Large Mancave, speaker advice needed

mu1166

I am helping a family friend work on his pole building. He decided to turn 1/3rd of it into his little mancave/party room. We are at the point of starting to put up wood panels on the inside and he has decided that he want's to prewire it for some speakers to use now or in the future. The building is decently sized (36' x 36' x 14' high ceilings). I attached a quick sketch of what he is planning. Mancave.pdf He was thinking placing 6 speakers at the locations marked with an "S". They will be around 8' off the floor.

What would be a good speaker to utilize for this setup? It will be used for general music (he want to be able to hear people talk when they are playing (he's 60), and volume for the tv during football games, etc. He does like listening to mostly rock (will most likely play his Sirius XM source through the).

I don't have much experience with this, so all recommendations would be helpful. The first idea he has was to use Bose 301's, only because that is what I use in the little sports bar I help run. They work good for low level music and for later in the night when people want it louder.

After that, what would be the best way to power them? He is looking to have the same source through all speakers. This is the part that I need the most help with. Would just a receiver work or should we look into getting something a little more robust?

Thanks

michael1947

This will require some thought. Have you installed the plywood floor with 1" of blue board foam under it then the black and white 1' square vinyl floor tiles yet?...You must do that so you're not walking on that cold hard concrete. As I remember Iowa is not quite a Southern State and it gets a little cool there from time to time. By doing this it will afford you the opportunity to run some pvc electrical conduit under the floor for all of your hi-fi needs. Just consider this like any new construction project and run the conduit and live some fish string/rope in it. As far as speakers I would keep an eye on craigs list and keep the cost down with some older stuff and see how it all works. That's a very large space and I'm inclined to look at "active" speakers and those can be picked up on craigs list as the young dj dreamers sell off their dreams. Keep us informed.:razz:

mu1166

Yes, Iowa is a pretty cool state (high of 1 today with 30 mph winds up here). The floor is stamped and stained concrete (to look like old timber flooring). The heat is provided by the new geothermal heat pump with in floor heat. The walls and ceiling have 3" of closed cell foam applied to them. This should get him to a R-22 or R-24 value for the entire place. I was in there last night, it was a balmy 69 and the heat pump had not run in 3 hours. It's sealed up pretty well.

Right now, the paneling (he is big into horses, so he is using natural wood panels for the country feel) has not been installed on the exterior walls. The divider wall has already been finished off so no running wires in that wall.

I thought about active speakers but was not sure about them. Maybe I can talk him into running conduit with pull strings for now. He was going to run speaker wire to the 6 locations and have them all terminate into the utility room.

gdb

The speakers should be closer to Earth than 8 feet ! :eek: (highs and mids, anyway)

mu1166

gdb wrote: »

The speakers should be closer to Earth than 8 feet ! :eek: (highs and mids, anyway)

Yes, I know. He wants them up higher to be out of the way on the walls. They can be pointed down some I'm sure.

steveinaz

Mancaves call for klipsch la scala! LOL

ken brydson

For not loud, background music and game soundtracks you might look into the Atrium's... You could mount them high sideways and swivel them down.

mu1166

steveinaz wrote: »

Mancaves call for klipsch la scala! LOL

Yes, that would be alright. I know that is way out of his budget. He's already going to have 50k into this room without any speakers. I don't think he'd swing for another 20 in speakers/amps, etc.

ken brydson wrote: »

For not loud, background music and game soundtracks you might look into the Atrium's... You could mount them high sideways and swivel them down.

I have never listened to the atriums. He doesn't really need all weather speakers though.

cnh

Forget about SPEAKERS, with a space like that you should be housing a collection of fine Automobiles, etc. What you have there is NOT a man cave but a Bat Cave!

cnh

jeremymarcinko

football games and low level satellite radio. Monitor series no point spending more imo.

mu1166

cnh wrote: »

Forget about SPEAKERS, with a space like that you should be housing a collection of fine Automobiles, etc. What you have there is NOT a man cave but a Bat Cave!

cnh

He's not into that type of a thing. He's a farmer who like to camp, ride horses, drink beer and listen to music. He just wants something that will fill the area with decent sound but doesn't need it like a dance club in there.

deronb1

Something efficient with large drivers that can get loud when needed? Cerwin Vega. Or, if on a tighter budget, BIC America.

mu1166

deronb1 wrote: »

Something efficient with large drivers that can get loud when needed? Cerwin Vega. Or, if on a tighter budget, BIC America.

I think there may be times where it gets turned up more than usual (When his daughters are back in town, etc). Cerwin Vega is always an option but they don't wall mount so well, plus it's easy to to find them on the used market. Need some pretty good shelves to set them on.

decal

Seeing how it doesn't seem that important to him, I think the Bose speakers will suffice.

deronb1

Gotcha...how about a decent 100wpc or more 5.1 receiver, Pio, Onk, Denon, Yammy....get five Polk Monitor 40s and a hard hitting 12' sub. Play it in "Ext Stereo" mode.

Conradicles

Check out the Dayton in wall speakers from parts express. Tremendous value.

mu1166

He is looking to spend around 2k on it. He's just worried that if he spends that it may leave him wanting more.

Inwall would sure be nice but he doesn't want to go that route. Thinking wall mount so that he could change in the future if needed.

He wants it to sound good in the sense of a non audiophile. Pleasing to listen to with a decent full range sound. Least that is how he described it.

I've debated selling him my SC-35 to use in there since I want to upgrade to the newer model anyways. I would think that should power about whatever be wants.

Conradicles

Bose 301 or 201 would be a good choice for that particular application.

michael1947

Here are some photos of some of my "mounted" stuff. My workout room has some CS2's, center channel of the Monitor series mounted up at the joint where the ceiling meets the walls with some home made brackets with about a 25 degree down angle. The larger units are under construction in my work shop and they are Monitor 70's mounted horizontally and looking down at a 10 degree angle. The M70's are housed in some home made cradles which just hold them with the assistance of gravity. They are atop of some 6' wide cupboards and at the 8' elevation with a 10' ceiling. Hope these help.

pdxfj

deronb1 wrote: »

Gotcha...how about a decent 100wpc or more 5.1 receiver, Pio, Onk, Denon, Yammy....get five Polk Monitor 40s and a hard hitting 12' sub. Play it in "Ext Stereo" mode.

This is along the same lines as what I'm thinking. If you wanted to go a step further, you could put each pair of speakers in their own "zone" and use impedance matching volume controls in each zone. Then just get a decent 2ch receiver, a distribution box and you're off and running. You could set the volume controls to one level and use the receiver to adjust overall volume levels or if you need to make one zone louder or quieter just adjust the individual volume control.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=182-318

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-552

I think Monitor 40's would work well in that room and not break the bank cost wise.

mu1166

pdxfj wrote: »

This is along the same lines as what I'm thinking. If you wanted to go a step further, you could put each pair of speakers in their own "zone" and use impedance matching volume controls in each zone. Then just get a decent 2ch receiver, a distribution box and you're off and running. You could set the volume controls to one level and use the receiver to adjust overall volume levels or if you need to make one zone louder or quieter just adjust the individual volume control.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=182-318

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-552

I think Monitor 40's would work well in that room and not break the bank cost wise.

He is actually liking the though of the zone controls for the speakers. I have never installed a junction box like that. Are they worth their weight? I think that is a viable option going that route.

pdxfj

It's very easy to hook up. The connectors inside that box come out, so just pull your wires into that box and hook them up. I just used one of those in someone's house to get their whole home audio going again. It's quite small and mounts just about anywhere.

Be sure to run 4 conductor speaker cable from the junction box to the volume controls. Will make your life much easier.

mu1166

pdxfj wrote: »

It's very easy to hook up. The connectors inside that box come out, so just pull your wires into that box and hook them up. I just used one of those in someone's house to get their whole home audio going again. It's quite small and mounts just about anywhere.

Be sure to run 4 conductor speaker cable from the junction box to the volume controls. Will make your life much easier.

I can see where the 4 conductor speaker cable would be nice, too bad I already have standard 2 wire on the way here. Good idea though. He still doesn't know for sure if he will do different zones in there or not.

halo71

Just tell him to pic up a set of these...and call it done! lol

mu1166

halo71 wrote: »

Just tell him to pic up a set of these...and call it done! lol

I don't want to be in charge of build a shelf to hold them let alone be responsible for them.

mu1166

He has now ran the speaker wires for his little mancave but decided not to do different volume control zones. I think I am still going to need an impedance matching junction box or speaker selector. What is the better route to go? Any recommendations?

He is also leaning to installing 6 Bose 301's in the room. I haven't steered him away from Bose as they may work good for this room.

He's offered to buy my SC-35 to put out there. I think this is a little overkill but I'm sure that it would work for him.

seabeerob213

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-TSi100-Black-Bookshelf-Rear-Speakers-Polk-Audio-/390539500253?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item5aedf7dadd

wall mounts built right in

pdxfj

As far as an impedance matching distribution box here's one option

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-600

Another idea that popped into my head when you asked about a selector switch.. how about one with built in volume controls? A little more money but would still give you control over each zone.. dunno why I didn't think of this earlier.. duh..

http://www.parts-express.com/cat/speaker-selector-switches/132

I would steer clear of the "Pyle" brand.. from what I have read about them the name reflects the quality of their products..

mu1166

pdxfj wrote: »

As far as an impedance matching distribution box here's one option

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-600

Another idea that popped into my head when you asked about a selector switch.. how about one with built in volume controls? A little more money but would still give you control over each zone.. dunno why I didn't think of this earlier.. duh..

http://www.parts-express.com/cat/speaker-selector-switches/132

I would steer clear of the "Pyle" brand.. from what I have read about them the name reflects the quality of their products..

I will take a look into the speaker selectors. Definitely staying away from the Pyle brand, hard to believe that they are still around.

mu1166

http://www.nilesaudio.com/product.php?prodID=SSVC-4&recordID=Speaker%20Selectors%20with%20Volume%20Controls&categoryID=Speaker%20Selectors&catcdID=7&prdcdID=FG01043

Would this work? I don't know if this is a decent brand or not.

wkjeffers

might try a multiroom type amp, I found a elan 6 channel used for $150 on Audigon.