The Sweet Spot

Where in your home should you place your turntable? An unusual spot no one talks about is guaranteed to take your vinyl experience to the next level

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There’s an eternal debate in the vinyl community about the optimal room in your house where you should install your turntable.

While many vinyl lovers choose their living room, others prefer their bedroom or home office.

Some collectors are lucky enough to have a dedicated music room with lush leather armchairs, perfect acoustics and beer crates at the ready.

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You might think the specific location is not relevant, but trust me: the exact spot where your turntable is set up will have a significant impact on your listening experience and your relationship with vinyl as a whole.

Long-time readers know I am passionate obsessive enough about this kind of stuff to do more painstaking research than I’d like to admit.

Lucky for you, I’ve cracked down the turntable placement science, and I can’t wait to share the results with you.

But first — I know what you’re thinking:

I don’t have a lot of space…

It’s not going to work for me…

My current setup is fine — I don’t want to make any changes!

What I am about to tell you requires minimal or no adjustments, and believe me, works for every home or living space, no matter how big or small.

Ready to be enlightened?

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The ideal spot for your turntable, my friends, is where you are most likely to use it.

The audiophiles of this world will urge you to consider, among others, the acoustics of the room, the distance between your hi-fi components, and the angle of your speakers in relation to your head. However, none of this really matters if it will prevent you from establishing a vinyl routine in the first place.

None of this matters if vinyl cannot become an organic part of your life.

Your ideal spot is where you spend most of your quiet time at home: your bedroom, home office, kitchen, garage, laundry room… hell, even your attic, if needs be.

It goes without saying that there will be storage and sound considerations to make. However, if following the audiophile advice means you have to go out of your way to get at least one spinning hour a week, you are punishing yourself unnecessarily.

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Often collectors complain they can’t spin as often as they’d like.

Turns out their turntable is located in their living room because this is the socially acceptable or traditionally expected place for a turntable.

It also turns out that, due to their hectic schedule, they end up spending most of their time in their home office.

But I like to entertain guests, you see? My living room is nicer. Plus, I want to display my records…

This is all great, but when it comes to your records, don’t you think you should first make sure you entertain yourself?

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Packed schedules, family commitments, irregular working hours, lack of space, lack of time… I get it.

Since we can’t carry our records around, you should identify the optimal place and time for your spinning sessions so you can create the opportunity rather than wait for it to magically appear.

Do you wash your car every Saturday at 3pm? Garage it is.

Do you shower and get dressed at least once a day? (I bloody hope you do) — find a corner next to your bathroom.

Crazy schedule? Grab some headphones.

Curious pets? Place their favourite toy at the other end of the house.

Make things easy for yourself. Find a spot where you know you can have immediate access to your turntable during the hours you know you are most likely to spin.

In life we often have to make sacrifices. Nothing will ever be perfect. But remember: you have spent time and money building your vinyl collection. Don’t let it gather dust while you wish your life away.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for reading/listening. Happy spinning!