Define - Small Room - Medium Room - Large Room

[techguy]

So im checking out those Yamaha speakers that are 600 bucks from Audioholics - Quoted "Very Cool" it says that they are good for small to medium size rooms...

What would be a small to medium size room. Remember I live in NYC so that Small room to you may be a large room to me.

on AVG our apartment sqft is around 800-1100 and living room is around 20x15. What do you consider large medium or small?

 

[Exit]

Room Size Estimate

Room size is usually a factor in figuring out the size of a subwoofer, or for low bass from main speakers. Usually room size is figured in volume (cubic feet). It takes into account all the space that the room opens into without closeable doors, such as kitchens, hallways, etc. I think the small room would be a small bedroom in a ranch house, possibly 10’ x 12’ x 8’ or 960 cu ft. An average medium size living room may be about the size of your room 20’ x 15’ x 8’ or 2400 cu ft. A large room is anything bigger. My HT room is an open floor-plan ranch house with 8500 cu. ft. Others on the site may have different definitions of room sizes. Probably a good source for room size definitions would be SVS, who sells subwoofers and speakers. You could ask them in an e-mail. My guess is that the speakers you are looking at will probably fill your room with enough sound at normal listening levels 65-95 dB. If you listen louder than that such as 110 dB, which you probably won’t in an apartment building, then you might want to consider a speaker rated for a medium to large room. You can order a sound pressure level (dB) meter (analog is best) from Radio Shack for about $40 which is useful for future audio system calibration purposes. You could then measure the dB rating (C scale) for your television at normal listening level to see what the dB ratings are about.

 

[fmw]

You'll never find agreement on that. By my definition a small room is a room in a home. Medium would be a hotel meeting room. Large would be an auditorium.

 

[Soundman]

You'll never find agreement on that. By my definition a small room is a room in a home. Medium would be a hotel meeting room. Large would be an auditorium.

Uhhhh, technically, that is probably true. However, let's keep in mind, that the speakers he is refering too are 'home theatre" speakers. They were not intended to be used in a hotel meeting room or a large auditorium. Let's use some common senese when responding. In response to the poster, I would say, 3,000 cu ft. or less. I probably wouldn't use them in a room much bigger then that.

 

[MDS]

By the definitions in the manual for my SVS SB12-Plus sub my 16 x 18 x 9 room just barely crosses over from medium to large.

 

[fmw]

Uhhhh, technically, that is probably true. However, let's keep in mind, that the speakers he is refering too are 'home theatre" speakers. They were not intended to be used in a hotel meeting room or a large auditorium. Let's use some common senese when responding. In response to the poster, I would say, 3,000 cu ft. or less. I probably wouldn't use them in a room much bigger then that.

I think it is very common sensical. Despite what people write and say, I don't believe typical rooms in homes offer any difference at all in terms of subwoofer or speaker choices. A few homes have rooms as large as a hotel meeting room but not many. For the rest of us, it doesn't make a bit of difference. Often marketing and the desire of industry members to sell more products get in the way of common sense. (Do we really need rear surrounds, for instance.) That doesn't even mention the high end audiophile community whose sometimes wacky opinions tend to permeate reality throughout the industry. Perhaps you just didn't understand my point so I hope this clarifies it.

Room size isn't the issue in the vast majority of American homes.

 

[Exit]

Room size does play a part in speaker selection or else the Audioholics and other websites would not mention it. I have speakers that sounded good in a medium size room and I have them in a very large room now (I moved). They don’t produce enough bass to notice. I bought a big subwoofer to compensate. Subwoofer selection depends on room size, subwoofer position, what you want for bass extension and the sound pressure level (SPL) you want at the seating positions. A good subwoofer company will help you in determining what subwoofer models are appropriate for your room and your bass preferences. In the same vein, a good speaker seller will advise what size speakers are appropriate for given room sizes. You will be sorely disappointed if you try to fill a large room with micro-speakers or a small room with speakers having 15” woofers.