Hello:
I'm sure this question has been asked in the past but I could not find the answer anywhere.
I'm building a new home and the wife is allowing me to have a man cave the dimensions of the room are 20.1 (L) x 14 (W) 8.5 (H). I am looking at getting M80s for fronts and vp180s for center. Will these speakers be over kill for the room? Or should I look at getting the m60s and vp150s?
I plan to use the room for listening to music, watching TV on a wall mounted 46" with a viewing distance of about 8'.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
The simple fact of the matter is that you are the one in control of the volume so ie you are in control of whether the room gets overpowered or not. Both the M60s and M80s COULD overpower the room with enough volume but at reasonable levels both would be fine. For the record, my room is almost the exact size as the one you've indicated, in fact a touch smaller and I'm using M80s with a VP150...at -5 on my Denon(loud!) it starts to overpower my room(ears too). Furniture, rugs and other sound absorbing thingees (or lack of) in your room have a great effect on the acoustics as well. For instance, if you have bare walls, hardwood floors(no rug) and little furniture, you'll easily overpower the room even at moderately higher volume.
Thanks Adrian; looks like M80s and Vp180 for me!!
Paul
I have a room that's about 14 foot square and I plan to put M80 and VP180 with a projector in it one of these days. I know it's overkill for that room, but hey I don't have to turn it up and I'm sure it'll sound good.
Welcome, Paul! Did you know there's a country with the same name as your last name!??!
Yours was essentially the first question I posted eons ago, and I'm happy to say that Axioms play nice in smaller rooms and at lower volumes as well!
My room is 20x11x8 ft and I sit also about 8 ft from the TV. I have M80s and a VP180 and couldn't be happier. Sure, if I crank up the volume it's too loud but I don't have to listen to the max volume. If one day I'll have a bigger room I'll have no problem as well. Whatever you do, if you have the space, I would definitely recommend getting the VP180 over the VP150. Also, are you planning on getting a sub right away? If not, I would go with the M80s as we will be amazed with the amount of bass they have. Just as an example, yesterday, the wife was not home, so I watched Percy Jackson and the lightning thief. For once, I was able to watch a movie at higher volumes (-8db on my receiver) and let me tell you, even the couch was vibrating during the scene with the multi headed dragon.
Yes. If the speakers physically does not fit into the room then it is too big for the room.... It would also help if you can fit in the room with the speaker.
Hi Paul, my room is 13.5 x 21 x 8-12 (vaulted) and use 3 M80s up front and wouldn’t switch for anything. So I think M80s/VP180 will be perfect for you.
Side note: IMO speakers can be to big for a room. While the volume can be turned down there are times where room acoustics (smaller room) dictates that a smaller speaker paired with a subwoofer may sound better. The deeper the mains, or other speakers, go the harder it becomes to find placement that balances between bass and imaging.
Hi PC,
You'll be fine with the M80s in a room that size, because it's big enough to manoevre the M80s into an ideal location for a fine soundstage and smooth deep bass.
If your room were 8 x 10, say, or a den size, then I'd suggest a pair of bookshelf speakers--M3s or M22s--with a sub as an option, because it's much easier to ideally place a pair of compact speakers for a great soundstage in a small room than it is to locate a big pair of floorstanders with limited options in terms of movement.
Regards,
Alan
Paul,
I have a similar story and slightly larger room (19 x 25). I'm very happy with the M80's. Trying to figure out how to get to a VP180 for a center (weight issues with the shelf it sits on and I blew the budget on some party in September
)
Like others have said, you are in control of the volume.
Scott
Scott the weight of the VP180 sitting on our glass shelf under the TV was my concern also so I cut three 4x4"s, painted them flat black, measured for a snug fit between the glass shelf and the floor of the TV cabinet and then placed them to evenly distribute the weight ... they blend perfectly with the blackened interior of the TV cabinet, ezpz!
You can just barely see one of the 4x4's under the woofer and the tweeter.
Wow!! thanks guys for all the replys and good advice!! Especially to Alan never thought I would get a reply from him.
Thank you very much
Paul
my living room has about the same dimensions. I have m80's with a vp150. Absolutely NOT overkill one tiny bit. Sounds perfect.
You'll love the speakers in that sized room. I went from a large open area to a small (15' x 9') dedicated theater and thought that my M60/VP150/QS8 combination was going to be "too big", but I really love the performance in the smaller area.
He Nick, just to let you know, I'm considering adding 2 walls and enclosing The Plex. After the basement flooded, I started rethinking things when putting down the Dricor flooring. I think the room would end up beeing 15 x 16 x 9 compared to the 30 x 31 x 9 currently. The bass should be soooooo intense then.
The pool table was moved over by the walk out doors. I want to think of a way to have a HUGE opening so people can see the screen through the back wall during sporting events, etc. , but closed when I want a dark isolated movie. Still trying to figure that out..
Randy have you already considered moving partition walls similar to these:
http://www.paretimanovrabili.com/en/pareti_residenziali.phpNot recommending this company just an example.
I had a link to some really nice ones but can’t find it right now. Some slid straight out and could be automated while others folded like in the link above. Not sure where the entrance to the Porter Plex is but if its on the gaming room side you could get some serious WOW factor by pushing a button and having the partitions slide open revealing the theater.
Curtains are another option. Maybe cheaper maybe not. I know you’ve worked with Dazian before which is where I got my curtains based on your recommending them. They were great to work with and way cheaper than any local custom manufacture. Mine let no light through the material but you might have to worry about light getting around the top, bottom and sides. I find it’s not a problem because of the way I had mine cut and if yours are going in the back of the room a small amount of light leakage probably wouldn’t be noticeable with a big screen like yours reflecting all that projector light back into the room.
Curtains however won’t do much to dampen noise coming in from the gaming area like a solid partition would. But they are easy to navigate through when closed. (well when you remember were the wall isn’t, ask Sean). They can also be easily automated for that WOW factor.
Just a couple thoughts.
Dean
I'd love to have a moving partition wall in my basement to section off the kitchen area when I want to use the theater and control the acoustics a bit more. I kind of like how
this looks. Let me know if you find the link(s) for the one(s) you're thinking of.
thanks guys, interesting websites. Dean, looks like your link only has dealers on the other side of the globe.
I am looking for an option to isolate the room and add seperate french doors or something to enter. The opening I was thinking about would be more like a large window built within the back wall that would slide up/down.
I will try to create some better to scale drawings of the room over the next week or so and start a new thread. Below is a crude drawing, but I want to put a wall just inside the window closest to the screen, come across passed my surrounds, then have another wall the kinda angles over to include my AV rack.
I will have to do some rewiring of my back surrounds, and possibly side surrounds. I also might put some extra speakers on the other side of the back wall above the pool table, which now sits parrellel to the walk out door.
Adrian; what model number is your Denon? looking at picking up the 991 when it becomes available.
Yeah that site wasn’t meant as a recommendation just to clarify what I was talking about.
If you plan on adding doors and a window it sounds like your best bet is just to frame a couple walls to enclose the theater.
If so are you looking to DIY the whole project including the door and window or are you looking to use a pre-framed door and “window?”
I will most likely frame my own walls as I did parts of the rest of the basement many years ago. I will put french doors on the side facing the bar. Maybe the rear opening could have a small platform to place drinks for those onlookers watching the football game and playing a game of pool. Then I could have a slide down contraption to close it off during movies.