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HTR room open at back okay? (1 Viewer)

G_Courtney_A_A

Auditioning
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
11
I'm building a house in which the space I intend to use for my HTR will be enclosed on three sides but open at the back. Across the front it'll be about 15' and about 18' down the sides to the back of the rear row of seats where the side walls end and the room opens up.

This room cannot be enclosed due to functional requirements.

What I'm wondering about is how this will affect the acoustics and what I can do to counteract it. Also, I'm not sure where to mount the rear channels because the back wall is about 18' behind the rear row of seating.
 

Brian Osborne

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Messages
215
18' is a long ways back for rear speakers. Have you looked into in-ceiling speakers?
I wouldn't worry too much about acoustics for your room, you have to play with the cards you are dealt. With proper set up and adequate speakers and Amp, you will have no trouble filling the room with good sound. You may have to spend a bit more on a sub if you like the bass. that will be a big room to fill for most subs.
As far as what you can do to help your acoustics, there are a few things.
1. create rear corners.. if the room is going to be multi function, can you build a 2 foot wall coming out from the side walls on each side? or half wall? short of that, place a large piece of furniture there such as a China Cabinet or bookshelf. Something to create some rear reflections
2. Keep the hard furniture out of the HT area. Placing a bookshelf next to your sub, or a coffee table in front of your floor speakers can be detrimental to the sound.
3. Narrow the listening area. Don't try to please everyone. Set your sound up for one particular area in your room. Place other seating as close to this point as you can.
4. Add bass shakers to the seating. Doing this will allow everyone watching a movie to really be involved, w/o having the bass at a chest pounding level for everyone else.
I'm sure there are lots of other ideas out there. Happy HT to you, good luck.
 

G_Courtney_A_A

Auditioning
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
11
That's great info, thanks Brian.

The only furniture I'll have in the room is seating, so I should be okay that way. I'll try to incorporate some sort of wall at the back, but I doubt I can...

As for filling the room with bass, if my plans carry through, I'll have two or four powered 15" Adire Brahmas. I've never actually heard them before so by some accounts, 4 might be over-kill. But then again, that is the whole purpose isn't it?

As for the rest of the components, I'm not too sure yet. I'll probably make all my own speakers/x-overs/boxes and stick with Yamaha electronics as much as I can. I've had incredible luck and performance from all my Yamaha gear over the years.

Regarding back speakers, I was thinking I could design a speaker that I could bolt to the ceiling that would be aimed appropriately. I'll have to do some more research on the distance/angles though. Any input there?

I always thought those bass shakers were a joke, but I've heard a lot of people talking about them here. After doing some research I think I'll go with one Buttshaker for each of my two couches. I'll probably mount them right to the frame of the couches and cut holes in the sub-floors for clearance if necessary.
 

Jay Mitchosky

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 6, 1998
Messages
3,729

I had an open room design in my last house and there's no getting around the compromise involved. I never installed rear channels because it was simply not possible. 18' is a long distance for them, probably more then could be accomodated by channel level and delay adjustments. And regardless the difference in proximity to the other channels would yield differences in sound pressure. You might be better off either hanging the rears from the ceiling at a more appropriate distance behind you (given this flexibility you can maintain equidistance compared to your side surrounds) or consider in-ceiling speakers.

The open quality of your room will also make it difficult to maintain low frequencies so multiple subs in strategic locations will be much better then a single unit.
 

mylan

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
1,741
I have an open backed room as well but there is a clear definition of the home theater "proper" room. It opens up at an angle to a wet bar and into a pool room. I just hung a Def Tech bi-polar surround speaker on the walls above and slightly behind the seating position. I'm sure this is not optimum but I do get surround sound at my listening position. You might also get two pairs of surrounds and mount them at a mid-point of the theater and slightly behind the last seat. I've seen this done here in pictures of others rooms.
 

G_Courtney_A_A

Auditioning
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
11
Great input guys.

What I've decided to do is put wide french doors on the side of the room that will provide the kind of openness to the rest of the basement I am striving to achieve when the doors are open. I can open them during a football game when my buddies are over and close them during a serious movie session.

I'm thinking I'll need to use curtains over top of the doors when they're closed to mitigate some of the harshness they'll create in my audio, but it's not a big deal, I'll match the other side of the room.

The more I think aboout this project, the more I really want to make sure this room is an oasis, and not a half assed attempt at my first real HTR.

Cheers
 

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