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Why does the race of the men in the photo matter? Why other them?

Do you generally list the race of people you write about? It's disturbing at a whole bunch of levels.

I did not agree with your comment at first. But, I gave some thoughts, and I think you are right. There was no reason to mention "Black" in that sentence. He could have said "country store with men sitting on the porch". I think it's a typical example of an unconscious bias. Because I'm sure Rogier did not think about it but happened at the unconscious level. So no, I don't think we should blame him for that. But, that being said, I wish our society will one day refer any man as a man without a color indicator. Latino, Asian, or Black, do we really need these prefixes? What difference does it really make? On further thoughts, looks like Stereophile reviewers are not a diversified bunch. Again, I'm sure it's not by a conscious decision, but another example of the unconscious bias.

Give it a rest, the man shared with everybody his journey in building a dedicated listening room that by the way looks great and I can only be envious, but you mongoloids chastise him about a print on the wall. Since when has it become a crime to describe something with the word "Black" and "South" you'd all probably complain to your congressman if the print was called Negro Athletico. And to point out that there are more men in Stereophile, wow, we have Sherlock Holmes in our mist, he just told you his family isn't interested in the equipment just like you're not interested in The View.

... was it a just-over-five-figure cost (as in just into six figures)?
In other words, was the cost just over $999,999 or just over $99,999?

Dorothea Lange's own caption of her photo is "COUNTRY STORE, 1939. A group of African American men sitting on the porch of a country store, with the owner's brother standing in the doorway."

The reason she mentioned race isn't much of a mystery. We learn from looking at the photo, and reading the caption, that the owner's brother -- who towers over the porch-sitters and is the only person who doesn't look weary -- is white. Obviously the owner was as well.

Considering that the scene is rural North Carolina in the 1930s, I'm not sure that this is as immaterial as we would wish it today.

Lange worked extensively for the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration, observing and recording poverty, despair, and exploitation, but also resilience and dignity. Alongside Gordon Parks (who, in the spring of 2005, I had the honor of meeting), Walker Evans, and Lewis Hine, she is one of my favorite American photographers. Looking at their work and retroactively applying our color-blind ethos may feel comforting in an ideal world. But it'd be hard to argue that the American South in 1939 was an ideal world.

Neither is today's.

And I'd venture that all four of those titans would tell us that "not seeing race" perhaps misses a central point of their work.

Rogier van Bakel

Wish I had one like it.

Time for a "Real Audiophiles of...." series.

Looks like a great space to listen to music. As someone who has been called the n word multiple times in the past, I see nothing wrong with your description of the picture. Some people are looking to get offended, those people can be ignored.

Thanks for your entertaining and informative account of your extensive project! It looks——and no doubt, sounds—like a great listening room.

RvB ... I enjoyed this article about the conversion of your old garage to a nice new listening room. Congratulations on a successful project.

On the subject of problematic interference from the 35_Hz Eigentone associated with the room's modal response standing waves, I suggest that you contact Bob Katz and ask him about his use of PSI Audio AVAA C20 analog active bass traps in his studio. He reviewed those in an interesting article in Stereophile published 01 June 2016.

Here is a link (copy/paste into your browser).

https://www.stereophile.com/content/psi-audio-avaa-c20-electronic-bass-trap

My understanding is that as of recently he was using those in the corners behind his listening position (rear corners rather than front corners). The corners are pressure nodes for all of the orthagonal room modes in a rectangular room, and so the corners on the floor are a good location for actively damping those modal resonances by interfering with the Eigentones.

Given that those AVAA C20 are still current product available new, and Bob Katz has gained years of experience in using those, a long term review follow-up would be interesting.

I also use Class A in the San Diego winters to warm the room.
And Class D in summer.

The wall behind the listening position seems awfully close. I have that problem in my living room, and reflections off the wall behind me are a problem.

My best listening room had 18 panels of Owens Corning acoustic insulation, maybe 2 inches thick apiece. Leaned one against the wall, with gap behind it, then another stacked on top. Covered in burlap. Looked HORRIBLE, deadened reflections so much that I could hear the purity of my stats (which as dipoles put out enough reflections without further assistance from hard surfaces).

Thanks for this report and a peak into your home. It was enjoyable. I hope you enjoy and good luck / fun with the tweaking!

I chuckle because I've been almost the mirror image: I decommissioned my dedicated room, which also included tubed and Focals. (The tubes and focals are in storage and I simplified with solid state and wilsons - side note: the focals and their nth order xovers were interesting with my tubed gear...)

You have to be not stupid, but flat out mentally retarded to believe that. Rock on.

I have Menieres disease so I know about hearing loss, it's not fun. Please do not play your wonderful system at ear splitting levels otherwise twenty years from now you'll regret it. I'm surprized nobody else picked up on this!

Thanks for covering your room treatment story, and to hell with those demanding political correctness according to their own personal definition.

My latest (and probably last) room is asymmetrical and has a few non-parallel surfaces, so standing waves aren’t much of a problem, but like every room, some treatment is beneficial. I’m having my sister, who likes to quilt, make me a hanging for a reflection point on a non-absorptive drywall wall.