Home Theater Speakers for the Garage

[starggold]

My parents have gotten a hand-me-down projector from my sister, and are planning to use it for watching movies in the garage. I'm trying to figure out what kind of speakers we should use for our new home theater.
I think because the walls and ceiling are sheet rock, and floor is cement, the sound from the speakers will reverbiate too much. We don't really have much space for anything that will dampen the sound, so I'm wondering if some speakers will sound better than others and not echo as much? We could possibly put a rug in front of the speakers but that's about all we could do to help it.

 

[Pyrrho]

If there is an echo in the room when you clap your hands, you will have an echo with any speaker you select. Your choices are, to live with an echo (i.e., bad sound), change the acoustics of the space (a rug on the floor is an excellent idea, as are tapestries or paintings on the walls), or use a different space. There are no magic speakers that change the acoustics of the space you have, so if you have bad acoustics, no speaker on earth will fix the problem.

 

[starggold]

Ok. I thought there could be a difference between speakers...
I have noticed a difference between guitar amplifiers, some of them have more warmth don't seem to echo as much. So I thought the same could apply to speakers.

 

[Grador]

Ok. I thought there could be a difference between speakers...
I have noticed a difference between guitar amplifiers, some of them have more warmth don't seem to echo as much. So I thought the same could apply to speakers.

Of course there are difference between speakers, but there aren't any speakers that overcome room echos.

 

[Pyrrho]

Ok. I thought there could be a difference between speakers...
I have noticed a difference between guitar amplifiers, some of them have more warmth don't seem to echo as much. So I thought the same could apply to speakers.

Guitar ąmplifiers/speakers are designed to emphasize some frequencies and cut others, and are willfully made different from each other regarding which frequencies are boosted or cut, in order to create different sounds, and since some frequencies echo more than others in a particular space, some guitar ąmps will echo in a particular space more than others. (Not to mention the fact that some guitar ąmps willfully add an echo effect, so that they seem to echo more.) But with a home theater or with a home audio system, it should reproduce all of the frequencies, and so whichever ones echo will be reproduced. A home speaker that cut out some of the frequency spectrum that happens to echo would be a really sucky speaker.

A home theater or home audio system is supposed to reproduce all instruments, not just one guitar with a particular sound.

With your situation, you can put carpets on the walls to deaden the sound, if you want something cheap. Movie theaters often do this, as you can see for yourself if you go to several of them. Or curtains, or just about any cloth that you want. And a carpet on the floor is a really good idea.

 

[starggold]

Thanks for the explanation. I think with some guitar amps there seems to be more of a "boom" sound (like when you hear a car's bass going "thud thud thud" in the parking lot). With warmer amps there is more of a richness. I wonder if some of the loudness gets cut out so instead you are only hearing the frequencies of the notes you are playing instead of getting hit with over-amplified frequencies...
And for speakers it seems like the excess noise is what you would hear echoing off the walls. Maybe it also has something to do with the receiver?
Edit: In other words, some speakers may have excess noise, so maybe others would work better for a room that would normaly sound boomy? is basically what I was getting at.

 

[Grador]

And for speakers it seems like the excess noise is what you would hear echoing off the walls. Maybe has something to do with the receiver?

...or maybe it has something to do with the walls

 

[starggold]

okay, just a shot in the dark. seems like smaller speakers would work better than larger ones for example.

 

[Grador]

okay, just a shot in the dark. seems like smaller speakers would work better than larger ones for example.

So smaller speakers, which as a general rule produce less bass would be better you think? So it seems that the bass is what is echoing?

That's weird, I've never really heard a bass echo.

 

[tmurnin]

Understand you can't put a permanent carpet on a garage floor, but ANYTHING soft will help reduce those echoes a bit. I would go to the local fabric store and see what they have cheap that you could pin up to the walls. It will probably look like hell, but will make a big difference in terms of room acoustics. Next I would go to the carpet store and see if you can't pick up a cheap 8 X 10 carpet remnant that you can unroll when you want to watch movies and roll back up when you're not using the garage (??) as a home theater. After that, I would make sure you don't spend a lot of money on components. The acoustics in that area can be improved but they will never be great, so so you'll be fighting an unwinnable battle with expensive gear. Plus, not sure where you live, but temperatures in a garage can get fairly extreme in summer/winter, which isn't great for electronics or wood that expands/contracts.

 

[GranteedEV]

For the kind of space you described, I would lean towards a narrow constant directivity speaker (AKA horn). But most inexpensive commercial horn speakers tend to sound pretty bad.

The better ones make sense though, because they minimize early reflected sound. The only echos you will hear will be late-arriving, IE contributing to spaciousness.

If you're willing to do a bit of gluing, a pair of this DIY kit:
http://www.diysoundgroup.com/waveguide-speaker-kits/fusion-series-kits/fusion12-kit.html

might just do the trick.

Aesthetically, they're damn huge. Which is why most people wouldn't be caught dead with them in a living room. But for a garage, it might be worth the judgement call.

 

[fuzz092888]

Grant, what's the difference between the fusion 12 tempest and the alpha 12 zephyr other than the woofer? It seems odd that the latter is more expensive, I'm guessing in part to the different woofer, but slightly worse FR response and is less sensitive. So why would you want the alpha for more money, if at all?

 

[GranteedEV]

The Tempest (recommended above) uses the Delta-Pro 12A and retails for 315 ea (or $630/pr).
The Zephyr uses the Definimax 4012HO and retails for $390 ea (or $780/pr). Actually its choice of woofer would be what I would go for. While it is less sensitive - consider that it has 35% more xmax, has 50% more rated power handling, and its cone breakup is narrower in Q (implying a stiffer cone). The motor also uses flux shorting, which is pretty signiicant.

The crossovers are different, but the main difference really boils down to woofer preference. I'm not sure the mylar compression driver DNA-360 is the end-all, but it's overall very well regarded.

 

[fuzz092888]

The Tempest (recommended above) uses the Delta-Pro 12A and retails for 315 ea (or $630/pr).
The Zephyr uses the Definimax 4012HO and retails for $390 ea (or $780/pr). Actually its choice of woofer would be what I would go for. While it is less sensitive - consider that it has 35% more xmax, has 50% more rated power handling, and its cone breakup is narrower in Q (implying a stiffer cone). The motor also uses flux shorting, which is pretty signiicant.

The crossovers are different, but the main difference really boils down to woofer preference. I'm not sure the mylar compression driver DNA-360 is the end-all, but it's overall very well regarded.

Thanks. One for you if you wouldn't mind. What do you think of those two kits vs the three and four pi kits (and also the B&C 250 tweeter)?

 

[tmurnin]

Why would you spend $600 on speakers that are going into a garage with a concrete floor and bare Sheetrock walls? No matter the speaker quality, that room will cancel it out.

 

[GranteedEV]

Why would you spend $600 on speakers that are going into a garage with a concrete floor and bare Sheetrock walls? No matter the speaker quality, that room will cancel it out.

No, it's not about speaker "quality" it's about speaker design. That type of speaker excels in reflective listening spaces.

 

[GranteedEV]

Thanks. One for you if you wouldn't mind. What do you think of those two kits vs the three and four pi kits (and also the B&C 250 tweeter)?

They apparently measure flatter, but I don't know much more beyond that. The Pi waveguide is a bit deeper whereas the SEOS waveguide is a bit smoother, and holds pattern lower... I don't know if either of those mean anything. The DNA 360 is a slightly modified (better measuring) clone of the B&C 250, so they're virtually the same driver (the former being much cheaper and having more consistent build quality, though)

 

[shadyJ]

With the Pi Four kit, you can get the JBL 2226 woofer, which is supposed to be one of the best large mid woofers out there. I am contemplating one of these kits myself, and that has me leaning towards Pi. The fact that the crossover comes completed helps as well, my soldering skills are pretty poor. Here is a guy who intends to run tests on all the major horns, including the Pi H290c and the SEOS horns. Hopefully those tests will be completed by the time I make my decision.

 

[shadyJ]

No, it's not about speaker "quality" it's about speaker design. That type of speaker excels in reflective listening spaces.

Still, he really should put some treatments in a garage space, if he hasn't yet. A few cheap, simple things can help big time. A shag rug, some curtains, and other acoustically damping decor. Most garages are awful for acoustics, just nightmares.