My goal was an Office for work and recreation without the need to sit at a desk.
From the idea of a hospital overbed table and equipment I use in dental surgery, I constructed this prototype - a rotating keyboard tray and monitor arm to suit a 'zero-G' style seat or a recliner that could rock back and lock in position whilst allowing correct posture. A Lay-Z-Boy Recliner fir the bill for me (Model is "Adam"... has a flat arm for my mouse pad to sit on).
It's evolved as I have time to tinker but recently I decided to change the room. I wanted much improved audio - an improvement of sound within the room and reduction of what comes from without.
To dull the overly live environment I have a larger rug, fitted blinds that are actually a construction of air-cells, and fitted acoustic foam in a number areas to reduce slap echo and general reverberation. Brick walls, high angled ceiling and timber floors (living area underneath).
The substantial bookshelf and number of books already do well to assist.
Source: PC I have a powerful PC which runs quietly; Intel 8700k @5GHz, nVidia 1080Ti @2150MHz both linked to an external radbox (see my other page). 32GB RAM, SSD's for OS and scratch drives. 27" 1440p GSYNC monitor as main screen and a 27" 4k as my second
Audio: Rather than using a soundcard, I have opted to use the onboard intel GPU for digital audio. It operates my second screen.
HDMI cannot pass audio only and will always create (in a windows PC) a phantom screen if you connect to an AVR and no output monitor. Most AVR's also will only output 720p/1080p/4k.... so if you have 1440p which I did then you need to do some fiddling with EDID or get lucky with the AVR model. I wanted a specific Denon due to price and features.... so ended up buying a second hand 4k monitor as my second screen.
I have a 4.1 speaker setup with the front stage in a perfect arrangement based on the golden ratio. Only having a specific single seating location allowed less compromise in placement to give me the best possible imaging and stage.
Audio equipment:
Denon AVR-x1400 receiving digital audio via HDMI and providing me Audyssey Mult-EQ32 room correction which was a key factor in choosing this AVR. It has Dolby Surround(the new version) and a number of other features to improve audio in games or other sources with no native surround. Being a small room the amplification power is sufficient.
Whilst this lacks the punch and authority of my full cinema setup the small room and precise speaker positioning has resulted in a rather amazing outcome for me - great sound stage, clear and precise imaging with far less fatigue thanks to the room treatment. I spend a lot of time sitting here and making these changes to the room has elevated my enjoyment of music (and thus onerous tasks) significantly!
Subwoofer Isolation To reduce bass transmission through the timber floors I adapted a DIY method drummers use - a platform supported on tennis balls. I used a carpeted MDF base on 6 squash balls. Small holes allow the balls to sit into the MDF partway so not rolling around and I used some epoxy to fix them in place for easy of setting it up. The Sub seems heavy enough not to lose sound clarity by moving around on the balls in response to the dual cones moving.
Final Thoughts Here are some pics too. I made most of what is here, the desk is a piece of kitchen benchtop, acoustic foam from a local supplier, some bits from Ikea and my speakers I bought through AussieHifi and Selby Acoustics; both excellent retailers with lots of knowledge and support.
I made a new bench using a piece of benchtop from Bunnings and airbrushing it to look like riveted iron plating with some rust. I'm planning to do some further changes to the style of the room and this will fit well. I re-purposed the legs off my old bench (red one in top photo) and have toughened glass on top to stop scratches. I use automotive paint but still like to protect my work :).