| Looking for some Pi advice for theater ... [message #75235] |
Mon, 14 January 2013 09:11  |
AlphaG
Messages: 2
Registered: January 2013
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Esquire |
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So I did spend a fair bit of money on a theater layout and am very happy with it. The speakers are specified to be behind a screen wall. I would like to use some of my DIY skills to make the LCR speakers and to that end I have done a lot of reading, multiple forums.
I have come to the conclusion that I cannot design a speaker from the ground up myself, but fortunately the Pi's are available as established plans.
So I did some more reading, including Wayne's white paper. Seems like the optimal solution is to use cornerhorns for left and right, but I would like some opinions on whether this is possible in the space. I don't mind putting the LR speakers out in front of the screen wall if they are in the corner. To that end, I can eliminate the front pillars in the room to make a smoother wall-waveguide. In this instance, I can build a 4Pi for center channel use.
The other option is building 3 x 4pi's. Baffle mounting them could prove problematic because of the limited space behind the screen wall, and would be more complicated. And if I used them with "flanking" subs, I would have to build more subs. I already have a plan to build a large front subwoofer (and have some of the equipment for this) and have two Peerless XLS subwoofers that I planned to use in back surround pillars as "distributed" subs. If I eliminate the front pillars, I would eliminate the back pillars and perhaps mount these reinforcing distributed subs in the floor.
Finally, I do feel somewhat hesitant to deviate too much from the specified plan. Hopefully I can find an optimal setup that I'm comfortable with, and one that let's me DIY it with success.
I'm glad I found this resource. Thanks for the help!
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| Re: Looking for some Pi advice for theater ... [message #75236 is a reply to message #75235] |
Mon, 14 January 2013 12:21  |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18787
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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Looking at your floor plan, I think constant directivity cornerhorns would work fine. The things you need most are unobstructed wall space from the apex of the corner and distance between corners that allows the axes to cross in front of the listening position. Your room is close to that ideal, with the front seats being just ahead of the crossed-axes and the rear seats being just behind. That's acceptable.
What we don't want are speakers so far apart that the axes cross well behind the listeners. When they're too far apart, you lose stereo imaging and the channels sound disconnected from one another. We also need the wall expansion from the apex of the corner to be unobstructed. By this, I mean we can't have door openings or open windows within the first six feet. You can have features like bookshelves or closed windows, but we can't have openings because that breaks the expansion.
On the other hand, a pair of DI-matched two-way speakers would be fine too. But they would need flanking subs to mitigate anomalies from reflections off the nearest boundaries. You could soffit mount the speakers to prevent the reflection off the wall behind the speakers, which is usually the worst offender. But this would still leave the side walls, and you'll get a notch off them.
So I think your best option is seven π cornerhorns, second best is soffit mounted four π speakers, and next is stand-mounted four π speakers with flanking subs. Frankly, any of those systems will sound great.
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