Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Speakers for 30 foot x 40 foot screening room

Room will be app. 30 foot x 40 foot, with 12 foot ceiling height, so we would have 14,400 cubic feet of air to move, maybe a little less. Looking at the following Axiom gear to do this:

4 x M22 for front (2 x left + 2 x right)
2 x VP150 for center (2 x center)
4 x QS8 for surround (2 x surround + 2 x rear surround)
1 x EP600 for bass.

Seating for 48 souls. Screen size is 14 foot x 7 foot. I want to mount the front speakers on the wall. They could all be behind the screen (if using perforated) or top/bottom for center and to the side for left/right, if going with standard non-perf material. Screen will be curved to radius of throw distance (app. 40 feet).

QUESTIONS:

(a) Is the above listed Axiom speaker-line up sufficient for the size of this large room? Each speaker would be powered by 200 Watts of OUTLAW amp.

(b) If not sufficient, how would you change the line-up?

(c) Tower speakers, they have to remain on the ground, right? I mean, they should not be mounted by bracket to the wall?

(d) Any other brand of preamp/processor/amp other than OUTLAW I should look into, to get similar price/performance rewards as with the Axiom loudspeakers?

Thanks!

Others will jump in here, but I think I would be looking at (3) M80s across the front if a perf screen is workable and you don't object to floorstanders. Personally, I don't think there are many bookshelves that would be up to the task of filling that room with that many people!

Not to hijack a thread so early, but has anyone ever "podiumized" a floorstander (like thus):

to allow for better reach in a room with as many people as he's looking at?

Yes. I have a pair of Michaura M665s (very much like the M60) on marble 24" hex shaped pillar things in my office. If the pillar things were 12" tall it would put the tweeters closer to ear level. They sound great, but I'm not sure that mounting towers on stands is the thing to do for your application. It might be better to mount them low and tip them up.

BTW, I have a friend who also has a pair of Michaura M665s driven by some Outlaw 200w monoblocks (and a pair of M22 like M55s in the back). I don't like the sound quality of these amps with these speakers (these speakers use the same drivers as Axiom speakers, but instead of the 1" titanium tweeter, they use the Axiom 3/4" tweeter which was previously used in the M2s, and some other Axiom speakers. It's a great tweeter. My friend also is disappointed with the Outlaw 200w monoblocks. Don't know if the problem is his room, or the Outlaw processor.

I have another friend who uses the same compliment (M665s, M55s, VP100), driven by a Parasound Halo amp, and it sounds great.

Hi Feribaba,

Forget using four M22s for a room that enormous. Get a pair of M80ti's, a couple of VP150s above and below the screen and figure on very possibly adding a second subwoofer.

Don't put the speakers behind the screen unless you are prepared to do equalization to compensate for the losses of the perforated screen. As Mark says, you could mount the M80s on a podium or riser if necessary.

Regards,

Well, I was afraid of that. Of course, a "tower" would work best, but since these are labeled as "floorstanding," I am not at all sure that affixing them to the wall via a pair of Axiom's own FULL METAL BRACKETS, for example, is a doable idea.

A "shelf" speaker is insufficient by itself, and I am not sure if doubling (or even tripling) one of these M22s and VP150s is really the way to go here.

Incidentally, initilly I wanted all front speakers be the in-wall (recessed) type, but I just learned that this way they cannot be directed individually towards the portion of the room & audience where you want them to be directed. Not only that, I would assumke that an individually cabineted speaker of the ame specification will sound 'better' than one of the in-wall type?

I really donlt think that having the speakers sitting on the floor is the way to go for us, though. That is why I am looking to have them (a) wall mounted or (b) recessed in-wall.

RBH has some monster 500 Watt front speakers (also in-wall designs with the same power specs), but I suppose you really should have more than 200 Watts per channel amplificiation to propel one of those, right?

Incidentally, I am looking at pofessional cinema (movie theater) speakers as well for this room by QSC and Pioneer. But these are really "consumer grade" when it comes to sound quality, not to mention the movie threater-grade amps that drive them.

Feribaba,

Using big cinema horns is certainly an option. That's what's used exclusively in evensmall commercial cinemas, because you can get very high SPLs, great dynamics, and you can do it without having to use monster amplifiers. BUT, you have to use careful equalization or the horns will take your ears off. Big EQ'd horn systems can sound really good if the person setting it up knows anything about good sound quality. And that's a big IF.

Most in-wall speakers that are flush to the wall are quite inferior to well designed tower speakers if you're after neutral, uncolored sound. And they are not efficient (sensitive) so you have to use really huge amplifiers.

I don't understand your resistance to using floorstanding main speakers up front.

Regards,

I'll toss in my expieriance, I have about 10,000 cubic feet of air, I would go with three 80s for the front, and dual EP500 or EP600 for subs. If you forsee vvolume levels of 90db and above, I would be checking into seperate amps for the front 80s. When I started pushing five M80s at high levels, I learned I could put multi channel amps into heat protection within 12-18 minutes.
As for the M80s, they are rated at 400 watts each at 4ohms, so they are happy and only sound better with additioanl power for them. This is my opinion from my expieriance with my equipment.

So, here's a Michaura M665 atop a marble stand, a Klipsch LF10 (1648 watt 10" sub with 2 passive subwoofers) atop a Dahlquist PDQ1500 15" sub




My Frankenstein center - Merak with 2 Axiom 6.5" drivers and a de Capo Reference 3a mm silk dome tweeter and cross-over with heavily modified super tweeter. In the rack a Sony TA E9000ES processor, swapped a Pioneer DV 578A SP DVD player in place of the Philips SACD1000 which is out for mods, Anthem PVA 5 amp on bottom shelf of rack.



A second gorgeous Michaura M665 atop marble ped.

2x6spds, I'm not getting the last two pictures. By the way, what finish is on the M665?