The covers on the wall really give it a music room vibe.

So funny that you post that info on the records on the walls. We have neighbor in our new 'hood who has those as well as some other albums on display. We went to a party there last week and of course DH wants those. They are the exact ones you posted - at least they look just like that. Because our LR is so open and one wall is windows I don't think we have a place for them there but there are lots of walls in our lower level that he is eyeing up for this.

If you have any photos of your audiophile room I would love to see them.

Are those Magna Pan speakers??

i completely understand....I had to decorate around Magna Pans, turntables, giant wires for years!!

gibby2015, for some reason my post didn't go through last night. Are those Magnepan speakers? They look like they are.

We have Magnepan speakers in two rooms; a pair of large ones (similar to yours, but ours all black) in our FR, and a pair of smaller, wall-mounted ones in our DR. The sound that comes out of them, even under less than ideal "set-ups", is absolutely phenomenal. We were so spoiled by our large ones (prior to moving them to the FR), that we got another pair (the smaller ones, plus a sub-woofer) when we set up/decorated our DR.

Yes - they're Magnepans. We have two sets too - the others are hooked up to the TV sound system. DH will be so impressed that my forum is familiar with Magnepans. Yes, we just got some new giant wires - the old ones weren't long enough for our new place. Do you have any pictures of how you have incorporated yours into the "décor"?

I'm thinking something like this would be good by my window.

[window seat with album storage[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/duboce-park-industrial-modern-transitional-living-room-san-francisco-phvw-vp~33539731)

OMG, and I thought we were doing ok with Bose speakers (LOL)! Those are very impressive speakers, Gibby! I do like the swivel chairs that you linked to. I like them a lot, if two will fit in that space. I'll be interested to see what you ultimately come up with for this room. I'd love to listen to some Vivaldi relaxing in such a room.

DH had the large ones before we met. We got the smaller ones a few years ago.

Large ones in our FR (now we want a larger tv!):

I have to look for, or take a pic of the smaller pair.

That looks nice - very sleek and contemporary. I'm glad to know I'm not alone. We got the bigger ones when we moved into our last house over 20 years ago. I didn't like the light oak color of the older ones with all the dark wood in the house so he took advantage of my distaste for the mismatch and purchased the lovely larger cherry ones for me (well really for him).

My favorite recording of all time to listen to on this stereo is Spanish Harlem by Rebecca Pidgeon on The Raven CD. It is amazing quality sound.

Magnepans are manufactured just a few miles from our last house and the inventor/owner lived near us. DH loves the speakers so much he tried to buy the company - couldn't strike a deal though.

That's funny gibby (how you, or should I say, he, ended up with the larger speakers)! Ours originally had oak trim. DH removed the trim (it's just attached with screws), and bought unfinished trim pieces from Magnepan (that we intended to stain or paint black) but didn't use them. DH ended up using black plastic U-channel instead to cover the edges of the speakers after he removed the oak trim. Gives the speakers an even more minimalistic look than with the wood trim. The U-channel is held in place with Velcro strips.

Our favorite recording to listen to through either pair of Magnepans is a song called Kalimando from Cirque du Soleil's Mystere. Sounds like you're in the middle of a rainforest--and crystal clear. :)

I think it is soooooo cool that you lived near the the inventor/owner of Magnepan and the manufacturing facility! And that your DH came this close to acquiring the company--WOW!

Gibby, I've just been following along, but wanted to say I really liked the chairs you posted earlier. I do like the bench with cushion too if you need the album storage, and if you are looking at something custom made, I'd probably put doors on it to give it a finished look. Nice speakers! You're a good wife!

I like those chairs too. That would probably be more to my liking. Thanks for your feedback.

Definitely not showing DH this thread, LOL! My compromise was letting him cut four 10" holes in the ceiling for surround speakers (we never watch TV and rarely movies, and these are not used for music listening) and then because of joist placement dictating the speaker placement he wants to move the sofa and TV bench, shelves etc all over - by 3". The shelves are bolted to the wall, so it's not minor to move everything over. I don't think 3" will matter, but he does...

Here's an inspiration photo :-)

I think it's great that your DH can enjoy his passion for music and not be sequestered away. Houses are for living in, and I try to remember that when I envy all the perfectly decorated homes I see :-)

Maybe a small settee would fit on the half wall, and a low bookcase or a console table in front of the window?

Oh jlc - you're so sweet - that photo made me chuckle. I feel exactly like you as far as our home is for living and it reflects us not a designer showroom. I am at our weekend lake place so he was home alone - in hog heaven listening to JS Bach and Steely Dan. He sounded so happy when I talked to him and that made me happier than my decor ever will.

Incidentally the stereo at our lake place is about 10 inches in diameter - a small iPod player. And no TV - we watch on a laptop or iPad. It's a quiet north woods retreat and a refreshing change.

I love Magnepan speakers they have wonderful sound. I wanted some for years. I have great speakers with my home theater system currently luckily they are smaller and fit in well.

Iliked the idea of the bench with storage for the window wall but those chairs are nice. For the short wall you could get some colorful pouf ottomans which can be moved around easily. I love the ones with very bohemian style fabrics, great splash of color. Google colorful poufs.