Advice on bedroom setup. Mostly Movies/TV

[musicismypill]

Hi there,

This will be my first post on the forum. I've been a long time lurker/browser but I'm keen to get into diy home audio with this project.

I've done a bit of diy car audio and have also made my own cMoy headphone amp. Now it's time to do some speaker projects.

I would like to build a sound system for my small bedroom. My girlfriend and I watch a lot of TV/Movies in the evenings and I can't stand the LCD tv speakers anymore. Although I have a decent HT setup with Q Acoustics floorstanders in the lounge - we never watch anything out there, so I'd like to sell that gear off and invest in a new bedroom system.

The kind of stuff we are watching is pretty dialogue heavy so I need to design the speakers with that in mind. Music/soundtracks should also sound great but emphasis is on dialogue. Smooth and free of sibilance is my preference. It doesn't need to get super loud either.

For WAF and practical reasons my speaker build should really be a soundbar horizontal style or two slim towers on either side of the screen. Speaker drivers would be approximately 1100mm/43" apart and listening position is about 1800mm/71" from TV.


Gear I Have

• Marantz SR7300 OSE (110w x 6 into 8ohms)
• Sony SA-WM500 subwoofer (150w built in amp)
• 40" Samsung LCD may swap with my 50" but could look ridiculous
• Apple TV 4 (Main source)

Questions

1. Should I go for a 3.1 setup or would a centre channel be unnecessary due to distances involved?
2. Is there any issue with a ported or t-line design being flipped horizontally if using full range drivers?
3. Will my Marantz Amp cause any damage to a typical FR driver even if I'm sensible with volume control?
4. Any particular designs or other recommendations?
5. Will adding a miniDSP into the mix improve things substantially?

Drivers I'm considering and price incl shipping for me. (per pair)

• HiVi B3S - $36 USD
• Tymphany TC9FD18-08 - $56 USD
• Tectonic Elements TEVM65C20F-8 - $60 USD
• FaitalPro 4FE35 - $80 US
• Mark Audio - CHR-70 or CHP-70 - $92 USD
• Mark Audio Alpair 6P - $128 USD

Any guidance or recommendations on the above would be greatly appreciated. I've attached a couple of pics for reference too.

Thank you

 

[rayma]

Should I go for a 3.1 setup or would a centre channel be unnecessary due to distances involved?

When so far away compared to the separation, just use 2 speaker stereo.

 

[perceval]

1- indeed, no need for a centre channel here... I was going to suggest the TABAQ for your setup, as they are slim towers and produce nice bass, but how are you owing to open that door? Move the speaker around each time?

2- answered by 1.

3- no problem

4- I really love my TABAQ for small but impressive performance. I would also add the P830986 driver as suggestion.

5- don't think you would need a minidsp in this situation.

Here's one pic from the TABAQ thread that looks nice,

 

[musicismypill]

Thanks for the replies.

Only really need to access one cupboard door. If I go with a larger TV and bigger speakers I had thought of building a new stand with wheels underneath. Then I can just roll it forward a tad to get in and out of the cupboard.

It's not a very audio friendly room unfortunately.

TABAQ looks good. I've looked into the Pensil for MA drivers too. Francesco Campedelli T-Line with the B3S drivers looked interesting also.

Cheers,

 

[planet10]

The MA A6p are the best of the drivers you have listed (of the 4/6 listed that i have heard). Perhaps in Frugel-Horn Lite. A superb driver limited by bass extention and how loud you can play -- from what you have said no-cares. Certainly go low enuff to meet the sub.

They will fit into as small as a 2.5 litre box -- what i am using in my portable briefcase system.

dave

 

[Jerms]

Maybe a touch of overkill here.... But do something similar?
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full...dan-jxr6hd-tang-band-w5-1138sf-build-log.html

J.

 

[giantstairs]

How about a 3 element matrix? It looks to be a good fit for your bedroom provided you can make it small enough to fit on the stand right below the tv. Single box, good stereo sound -- what's not to like?

Not sure if it would work with your amp but others in that thread could steer you in the right direction.

 

[giantstairs]

One example from the thread

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

 

[musicismypill]

I've seen the 3 element matrix thread. I'll give that another look but I thought it might be problematic for my room being stuffed in a corner?

Dave, I can get most of the MarkAudio drivers from a local supplier. Would you still recommend the Alpair 6P in this application or do you think there's a better option in the range? Most feasible cabinet options seam to be either sealed, bass reflex or possibly the Pensil 6. Assuming I crossover the sub around 80hz is something like the pencil still worthwhile versus the other options?

I'm probably over thinking it a bit but since it's DIY I'm keen to get it right and try some different options.

Cheers,

Matthew

 

[planet10]

If you want to spend more the A7.3 has the edge (my favorite MA driver), but A6.2p is excellent. Even in the small 2.5 litre reflex it hits 80 Hz. Optimum (at least with the tuning i use) is 5 litre. The plans for the 4.7 litre milliSize is one of our free plans (althou i may not have released the specific plans, it is the same as the one for the old A6 but with no vent spacer: Frugal-phile | Box Library / Mark Audio).

There are no Pensils for the A6.2s and you don't want to put it in the Pensil for the older A6. There is a Jim Griffin ML-TL. With the sub and the mains set to small you wouldn't need the extra extention of it of the Frugel-Horn Lite anyway.

dave

 

[Jerms]

Some 2p things.... (ha, worth a lot less than it was on Wednesday last week ! )

I don't know that I'd go for a soundbar - assuming it has to sit low or under the telly. The edge of the bed/mattress is near and higher than some of the shelves. it'll muffle anything not direct line of hearing.

Is it intended that the Marantz and the sub are part of the system? If so, how tweaky is the EQ on the amp?

I think a pair of skinny towers, with the drivers high enough to be well clear of the mattress and any bedding would be a good choice. Maybe make a discreate centre channel in a similar style later if you think you really need it.

J.

 

[rif]

Does your av receiver have dolby digital or other surround decoding? If so, then the center channel speaker is the most important for dialogue.

If it doesn't, I'd suggest buying a cheap denon receiver that has it, plus audysey room correction. Cheap can mean under $250, $400 gets you a lot more. It will also let you boost the dialogue manually after room correction.

I know I'll probably get slammed for that suggestion, but i really like audysey room correction for HT.

 

[chrisb]

rif - the SR7300 certainly has all the power and bells and whistles that this room would need, but I don't think it includes the Audyssey system, which I'd agree is at the very least, a very nice convenience.

If considering small FR drivers for some sort of sound bar for a small room I'd second the suggestion of Alpair6 - they work quite nicely in the near field, particularly when using the receiver's bass management function to high pass filter the front row at 100Hz and support with small powered woofer.

Built this 5yrs ago for a customer - the wall mounted cabinet for front row consisted of 3 "micro" size vented enclosures incorporated with storage compartments. The dual SDX7 woofers were also built for wall mounting.

 

[rif]

Here's what i did with my main system, which is in a non-rectangular shaped room. The front L/R/center and sub are full range from Blumenstein audio. I had to make a custom shelf for them to fit on the av stand. I also out some wedges underneath them so the point at the correct height while seated.

After the audysey auto room correction, i tweaked it for better dialogue.

 

[chrisb]

Clark makes very pretty bamboo boxes - the FF85WK would work very well here also

Out of curiosity, exactly what EQ "tweaks" were entailed after the initial Audyssey process, and how did you arrive at them?

 

[planet10]

front row consisted of 3 "micro" size vented enclosures

The 2.5 litre enclosure i mentioned.

dave

 

[planet10]

Clark makes very pretty bamboo boxes - the FF85WK would work very well here also

It should be noted that Clark started using the FF85wk after he heard our uFonken. In our experience it is a better driver then the FE83, especially after we have had the opportunity to EnABL and match them.

More pictures:
A6.2PeN in the 4.7 litre milliSize mMar-Ken6p

These are the rears that went with the soundbar Chris posted:

I don't have a picture of the uFonkenWK handy but it differs from the older uFonken only in the width of the vent spacer:

The upmarket uFonkenSET with FF85wKeN (in solid black walnut here/Chris' computer speakers):

dave

 

[rif]

Clark makes very pretty bamboo boxes - the FF85WK would work very well here also

Out of curiosity, exactly what EQ "tweaks" were entailed after the initial Audyssey process, and how did you arrive at them?

I dont remember, they were some menu options in the gui. Nothing fancy, just setting some on/off choices as indicted in the manual. The one i do remember was setting the level on the center speaker - i turned it up higher than the room correction wanted.

 

[chrisb]

I know that some of the newer models (such as my Onkyo TX NR818) also permits FR EQ of individual channels as well as fine tuning SPL levels. Audyssey will even alert you when it finds any of the speakers out of phase while it's polling through the channels.

 

[musicismypill]

Wow, thank you so much for the replies. Some good inspiration in this thread!

The SR7300 is a bit of an oldie, so no Audyssey and only basic tone controls really. Only crossover is a high pass / low pass for the sub. Options are : 80hz, 100hz and 120hz. Sub amp also has a crossover frequency dial on it, phase switch and level. I can set speaker distance and level on the receiver too. It lacks modern features but I find the Marantz AV gear to be more 'musical' ? I picked it up for about $100 which i thought was a steal.

Sounds like the Alpair 6.2P is the way to go for my current budget. Just need to lock in on the right enclosure design.

mMar-Ken6p might be a tad ambitious for my current skill level but looks awesome. Maybe if I went flat-pack that could work.

Dave and Chrisb - is the 2.5L enclosure the uMar-Ken6.2? I see it mentioned a lot on the forum but couldn't find the plans on the Frugal site?

Would there be any issues with taking either of those enclosures and laying them horizontal with the drivers still quite close together? In terms of watching/listening distance it's really halfway between a small living room and near-field (PC) type of distance.

Cheers,

Matthew