2. home-theater
  3. 1129489407

Very BIG Room? Music and Home Theatre Challenge

Could anyone please comment on issues that come to mind when setting up audio and home theatre in a big, barn like room?

I have been asked by a friend for some advice on a soon to be renovated "great room" which will be converted from a barn that was attached to their house.

Therefore, the new room will connect with the kitchen and extend to approximately 25' wide by 60' long with 14-15 foot ceilings.

The walls are made of stone and the floor is hardwood.

At the far end of the room, there will be a new chimney and fireplace installed, and the only brief I have so far is that will do lots of entertaining in this room, have a bar, and approximately 3 different seating areas within the room, and would consider a large projection or display device over the new fireplace.

The room is naturally pretty dark, which I hope will help with the video aspect.

As a Magneplanar fan, I would like to recommend 3.6s and all the Maggie surround sound speakers, but I need to learn more about their tastes and preferences.

I do know my friend loves to watch football and tennis, so I am also thinking HDTV in a big screen format.

But any ideas for such a project would be greatly appreciated.
cwlondon

Showing 2 responses by shiva

shiva
181 posts
 
I say look at some older klipsch Heritage speakers like the Lascalas or cornwalls, or Chorus. These are all around 100db efficient and work great in a big room. I have the Klipsch Epics Cf3's. They are 100 dB efficient and they can crank with uncompressed sound that can easily fill a large room. I can only imagine a room with those all around, it would be awesome. Their size and looks are perfect for a big space like that as well. Or look for some speakers that are used in a movie theater. I also vote for a front projection system of some kind. Mine is a 90" diagonal but will soon go up to a 106" when I get my new projector.
That room will be alot of fun to create. Best of Luck for your friend.
shiva
181 posts
 
For those who say horns are not my cup of tea, I would like to bring up a few points. I live in So. California, where we have many great movie theaters. The sound to my ears in some of these theaters is impressive to say the least. When a movie calls for a band to play on screen for instance or a great score, the sound is huge and live sounding. I am thinking of the last Lord of the Rings Movie, when they lit the fires that jumped from mountain to mountain. If you heard that score in the theater I was in, you would be unable to be anything but impressed by the grandness of the sound, in MYHO, Fantastic! The clarity and openess of the sound, the lack of compression at all volumes, and the huge dynamics that easily fill these large rooms makes the movie experience great fun, unless of course they play it too loud. I would think you all have had some similar experience at some time or another and it all comes from horned speakers. Anyways, I wanted that sound in my home and so looked into horns, which led me to my KLipsch Epics CF3's. They are 100dB efficient @ 1watt and yet can handle 200 watts continous with 1000 watt peaks. That sounded impressive to me. I purchased a pair of of this site on blind faith as I had never heard them before. Out went my Audio Physic tempos and in they went. They didn't dissapoint either. They are great at low volume and have uncompressed concert hall slam when cranked up. Whats not to like about that. Well, thats my rant on a old thread that no one may read.
Peace.
More to discover