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Bass reinforcement for very large room

My main system resides in the great room of our open-concept house - essentially a 30x30 open area (entryway, family room, dining room, kitchen) with 15' ceilings.

My second system resides in the 11x15 master bedroom.

Recently I have become especially aware at how much better the much more modest system in the BR sounds - it is weighty and more authoritative. Why? Because no matter what sort of main speakers I use in the large room, it seems they cannot produce enough space for that very large space. In contrast, the BR speakers, with smaller drivers and lesser bass extension, pressurize the room and fill it with sound so easily.

The speakers (now) are Hyperion 938s. They are a quite-capable full-range speaker, solid to the low 30s or so. (The 'lack of weight' that plagues the great room is something that surely extents all the way up to the upper-bass, probably 125-150 Hz, so the speakers' extension is really not too vital. IOW, if they were flat to 20 Hz it wouldn't be much different.)

I am thinking subs are the only/best way to cure this. I could use some kind of EQ - but that would undoubtedly result in great driver excursion and an extreme load on my (modestly-powered) amplifiers. I think I need a lot more driver *area*. In other words, in this case there's no replacement for displacement. (And, by the way, I am no 'bass fiend'.)

I've had subs before. I don't like them because it seems they just never integrate *perfectly*. Especially if they must be relied on all the way up to 100 Hz or higher (which is something I've never even tried).

I don't really have any questions per se and am really just ruminating out loud, but if anyone has any thoughts to share, be my guest. (Moving might be my best bet.)
paulfolbrecht
paulfolbrecht OP
603 posts
 
Don,

Were you the one who told off Aunt Stacy at the party, too? Her passive-aggressiveness can be trying, yes, but damn.

Seriously, don't sweat it, but thanks. It's best to keep it light here.

And guess what? Today, the system sounds wonderful out in the big room. Sometimes that sense of pressurization is really nice, or necessary, and sometimes it just isn't. For whatever reasons (probably mostly psychological).

[Que Charlie Brown Christmas theme.]
audiokinesis
2,713 posts
 
I had a fairly big room (33 x 13) when I lived in New Orleans, and it had doors leading into multiple adjacent rooms. The bass impact was noticeably improved when I closed all the doors. Mentioning just in case.
bmckenney
91 posts
 
You have your speakers 3' from the side walls with a room width of 30', so they are 24' apart? That doesn't make sense. Speakers need to be close together for good dynamics and tone and energizing the room. And I don't know that having the speakers close to the front wall for bass reinforcement is going to give you the best bass in that room. The best spot for bass in a room that size could be out 12' or something. Maybe your issues are related to speaker placement. Sure, a square room isn't good either. And the suggestions to use multiple subs like the audio kinesis products sound like a solution. And bass trapping as well. But speaker placement is king. You might want to try the speaker placement some people use at shows in square rooms where speakers are placed straddling a corner of a room instead of symmetrically along one wall.
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Hard to say but since you have tried subs before and don't like them - I'd say that the bass is not your problem.
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,973 posts
 
Altec model 19 a good idea...
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