Going to start building my media/audio room

[slowGEEZR]

Hey Joey, don't let Jonathan and Dave push you around! After all, they haven't banished me! If you want Wilsons go for it! Highly recommended! :rocker:

 

[twich54]

After all, they haven't banished me!

see what Tom gave me for Christmas...........I'm just itchin' to try it out !

 

[Joey_V]

see what Tom gave me for Christmas...........I'm just itchin' to try it out !

Oooh... that's scary... will I blow up too?

 

[slowGEEZR]

see what Tom gave me for Christmas...........I'm just itchin' to try it out !

Be nice to your elders!

 

[Joey_V]

Looks like my media room shrunk down to 14x17.5... it just flows better in the overall floor plan of the house this way.

I guess that's still an ok size, I was thinking of making the media room a little more of an informal media room - single sectional couch, something sleek and grey. No multi-level risers, no multi-row seating.

If I placed in Wilsons in it for 2ch, I'd still be a good 10-12 feet from ear to speaker.

Thoughts?

I really tried my best to keep the media room 14x20, but the architect said unless I wanted to extend the entire house, there was really no way to get that remaining 2.5 feet.

 

[amey01]

Thoughts?

Does it matter what I think, or does it matter what you think?

If you really want to know what I think - Wilsons suck. I've never liked them. I fail to hear what all the fuss is about.

 

[jmschnur]

The Montis would go nicely with the Stage X and rear surrounds on the wall in that size room .


J

 

[Gordon Gray]

I totally agree with Adam.

Are you looking for reinforcement / support for your current biases?

If so, what's the point?

GG

 

[Joey_V]

Does it matter what I think, or does it matter what you think?

If you really want to know what I think - Wilsons suck. I've never liked them. I fail to hear what all the fuss is about.

I totally agree with Adam.

Are you looking for reinforcement / support for your current biases?

If so, what's the point?

GG

Gordon and Adam -

Not looking for reinforcement for the Wilson - when I said "thoughts", I meant on the size of the room not the speakers.

If I recall correctly, 2 years ago when I was planning my media room, I ended up with a 12x13 room... I posted about it here and it was felt by the majority that it was way too small. Then I began to see if I could get something bigger like 13x16... this was something that maxed out that particular house floor plan.

Fast forward to today, I thought I was getting a 14x20 media room when I had initially discussed with the architect, and it turns out that I'm at 14x17.5 after the house was drawn out. I can *probably* stretch it another 6 inches but more than likely, I'm stuck at this point.

Just wanted to see if people work with this size in their rooms. I wasn't thinking of doing a "formal" media room, no double or triple rows of seats... I'm going for the more "informal" media room... single clean, lean, modern sectional sofa and that's it.

I walked a house under construction by the same builder today... and I saw a 13.75 x 17.75 media room and it "felt" ok. I probably wouldn't want to go any smaller though.

 

[Bernard]

Joey, I have a 14x20 living/listening room (my "HT" is a 32" TV that is not between the speakers), with a half wall and an open kitchen behind my listening position (my speakers fire into the long dimension). I think you'll be fine, especially if you have some room treatments behind your couch.

I think you could even squeeze in a pair of CLXes provided you don't have a ginormous screen. If you're going non-ML you may want to consider MBL too; I really liked what I heard at a couple of shows.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Joey,

I'm personally ambivalent about the Wilson brand. Regarding room size, I would think only you can decide on size within the context of your desired functionality. How many people, etc.

Assuming you are still open to speaker options, I would also encourage you to check out the MBL's. The 116's are about the same size and price of the Sasha's and would be more than adequate given your proposed room size.

Good luck with your project.

Gordon

 

[Rich]

Just wanted to see if people work with this size in their rooms. I wasn't thinking of doing a "formal" media room, no double or triple rows of seats... I'm going for the more "informal" media room... single clean, lean, modern sectional sofa and that's it.

I walked a house under construction by the same builder today... and I saw a 13.75 x 17.75 media room and it "felt" ok. I probably wouldn't want to go any smaller though.

Joey, you will get by fine with this size media room. My media room is 14' wide by 17' long, with an extra 2' window niche along the back wall. So very close to the same size. And I am running Summits in there to great success. The key, as I am sure you know I will say, is proper room treatments. You can handle some decently sized speakers in a room that size, if you have some bass traps in the corners and treatment of early reflection points. You could go with cone or planar. Lots of choices out there. Might be a good reason to go to RMAF -- audition some mains speakers.

I am really happy for you that you are moving forward with your life and getting settled somewhere for a little while. Good luck to you, Joey. Let us know how the build progresses. PS, let me know if you are interested and I will send you some super-top secret photos of my system so you can get a feel for this size room.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Rich,

Out of curiosity and for future reference (post retirement house), what's a comfortable capacity for that size room without compromising audio quality?

Seems a bit small if you have more than four people.

Best,

Gordon

 

[Rich]

Gordon, it just depends on how you do the seating and what you want out of it. The way I have mine set up, I can seat 7 comfortably, and easily a couple more by bringing in some outside chairs. Seating 9 to watch a movie is not too crowded. Except for the fact that my HVAC isn't set up to take that kind of heat load in one room. I basically have three chairs (with leg rests) across the back row, with a pair of loveseats in front and to the sides of that. Each Loveseat comfortably seats 2. But while this setup works great for movies, I wouldn't do any critical audio listening with that many people in the room. Just the three chairs across the front for fine audio listening, I would say.

Hi Rich,

Out of curiosity and for future reference (post retirement house), what's a comfortable capacity for that size room without compromising audio quality?

Seems a bit small if you have more than four people.

Best,

Gordon

 

[JonFo]

Jonathan, any comment on what Ivor Tiefenbrun used to maintain ? - That you should never have speakers in addition to the ones to which you are listening in the same room. I think that's what caused some retailers to set up single-speaker demonstration rooms.

Bernard, In general, that's a great guideline, but I believe it's targeted at the practice of putting two box speakers side-by-side. The midrange and woofers of the inoperative boxes act as absorbers or resonators and can totally color the sound of the speaker right next to them.

However, I would think that while some of that effect is there with a ceiling mounted speaker vs a floor stander like the Wilsons, due to the 8' to 12' distance between them, that the resonance problem would be minimized. Remember that in an average media room, there are lots of things that act as pistonic resonators/absorbers. leather couches and seats come to mind.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Joey,... PS, let me know if you are interested and I will send you some super-top secret photos of my system so you can get a feel for this size room.

Don't believe him Joey.:ROFL:

 

[User211]

Don't believe him Joey.:ROFL:

One day, I am going to send spies around....

 

[invenio]

I did a complete home theater build about 2 years ago. Here is a link with some pictures:

Home Theater build

I read through the messages of this forum and just some words of wisdom:

If the room is of adequate size (your's appears to be), I would ditch the idea of putting a 60" flat screen TV in there. I know 60" sound big, but it is going to look pretty darn small sitting 15 ft away (even 10 ft), and certainly well below THX recommendations for viewing angles. Get a projector and a larger screen, I guarantee you will be much happier in the long run.

If you have any say on the ceiling, try to make it cathedral with some sloping angles vs a typical "box" design, I find this helps significantly with sound wave reflections. You can of course put up acoustic paneling which will help, but the ceiling can help to break up sound waves just as much.

If you are planning on running cables in wall, use plastic tubing as a conduit. This will allow you to run new cables through in the future if you want!

Go with a dark non-gloss paint. You don't want nasty reflections off the walls in a dark theater.

If you plan on having floor standing speakers (especially electrostats), you have to count on them being a few feet off the walls to sound their best.

Be mindful of the floor. Is it wood with basement below, concrete? You can have a sold floor but you are going to have to put carpets over them and will probably need more acoustic paneling as you don't want a lot of reflections or echoing.


Hope that helps!

 

[Joey_V]

Btw, guys - I think there's a good chance I'll end up with Logans again... they have been good to me in the past, I'm sure they'll perform even better in my new room.

I mean, I had them in a room that was 11 feet deep... I only had 8 feet between the speakers and to my ears. And I enjoyed the Summits immensely.

Listened to the Wilsons again today - the Alexia.... yes, it was good, but come on... $48K is a lot of cash. And it still doesn't sound any more real than the Summits I had before. Maybe they sound better, but not $40K better.

I did a complete home theater build about 2 years ago. Here is a link with some pictures:

Home Theater build

I read through the messages of this forum and just some words of wisdom:

If the room is of adequate size (your's appears to be), I would ditch the idea of putting a 60" flat screen TV in there. I know 60" sound big, but it is going to look pretty darn small sitting 15 ft away (even 10 ft), and certainly well below THX recommendations for viewing angles. Get a projector and a larger screen, I guarantee you will be much happier in the long run.

If you have any say on the ceiling, try to make it cathedral with some sloping angles vs a typical "box" design, I find this helps significantly with sound wave reflections. You can of course put up acoustic paneling which will help, but the ceiling can help to break up sound waves just as much.

If you are planning on running cables in wall, use plastic tubing as a conduit. This will allow you to run new cables through in the future if you want!

Go with a dark non-gloss paint. You don't want nasty reflections off the walls in a dark theater.

If you plan on having floor standing speakers (especially electrostats), you have to count on them being a few feet off the walls to sound their best.

Be mindful of the floor. Is it wood with basement below, concrete? You can have a sold floor but you are going to have to put carpets over them and will probably need more acoustic paneling as you don't want a lot of reflections or echoing.


Hope that helps!

Thanks invenio!

1. I'm trying to bump the size to 14x18.5.... we shall see.
2. It's on ground floor, cement foundation underneath. No basement here in Dallas area. Solid flooring.
3. My ceiling options are nearly endless. Interesting that you mention making it vaulted... though I've never seen a media room with vaulted ceilings. The preliminary ceiling is 10'1" soffits with can lights and a tray ceiling (box shape) to 11'6".

Thoughts?

 

[Joey_V]

Don't believe him Joey.:ROFL:

I don't... lol...