What to do with a 38' x 17' room?

JoeLansing

I picked up 4 monitor 40's to start with. I might try just putting them in the corners and see how it sounds. I plan on adding a BIC F12 next. I've also got a pair of huge old school 180W Kenwood floor standing speakers. This is my basement man cave. No theater yet so music and computer only right now. I'm using an Onkyo HT-520 6.1 800W reciever. If I get a projector I'll need to get an Onkyo RC-360 or something with HDMI. Will 4 monitor 40's and a 12" sub fill my room with sound? I might run it all channels stereo because most of what I listen to is the radio and MP3's. The monitor 40's for $130/pr and free shipping at Newegg were just too hard to pass up.:)
- Joe

thsmith

It will, may not be good sound though! In particular mp3s sound terrible unless played with ear buds and even then I think they sound edgy. You will probably bottom the sub out trying. A room that size would benefit from 1.2tl SDAs and some strong amps.

Good luck and welcome to club Polk.

Have you tried it to see how it sounds to you?

JoeLansing

thsmith wrote: »

It will, may not be good sound though! In particular mp3s sound terrible unless played with ear buds and even then I think they sound edgy. You will probably bottom the sub out trying. A room that size would benefit from 1.2tl SDAs and some strong amps.
Good luck and welcome to club Polk.
Have you tried it to see how it sounds to you?

I won't have my first pair of 40's until tomorrow. The 2nd pair should arrive Thursday or Friday. My hearing isn't that great (too much gunfire with no hearing protection when young). I'm using my huge old Yamaha towers on each side behind me for computer speakers now..:) The reciever I have right now is an HT-R520. The manual says Power Output All Channels: (8 Ohm 130W 20-20k .08 THD FTC) Then a bunch of stuff about Front x 2 260W 3 Ohm and stuff like that. It's a beasty reciever. If Newegg keeps clearing out these old "junky" Monitor Series to make room for the new TSi ones maybe I need to buy more? I'm not trying to do a home theater sound stage yet, just fill the room with good stereo.

Recently I put an Energy Take 5 Pack in my 14' x 15' living room with my old Onkyo 230W sub and it's decent. That room I had to keep the speakers small to please the wife. I figgered in my dungeon here I'll hang Monitor 40's all over instead of 3" woofer mini cubes. Is that a poor idea? It makes sense to me if I drink enough..:)
- Joe

tpb68polk

drink enough and it all makes sense. the M40's are a descent speaker. Just manage the bass going to them or they will distort. If your old yamaha towers still sound ok use them as the L/R main speakers. Use the 2 M40's as L/R surround, and 1 for Center, and 1 for Rear surround. Even if your not doing video yet, this will utilize all 6 channels of the receiver and should sound good in "all channel stereo". Dont mount speakers in the corners unless its the only option. Bass resonates in corners and that will muddy up the mids and highs.

JoeLansing

tpb68polk wrote: »

drink enough and it all makes sense. the M40's are a descent speaker. Just manage the bass going to them or they will distort. If your old yamaha towers still sound ok use them as the L/R main speakers. Use the 2 M40's as L/R surround, and 1 for Center, and 1 for Rear surround. Even if your not doing video yet, this will utilize all 6 channels of the receiver and should sound good in "all channel stereo". Dont mount speakers in the corners unless its the only option. Bass resonates in corners and that will muddy up the mids and highs.

My room is long. One end is sitting room. The middle is a bar. The other end is a pool table. I'm not sure a normal home theater setup applys. There is no TV or projector. That's why I'm thinking of doing just "all channels stereo" in my reciever options and hoping it sounds good for everyone. If the old Yamahas won't drowned out the Polks I guess I can put them at one end, then 2 40's in the middle, and 2 40's at the other end. Thanks for the info about the bass in corners. I'll keep my ears watching for that. I'm going to try just one sub in the middle to start out. But I've got acoustic tile 7' ceiling and carpeted floors. It's a very dead/soft room for sound.
- Joe

skrol

I have a similar size listening area and find that it really warrants a larger speaker. I have tried Monitor 5A, 5B, S8 and Vienna Acoustic Hayden Grands for bookshelf speakers and find that they really don't sound full unless you crank it and then it is not pleasant for conversations. My RTA11TL towers seem to fill the area effortlessly with full sound even at low levels.

I am sure that there may be bookshelf speakers out there that will do this with the proper amplification but my budget hasn't allowed me to explore much.

steveinaz

My listening area is close to yours at 18ft w x 36ft d x 8-12ft vaulted ceiling. My primary listening area is in the first 1/3 of the room. I'm not familiar with that sub, other than the name--but if it's tuned more for music (not run HOT), I think you'll be fine for output. My SVS PB12-NSD easily provides the output/bass needed for my system, but it's run conservatively because I'm a picky SOB with my music. My system is 2-channel/HT.