Ideal room size for Summit home theater setup?

I am planning a dedicated home theater as an addition to my house. My only limit (within reason) is a maximum ceiling height of 300 cm (118 inches). My setup is Summit, Theater, and two Descents in front, Scripts in back (will be upgraded with Vantage once the dedicated room is built). They are run by EAD Powermaster 2000 (5x400w), Theta Casanova and Theta Carmen DVD drive. My goal is to get the best possible out of this system in the new room. I don't know much about room acoustics so all help I can get is highly appreciated.

Hello Tommy.
Let’s make a few assumptions first:
• Let’s say that you want to have two rows of seats (one is too few as you will have many visitors; three may be too many as the room would be too long)
• You’ll be using front projection, which imo is the way to go (and try to get an electric screen so you can roll it out of the way for audio, revealing acoustic treatments on the front wall)

So you’ll need to calculate room length with that in mind. You’d need approximately 4 to 5 meters from screen to the first row. Add another 1.5 meters for the second row, and another 1 to 1.5 meters from the back of the second row to the rear wall. You’ll be starting with 7+ meters length, more or less.

Then use one of the room calculators to find a good LxWxH ratio. You can download it at these sites:
http://www.realtraps.com/modecalc.htm
http://www.ultimateavmag.com/news/10388/index.html

For acoustics, there is much to read, including many threads here. For starters:
http://www.ecoustics.com/Home/Accessories/Acoustic_Room_Treatments/Acoustic_Room_Treatment_Articles/

Do plan on wire management, especially with Martin Logans and a front projector (if you go that route). Do give a lot of thought to where you will locate the equipment.

Good luck!

See if you can bridge your EAD to 3ch. Your signal loss from high voltage speaker cables is going to be more significant over long lengths (to get to the rears) than with lower voltage interconnects. That and long interconnects are MUCH cheaper than long speaker cables! With long interconnects, you can locate an amp near your rear channels and run short 6' cables to your speakers.

Anyone remember the link to the guy who was re-bracing his joists and loading sonically deadening material into his walls? Probably something you might want to consider as he spent alot of money on a dedicated room and then it didn't sound good.

Here's some other worthwhile links:
• http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/a.htm
• http://www.rivesaudio.com/resources/listening_room/frame.html

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. I have a lot of reading to do based on your useful links. I have changed the room dims acc to jfm's sdvice, it will be 300 cm celing height with 480 cm witdh and 700 cm lenght (and my wife will get the spare bedroom she's been praying for). I love this forum, please keep good advice coming!

Lot to think about Tommy. Another acoustics suggestion "Master Handbook of Acoustics" F. Alton Everest - 39.95U.S. Good chapter on room acoustics as well as incredible levels of information that apply to sound reproduction.

You are very close to so called golden ratio (phi) which would be 3m,5m,8m with your dimensions. Cardas are big proponents of this.

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=26&pagestring=Room+Setup

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=faqs&content_id=7&pagestring=Listening+Room+Design

Nothing is perfect but it could be a good starting point in reducing room nodes. Could you still fit the spare room?

Kevin

Thanks Kevin,

Adjusting the drawings with my wife tonight with 3x5x8 m dims. Do not worry, she will still get the spare room

Tommy

Tommy said:

Thanks Kevin,

Adjusting the drawings with my wife tonight with 3x5x8 m dims. Do not worry, she will still get the spare room

Tommy

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Remember to plan for a place to put the gear. If you have the option, create a seperate equipment room adjacent to the HT. Ensure you have compelte access to the rear of the gear.
One approach is to put a 'closet' in the new spare room that give access to the 'rear' of the equipment rack.

Make sure you duct that 'closet' for air exhaust. One trick is to plumb the new room with three or four air returns, one of which is the equipment closet, another is the hush box from the projector and the other two the main room.

HT design is fun, but there are so many little details to think of.


You might want to give this forum a read as well: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=3