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C. Sun | I've a pretty large room (22x20 sqft), and my 53-inch HDTV sits in the corner of the room (because of fireplace). I plan to get a set of speakers, but have not idea about what size of speakers I should get for this large room. Do they have to be big towers ? or small speakers with wall-brakcet or floor stands will do same thing ? Does size matter ? Thanks a lot. |
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timn8ter | The height or cabinet size of a speaker is not the deciding factor. In a large room, especially if you're doing home theater, the critical factor is the SPL (sound pressure level) in decibels the speakers are capable of. This is where driver size comes in. Three inch drivers are not going to be able to give you the volume levels you want. You can use bookshelf sized two-way speakers if they have a reasonably sized mid-woofer (~6" or larger)and are capable of handling higher power levels (100+ watts). If you go this route chances are you'll want a subwoofer. The one thing that tower speakers will do, in general, is they will produce more bass as they are usually a bass reflex type design. p.s. Good things can come in small(ish) packages. |
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C. Sun | Thanks for the info. I've another question: most HT packages offer subwoofer speakers,but I also see some packages have built subwoofer into the main tower speakers, what's pro and con ? A newbie question: I didn't find SPL in the speaker spec, could you tell me how to calculate it ? |
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timn8ter | Separate subs give you the benefit of placement. Low frequencies are a real beast to get under control in most rooms. With a separate sub you can take advantage of corner reinforcement, that is, you can place the sub in the corner of the room and get about a 3-6 db gain over mid wall placement. Also, due to standing waves you will have null points where the bass will seem "missing". This can be overcome somewhat by placement also, although to truly deal with nulls requires room treatments and equalization. The benefit of built-in subs is they take up less room and usually have more SAF (spouse acceptance factor). Other than that I consider them a compromise. As for the SPL spec, you'll have to ask the manufacturer. The only way I know is to set them up and take measurements with a meter, although you could gather all the T/S specs and the enclosure specs, plug them into a program like LspCAD along with the room dimensions and get the number. For more info on subs go to http://www.harman.com/wp/index.jsp?articleId=122 |
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G-Man | C. Sun-- I wouldn't worry too much about SPL's if you use a speaker with a built-in subwoofer. I can't imagine a quality speaker manufacturer (such as Def Tech for instance) offering such a speaker without having the SPL's balanced between the subwoofer and the midrange and the tweeter. Otherwise you should get the subwoofer manufacturer to send you the graphs on SPL's. You will need the graph on SPL/Hz and also the %distortion/SPL and the %distortion/Hz at various SPL's to make a good decision. That is why I like the HSU-VTF-2 at its price point of $499 and HSU VTF-3 at its price point of $849. They both excel in these graphs. There are other good subs too. The SVS's are mostly excellent along with some of the Velodynes and various others. Of course, you still need a $40 SPL Meter to balance everything after you are done purchasing your speakers, unless your receiver has a quality built-in SPL Metering system, which some do have, although most aren't of the highest quality and accuracy. |
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C. Sun | G-Man, Thank you for the very informative reply. I've shopped around the town. Unfortunately, there are very few audio stores. Circuity city is under remodeling, Bestbuy doesn't have audio room. I tried Bose Acoustimass 16 in Tweeter, which did not impress me at all. I'm now considering the following speaker packages: Polk audio RM7600 Cambridge Soundworks Newton T300 (built-in subs) or MC200 (seperate sub) Infinity Modulus or Alpha Klipsch Synergy I plan to get Yamaha V2300 or Denon 3802 receiver, and the budget left for speakers is 1K-2K $. I'd like to hear your comments about these packages. Which one do you think can fit best in my large room. or Am I heading to the wrong direction already ? Thanks. |
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C. Sun | timn8ster, Thanks for the explanation. I just searched around, and found this Klipsch Reference 3II system of 1700$ 2 RF-3II Towers 1 RC-3II center 2 RS-3II surrounds 1 KSW-12 sub Do you think it can fit my need well ? How is the deal ? |
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C.Sun | Here is another simliar package, Klipsch RF-35 System 1800$ 2 RF-35 Towers 1 RC-35 center 2 RS-35 surrounds 1 JBL S-120 sub How is it compared to the previous package ? |
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timn8ter | Klipsch has an excellent reputation, however, you are the final factor. The best thing to do is go listen to them, then pick one. I'm really into DIY and as a result don't spend time in stores listening to systems. I know some guys that do design work. That's why I like to recommend Atlantic Technology because I know Vance Dickason is a skilled designer and you can't go wrong with his stuff. One thing I do like in the Klipsch Reference Series is the use of the horn tweeter. It appears to be on-axis with the woofer which should help with phasing. Probably an excellent choice for HT. |
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C. Sun | Thanks, I'm not sure if you noticed that the sub in the above RF-35 package is JBL S-120 instead of Klipsch RW-12. The price dropped from 2400$ to 1800$ because of this. I wonder if sub would be very important to my large room. Should I stay with RW-12 or the JBL sub is good enough ? |
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timn8ter | If it was me, I'd build my own. But, if you're going to make me commit I'd say the JBL looks to be the better performer. Considering there's only a $100 difference between the two systems I'd probably lean towards the RF-35 package. Be sure to read the paper on sub placement on the Harman site. Good luck and have fun! |
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C. Sun | timn8ter, Thanks so much for your suggestion. I'll take it into consideration. If I go with Klipsch, I'll get a pioneer receiver. Besides your suggestion, Hawk recommended Paradigm Monitor package which I'm going to give it a try. The reason why I didn't build my own is that I know very little about speakers&receivers and don't want to make stupid combination mistakes. btw, This site is really informative and educational ! |