Your recommendation for my 4400 cu ft dedicated theater would be?

Now that I have decided on speakers, I need to figure out the subs for my dedicated theater currently under construction.. The plan is for 11.2 system, and I have decided to go with Sonance Cinema series speakers. I will have five LCR2’s for the left, right, center, and wides; and four SUR1’s for the surrounds and backs. The height speakers will be Speakercraft TIME 3’s.

So, onto the bass factor. My original plan was to use the existing sub that I have left from my old living room theater (BIC H-100) and just buy another one to supplement it, but that was when I was on a bit tighter budget. I also don’t think that dual H-100’s will do my new space justice. The new theater is much bigger than my old living room. The subject room is basically a 20’x20’ main area with a double tray ceiling stepping from 8’ to 9’ to 10’, then there is an additional open space behind it that is 10’ x 10’ with an 8’ ceiling. I plan on turning this back space into a bar area. Total volume of everything is 4400 cubic feet if you count the back area. Here are a couple renderings I have done to give you a better idea of the layout:











The areas on either side of the bar will be closets/ storage areas. I will make the right side into my equipment closet.

I plan on placing the subs in the front outside the speaker columns. I am assuming this would be the best location, but open to other suggestions. I will be watching movies and sports events 90% of the time (most of that at reference level), and a little gaming and music sometimes, but not a whole lot. As far as aesthetics go, I would absolutely LOVE to see something with carbon fiber. The theater will have carbon fiber accents, and all the speakers have carbon fiber cones, so if the subs would match, that would be phenomenal. However, I think for the subs, this is not an absolute requirement. As far as time frame goes, I don’t need them tomorrow (I’m still working on the theater), but my goal is to have everything done in a month.

So, having done a little research myself, I was thinking something along the lines of dual Epik Empires. I know they are not as pleasing on the eye as I would like, but I think their performance would more than make up for it. I also would like to stay in this budget range. It seems hard pressed to beat this setup for the money, but that’s why I’m here asking you guys your opinion first.

I'll definitely post my impressions of the Sonance speakers when I get them up and running.

With those CraigSUB SS-18.1 you posted, would I be able to use just one of the Dayton SA1000 amps and still use both outputs of my receiver? Which, BTW I just got the receiver in last week. Its a Denon 4311, so yep, its got XT32. Thats why Im asking about the Dayton amps ability to have 2 independent inputs and outputs so I can let the receiver do the configuration for both subs.

Oh, and the main listening position is in the center of the main part of the room, BUT if you consider the whole length from the front to the back of the bar area, its at 33% of the way, which is where bass should be best right? I was a bit confused how to consider that back part, but I did take that into account (although perhaps my assumptions are incorrect).

As far as a possible carbon wrap is concerned, I can definitely do that myself. I have wrapped several parts before, so thats not a problem if it comes down to that. I've had that idea in the back of my head anyways

Thanks for the input. I actually also got a PM recommending FV15HP, so Ill look at those as well.

$400 more wont break the bank, but I dont have as big of a money tree as some on here lol..

I dont have a build thread yet in the dedicated theater forum. Ive been meaning to make one, but just havent yet. Maybe Ill get to that this weekend.

Thanks for all the advise everyone. Seems like some really good suggestions here. I really appreciate all the input.

The Rythmik FV15HP is more than I want to spend right now. The Chase subs look nice, but I'd need 2 amps for them, so that bumps up the price, and I'm not really that impressed with the looks of the subs.

But man, I'm really diggin the looks of the HSU VTF-15H the more I look at it. I think its between that and the Epik Empire so far. If the VTF-15H is a better sub than the Epik, I may have to get them

Im thinking duals either way..

For what I am trying to do, I would need 2. See post#10..

Thanks! What an awesome Thread, and very relevant! Surprised I had not come across that in my search yet. It seems all those subs are great and between the 2 I am considering, it doesnt seem like I can go wrong either way.. That being said, I think Im leaning towards the dual HSU setup at this point. Ill probably be making my final decision and ordering this week.

Thanks again everyone for the very good advise and guidance

Im glad you posted Ray. I was about to take the plunge on dual Empires. I was feeling pretty good about the HSU VTF15H after reading the shootout thread that Archaea linked and I quoted. But then I read the 2012 KC blind sub shootout in his sig, and started looking into possibly getting a single submersive, so I read up on them also. But then upon searching through all the previous threads I could find, I stumbled across a very informative thread by michman comparing to a single submersive to dual empires. That swayed me back to my original decision about the dual Epiks.

What is interesting is that I can find all sorts of threads comparing a single Epik to a single HSU, but I can't find a thread where someone has done a comparison between dual VTF15H and dual Empires. The only thing that comes close is taking from Archaea's 2012 thread is that a single submersive > dual VTF15H's. Then making the jump from that with michman's thread where dual Empires > single submersive. So with the single submersive as the common control factor here, I would deduce that dual Epik Empire > Single Submersive > Dual HSU VTF15H.

But like I said, finding a dual empire vs dual VTF15H thread has proved elusive to me. I'd love to hear some input from someone who has heard both and compared them. I'm not sure that this would yield the same result as single vs single. I believe the dual subs adds a dynamic to the situation that may not be represented with a single vs single setting..

And the other thing, as has already been mentioned here, is that I'm coming from a single BIC H-100, so I'm sure either of the 2 setups will blow me away. But I want to FEEL the bass from my seating area. If there is an earthquake in a movie I'm watching, I want everyone thats watching the movie to think "Holy $#!+, I'm really IN an earthquake" LOL..

Thanks again for all the replies everyone. I'm truly on the fence here between these 2 setups and going out of my mind trying to figure out which setup will be best for movies.

Thanks ack_bk, that helps, but have you seen any duals vs duals comparisons? If so, please post up

ccotenj- my room is on the second story of my house above the garage. I hope this helps.. I have thought of buttkickers but havent really done a lot of research on them yet. Id like to see how just the subs do, then go from there.. For my untuned ears/ experience, the subs may be enough. I just want to make sure I get the best movie sub of the 2 right now..