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

Showing 1 response by jafox

jafox
1,447 posts
 
I too can understand your desire to consider the Magnepans as they are a wonderfully musical and awesome value speaker. I too owned the 3.3/3.5's for 6 years and it was mighty tough to let go of their strengths. They are perfectly suited for music-based systems in moderately sized rooms, but ultimately their lack of dynamics makes them not an ideal choice for HT setups in any sized rooms.....forget about it in the room you describe. The series 20 will not be any different here.

I will comment however that all planars are not created equal and perhaps the SoundLabs might be a viable choice if you are seeking the strengths of such a speaker. There is a new model, nearly 9' tall, that is supposedly even more efficient than the latest versions of the other SL models. As an owner of the A1s, there is not an issue of covering the low end at all. In an HT based system, you will have any number of subwoofers so no speakers need to cover the bottom octave anyway but the SL's cover this area like the Magnepans can not match at all.

Speaker issues aside, I recall that A'gon member Mike Lavigne did quite a writeup on the efforts to build a big room, electrical circuits, acoustical treatments, etc. I would think he could steer you in the right direction in many key areas.
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