pj2500

New Home Theatre - What do I do?

Hello all. Having renovated my old house, I have a room, 7ft wide, 14ft long, 6ft 6 high and wonder if it would make a suitable home theatre for myself and the wife. It would mean I wouldnt have to suffer the television soap programmes.....but I think the room might be too small.

I have a sort of system at the moment in the main room, M&K two LCR 750 THX's and a THX centre. Two M&K powered subs, and two rear K4's.

Do you think they would work ok in a room that small? Also, recabling the speakers, for 20metre run, what are your opinions on QED standard speaker wire, QED silver profile 12 wire or PREMIUM SPEAKER CABLE 2,5mm 50m 100% OFC (0.1 x 322/3.4mm) Your opinions would be greatly appreciated before I spend my hard earned dosh.. Many thanks PJ
p.s. What a stunning forum.

Robert_J

Re: New Home Theatre - What do I do?

Size - you can put a theater room in almost any sized room. I suggested to the wife that we add a 15" LCD tv, some in-wall speakers and a sub in the "potty room" of the master bath. It's only 3' wide by 6' long. She vetoed the idea saying I spent way too much time in there anyway.

I have no idea what QED speaker wire is. Is that a brand name? If so, then you are probably over paying. It has been shown time and time again in blind tests that wire is wire. The best is the one where a magazine tested some ultra expensive wire and snuck in some electrical extension cord from a local hardware store. It came in 2nd place!

-Robert

Vin_G

Re: New Home Theatre - What do I do?

PJ,

Robert is right, you can put a HT in any sized room. The good news is that the smaller the room the smaller the speakers (especially subwoofer) can be. I wouldn't worry about your speakers being too big for the room, just as long as they sound clear because you are up-close and personal with the speakers. In fact your room dimensions are pretty ideal for acoustics as it is rectangular. You don't want any two dimes ions the same. The width and height are close but at least not exact.


And as Robert said a cable is a cable. Don't waste you money in this regard. As you said you have renovated, so I am assuming this room has already been drywalled, etc.? If it has not, just get CL or CM rated 12Guage speaker wire to install in the wall (CL or CM are approved for in-wall installations). Also remember to install enough electrical circuits to the room if you haven't already done so. If your room is already finished then you can hide speaker wire under the base boards if there is enough room.

If you are concerned about speaker wire quality and how energy travels through them, then just bi-wire all of your speakers by running two wires to each speaker (assuming you have two separate inputs on the back of you speakers). The theory is that the woofer draws only lower frequencies through its dedicated wire and the same goes for the mid-tweeter.

In a room that small don't forget to control reflections by making some DIY acoustic panels on the walls and carpet on the floors.