[fish5225]

I have a very large space where I am trying to upgrade my audio. It measures 45 x 50 ft, although there are some half walls and lower ceilings over parts. The main ceiling where the speakers would be place is approximately 30 ft high with sloped ceiling. I am currently running in wall speakers in the main room and ceiling speakers in the kitchen. I have a main TV but just run the wall and ceilings for HT. Nothing special. I am mainly interested in improving the music listening in this area so obviously I need some large speakers. Surrounds will have to remain the current in wall and ceiling units but I am focused on the music. Any suggestions on a pair of speakers for such a large space. I listened to the Triton 1's over the weekend but the dealer wants $150.00 to demo if I don't buy. I really don't have any other dealers in Fort Collins. Have considered Salk and RBH. My concern is the room will never really sound very good in which case the 5-6 K I'm willing to spend on new fronts may not be worth it. Could also go with something smaller and a sub but I'm fairly limited in sub placement to one of two corners by the fronts, ergo my thought to buy a powered speaker like the Triton.

On a side note, do ribbon tweeters like the RAAL work better in a big space over dome?

Please help.

 

[dsrussell]

Great room indeed! That works out to over 50,000 cu. ft. My whole house has less square footage than your room, and my vaulted ceilings are half the height as yours. To say your situation is unique is a bit of an understatement. That doesn't mean you can't have good sound. Speakers are more of a matter of distance between the speakers and the listening position, but for every meter away SPL will drop. Also, boundary effects that help amplify the sound will be all but missing in a room that large. It's like running your speakers outdoors. As far as a subwoofer, placing a couple near-field should work well. Which leads me to the question that in such a huge room, how can limited placement ever be an issue?

You'll also need more amplifier power than normal to drive whatever speakers you decide to get to reasonably output levels if your listening position is more than 12 to 15 feet away (unless you are talking about high-output speakers with compression drivers). A large room usually means a larger investment, and your room is mammoth. Just go out and audition as many speakers as you can and realize that no matter what you get, your room will have a pretty major effect on output. It may or may not have an effect on sound quality.

Since your local audio store is charging you a lot of money just to test them at home, you might look at companies that offer free shipping both ways. Both SVS and PSA have such a policy. SVS has the Ultra series speakers for $2,000 / pair that you can test out for 45 days. They are suppose to be a solid value (I've never auditioned them), and they look pretty good: http://www.svsound.com/speakers/ultra-series/ultra-tower

PSA has high-output speakers more suitable to dark, dedicated home theaters: http://www.powersoundaudio.com/collections/speakers/products/mtm-210

Other companies, such as Seaton, JTR and Reaction Audio also have high-output speakers that would be worth looking into, but don't offer free shipping (Reaction Audio offers free one-way shipping).

With either SVS or PSA you can audition them in your home without incurring return shipping fees. That would give you a good idea of how these types of speakers will sound in your room. If you're unhappy in any way, ship them back (refunds usually take less than 10 working days).

As far as subwoofers, I'd be looking at duals. Look at Hsu Research, Power Sound Audio (PSA), Reaction Audio, Rythmik Audio and SVS. For the top echelon of subs, look at Seaton Sound, JTR Speakers and Funk Audio (we are talking quite a bit of money for these).

 

[Kini62]

A pair of these would work well.

http://www.seaton-sound-forum.com/post/undefined/post?id=3044980#1

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I have a very large space where I am trying to upgrade my audio. It measures 45 x 50 ft, although there are some half walls and lower ceilings over parts. The main ceiling where the speakers would be place is approximately 30 ft high with sloped ceiling. I am currently running in wall speakers in the main room and ceiling speakers in the kitchen. I have a main TV but just run the wall and ceilings for HT. Nothing special. I am mainly interested in improving the music listening in this area so obviously I need some large speakers. Surrounds will have to remain the current in wall and ceiling units but I am focused on the music. Any suggestions on a pair of speakers for such a large space. I listened to the Triton 1's over the weekend but the dealer wants $150.00 to demo if I don't buy. I really don't have any other dealers in Fort Collins. Have considered Salk and RBH. My concern is the room will never really sound very good in which case the 5-6 K I'm willing to spend on new fronts may not be worth it. Could also go with something smaller and a sub but I'm fairly limited in sub placement to one of two corners by the fronts, ergo my thought to buy a powered speaker like the Triton.

On a side note, do ribbon tweeters like the RAAL work better in a big space over dome?

Please help.

You need some very powerful, efficient speakers (possibly horn loaded) and amplifiers if you ever expect to be able to get good sound in that cavernous space. Otherwise, I would suggest looking for a different dedicated room in your home for your theater system. In fact, that would be my best advice.

 

[Elihawk]

In a room that size, i would forget ribbon tweeters! you almost have to have a very efficient speaker with a horn loaded compression driver/tweeter and I warn you, those aren't for everyone.

 

[RayDunzl]

I have a very large space where I am trying to upgrade my audio. It measures 45 x 50 ft, although there are some half walls and lower ceilings over parts.

Need a picture of that one...

 

[fish5225]

You need some very powerful, efficient speakers (possibly horn loaded) and amplifiers if you ever expect to be able to get good sound in that cavernous space. Otherwise, I would suggest looking for a different dedicated room in your home for your theater system. In fact, that would be my best advice.

Yeah that's my concern. I have a fully dedicated and built room that sounds great in my basement, just wanted to extend quality sound to the rest of my house the best I can. It was my thought that the space is too big to make it sound good so I don't see the justification for dropping 5-6 grand on speakers if they still don't sound very good. The 3 speakers I looked at are all efficient, Salk, RBH and Triton 1. Thanks for the input.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Yeah that's my concern. I have a fully dedicated and built room that sounds great in my basement, just wanted to extend quality sound to the rest of my house the best I can. It was my thought that the space is too big to make it sound good so I don't see the justification for dropping 5-6 grand on speakers if they still don't sound very good. The 3 speakers I looked at are all efficient, Salk, RBH and Triton 1. Thanks for the input.

Have you considered a couple of JTR speakers powered by a pro amp?

What do you have in your basement theater?

 

[fish5225]

Need a picture of that one...

here are a few to give you an idea

 

[fish5225]

Have you considered a couple of JTR speakers powered by a pro amp?


I have not but will take a look. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

What do you have in your basement theater?

I have a 7.1 setup, Tannoy s-10's and center, M&K surrounds, M&K sub, B&W sat's. All run by a new Yamaha 2040. With a dedicated room it really sounds wonderful for music, good for movies.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I have a 7.1 setup, Tannoy s-10's and center, M&K surrounds, M&K sub, B&W sat's. All run by a new Yamaha 2040. With a dedicated room it really sounds wonderful for music, good for movies.

Nice setup! If you haven't already, perhaps you could spend the money where it could be most beneficial and noticeable... upgrading your theater speaker count to handle Dolby Atmos and... if you upgrade your receiver with a 2015 model, to one that handles 7.1.4 or maybe 9.1.4... DTS:X as well (plus the benefit of improved UHD Blu-ray friendly HDMI chipsets).

That great room would be almost impossible (especially on the musicality front) without dropping some serious coin... probably a lot more than retrofitting your theater to 3D object-based surround, which is fantastic by the way. Fellow Northern Coloradoans aren't known to lie about A/V stuff.

 

[fish5225]

Nice setup! If you haven't already, perhaps you could spend the money where it could be most beneficial and noticeable... upgrading your theater speaker count to handle Dolby Atmos and... if you upgrade your receiver with a 2015 model, to one that handles 7.1.4 or maybe 9.1.4... DTS:X as well (plus the benefit of improved UHD Blu-ray friendly HDMI chipsets).

That great room would be almost impossible (especially on the musicality front) without dropping some serious coin... probably a lot more than retrofitting your theater to 3D object-based surround, which is fantastic by the way. Fellow Northern Coloradoans aren't known to lie about A/V stuff.

I will probably get around to the atmos setup this fall as I watch a lot more movies in the winter. I am just enjoying the heck out of playing all my old cd's that I have ripped onto my hard drive. I completely wired my house when I built it 15 years ago and now I can't get enough with the new networking and apps. I like your advice on finding companies with a simple retun policy.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I will probably get around to the atmos setup this fall as I watch a lot more movies in the winter. I am just enjoying the heck out of playing all my old cd's that I have ripped onto my hard drive. I completely wired my house when I built it 15 years ago and now I can't get enough with the new networking and apps. I like your advice on finding companies with a simple retun policy.

If you're still determined to work on the great room, you might consider Triad Gold In-room or backer-boxed in-wall LCR's (same difference - they're that good). They should fall within your budget consideration and they sound absolutely fantastic for music (even though they're home theater speakers), though you wouldn't be able to blast them in a room that size. A lot better than what you're working with now. Then consider adding a stereo amp to give them ample juice. Talk to Dawn in the Triad thread. She works for a good authorized Triad dealer and is quite helpful. One of the few remaining American speaker builders. Dolby Labs have used and DTS are about to use Triad speakers to demo their new Atmos and X object formats.

http://triadspeakers.com/products/iwg6lcr.html (in-wall's)

http://triadspeakers.com/products/iwg6lcr.html (in-room's)

 

[shivaji]

I would go over to audiogon.com and click on full range speakers. Take a look at the great variety of speakers for sale over there. Find some that catch your eye and do a little research on them. I think there are quite a few speakers that would fill that space quite well and look good doing it.

 

[Mike Garrett]

I have a very large space where I am trying to upgrade my audio. It measures 45 x 50 ft, although there are some half walls and lower ceilings over parts. The main ceiling where the speakers would be place is approximately 30 ft high with sloped ceiling. I am currently running in wall speakers in the main room and ceiling speakers in the kitchen. I have a main TV but just run the wall and ceilings for HT. Nothing special. I am mainly interested in improving the music listening in this area so obviously I need some large speakers. Surrounds will have to remain the current in wall and ceiling units but I am focused on the music. Any suggestions on a pair of speakers for such a large space. I listened to the Triton 1's over the weekend but the dealer wants $150.00 to demo if I don't buy. I really don't have any other dealers in Fort Collins. Have considered Salk and RBH. My concern is the room will never really sound very good in which case the 5-6 K I'm willing to spend on new fronts may not be worth it. Could also go with something smaller and a sub but I'm fairly limited in sub placement to one of two corners by the fronts, ergo my thought to buy a powered speaker like the Triton.

On a side note, do ribbon tweeters like the RAAL work better in a big space over dome?

Please help.

It is not size of the room, but listening distance that matters with speakers. What is the distance from the in-wall speakers to the listening position? What is the distance from the ceiling speakers to the listening position? On the other hand, with subs, it is all about volume and it would take a ton of subwoofers to fill that size area. My suggestion for subs, would be near field placement, such as end tables. RBH makes in-wall speakers that would work very well for you. AVS is an RBH dealer along with may other brands. If we can help you, give us a call.

Options for in-walls:

Triad Gold: http://www.triadspeakers.com/products/iwg6lcr.html
RBH SI-663 and 663R: https://rbhsound.com/si663r.php
RBH SI-6100 and 6100R: https://rbhsound.com/si6100r.php

 

[Mike Garrett]

In a room that size, i would forget ribbon tweeters! you almost have to have a very efficient speaker with a horn loaded compression driver/tweeter and I warn you, those aren't for everyone.

A speaker with AMT tweeters would work. You get the sound of a ribbon and the SPL of a compression driver. I am using these in my speakers: http://www.beyma.com/products/diapharagmtweeters/1TPL15H8 No problems with reference levels and above. Also take a look at these: http://www.beyma.com/products/diapharagmtweeters/1TPL20H8

 

[dmb12679]

I have a very large room also, well not as big as yours, but...


I run Klipsch 82ii's and a RC-64 and fills my whole house, upper level and all the way to through the end of the kitchen. The horns just throw it! If you throw in a pair of RF-7ii's and a RC-64ii and an emotive XPA-3($4k total set up) I would think you would be quite happy. See if you can audition those. A sub or two would be a must also

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah, as long as you are sitting only 15 feet from the TV, it doesn't matter if your room is 1,000' x 1,000' when it comes to the speakers.

You can hear music and bass/subs just fine outdoors if you only sit 15-20 feet away.

If you are limited on placement (although your room is large) but want very dynamic and large sound, I would recommend the RBH SX-T2 modular towers, which has a sensitivity of 92dB/2.83V/m and can produce very good bass, especially when you ACTIVELY bi-amp the bass with an external subwoofer amp (which can be bought for $300). Each modular tower has dual 10" subwoofers, thus a pair of SX-T2 has four 10" subwoofers. Now this may not be enough bass for some people who want extreme earthquake bass, but it is more than enough for me.

 

[fish5225]

Just for testing I moved my Tannoy's upstairs and added a sub and ran I set of ceilings in my kitchen as surrounds. Sounds pretty good for music. I listened to the triton 1's and focus 948's today, unfortunately at different shops but at least with the same music. Focals base was much tighter but I'm not sure the tritons were given a fair shake because they sounded like the calibration was off. They sounded much better in a different shop last weekend. I am trying to demo a set of rbh T-2's and hopefully can also get the focals and tritons for a shootout. I don't think all is lost on my great room setup.

 

[Elihawk]

here are a few to give you an idea

Holy open concept! You might want to think about saving up for 6-8 Legacy Goliath subs...those will list for 10,000 each, btw...