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
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Please put me down for the "horns are not my cup of tea" category.

Therefore, more recommendations of dynamic speakers that could fill such a room would be greatly appreciated. Other than Magneplanars, I have only had Apogees and Martin Logans. I rarely meet a box speaker I like.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
How about a hy-brid type?...check these out. The largest (M-6) are "Targeted at large auditoriums and advanced home theatre installations in need of extremely high SPL´s, i.e. over 130dB with very low distortion, Model 6 offers all the advantages of Model 5 and, in addition, features a true, no-compromise open dipole woofer section containing no less than 30 woofers per channel".

http://www.transmissionaudio.com/pages/738786/index.htm

Also...check out their PA systems!

Dave
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Ok, no horns....
Speakerlabs can put out loads of bass and can be much less directional.
Otherwise, I like B&W Nautilus series, Coincident and maybe wilsons for this large room.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
O.K., how about giving us a budget? Please indicate all the needs, such as speakers (how many?), power, cables, source, etc.?
ozfly
887 posts
 
Ditto to the big full range speakers. My sound room is about 32.5 x 19.5 x 12 and it has a large doorway into a substantial kitchen / eating / relaxation area about 14 x 24 x 12+. Even with four 15 inch woofers and four 9 inch mid woofers in cabinets large enough to be coffins, the bass is relatively weak in the kitchen (this is being driven by two monster amps with 2.4kva transformers in each). I had to upgrade the speakers from four 12 inch woofers and four 7 inch mid woofers because the bass wasn't enough in my listening position. So I'd recommend some big speakers and they may still need to be augmented by subwoofers for that kind of an area. BTW, I love Montana speakers but go with what you and your friend like -- I'd just plan on going big!
More to discover