Help What's Wrong with my System

Abruce,

A big room can be disconcerting - for starters you lack the congestion you get in a small room so everything is much cleaner and you can crank it louder and it will not sound nearly as loud (room reverb decays much faster) - this will pose problems for most speakers that are not horns or pro designs (you'll get compression and distortion at loud levels even though it isn't that loud when you are twenty feet back from the speakers. The other issue is that bass problems become very evident - you tend to notice the fewer remaining room modes.

FWIW if you blow up your speakers because you overdrive them then it may not be easy to find replacement parts. So be careful. If bass is a problem I'd suggest a sub or two. If midrange is compressing (sounds harsh or stressed) then replace the speakers before you blow them

Have you tried sitting near-field. I find sitting near field in a large room can have good results. You get very clean bass that way. You may need to treat the wall behind you though....

If possible you could turn the room into two rooms by building a wall. The good thing about this is you can make it any length you want. If you want to go crazy you could even change the width and make it so it has ideal dimensions. Check out this site for more info on this. http://www.decware.com/paper36.htm

Nice gear. Nice auditorium. Hales T8's are one of my favourites but I've never heard them in a room that size. Consider line arrays.

Could this be a case of wiring nasties? Check to see what kind of wire the house is wired with, and what appliances share the circuit you're using. You may have a great "excuse" to buy yourself some high quality dedicateds ;)