Powering speakers in large area

[Michael Valade]

I am moving my stereo equipment to a space that is fairly large, roughly 2000 sqft with high ceilings. We are using it for sound with a 243” screen. I have a Yamaha rd-v563 powering a set of infinity reference 6 speakers, which I believe are 6 ohm and a premier acoustics center. The lows will be handled by an elemental design 12” sub. Found a deal on a carver Tfm-25 amp and thought it might help power the fronts. Any opinions? Thanks

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

your first problem is you AVR is lacking pre-outs (except sub) so you can't use an external amp with it.

 

[mtrycrafts]

And, that is a huge space. You sure it is 2,000 sq ft? Add ceiling height at least 8 ft, that is 16k sq ft and 20k with 10ft ceiling.
Is this a residential place or commercial?
If residential, are you including open spaces or one room?
How many seats? A drawing available to be posted?

You would need good acoustic treatment to prevent an echo that may be an issue. Good punch from subs would require at least 4 great subs.
Speakers that can handle lots of power perhaps. Amps to handle speakers.
How many speakers? 5.1 setup? 7.1.4?
Budget?

 

[lovinthehd]

Yow a 20' screen! "Fairly large" room?! That's larger than many houses. As was said your avr doesn't have pre-outs for an external amp but some extra power in a room that large would probably be a good idea....

 

[Michael Valade]

Yes it’s a large space. The ceilings are more like 16 feet high. It’s a photography studio that we use for small events. I was looking at the manual for the receiver last night and didn’t see any pre outs so I figured I would ask to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Here is a picture of part of the space. If I found a receiver with outs would that amp help the cause? Currently it will be a 5.1 system.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes an avr with pre-outs (for all channels) would allow the use of an external amp like that old Carver (I have Carvers that are slightly older, and they need work, so keep that in mind....a new Crown XLS is another way to go for not too much $).

PS That sub is probably going to need supplemented in a 32000 cuft volume....

 

[Michael Valade]

So when looking at specs look for something that has preouts, like preout = 7.3 or something similar?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

To be honest. What you need to do is sell all of your speakers or use them in much smaller space.
For your warehouse/studio to get good sound you need to do two things:
a) Start from scratch
b) Go with ALL Pro audio speakers (or near pro)
c) get new mid-range AVR with pre-outs would be the economical choice ('stead of dedicated surround pre-amp)

You should look for speakers capable of high output levels and high efficiency like most PA speakers do.
Don't know if you have the budget for it, but I'd recommend looking at JTR speakers offerings.
http://jtrspeakers.com/home-audio.html

Here's My fav JTR demo video (not meant to help you get the audio quality, but their output capability)

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

So when looking at specs look for something that has preouts, like preout = 7.3 or something similar?

AVR is the easy part here. This one would do nicely:
https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-X3300W-Channel-Receiver-Bluetooth/dp/B01HL8KYAY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1519493087&sr=1-1&keywords=AVRX3300

Above mentioned, Crown XLS 1501 or higher power models is a great choice

 

[Michael Valade]

I wish we had the budget for that for sure. My main goal was to try and utilize my current speakers and receiver that I’ve had for years but just don’t use much anymore in the space. That is one reason. I am hitting the used market. Do you think the crown amp would be better for the money than spending $150 on the carver and chancing it needing some repair?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I've seen older Crown Amps got for that money before on 2nd hand. That should not be an issue.
Please provide us with exact models of your Infiniti speakers, but honestly, I am almost 100% they would do in such huge space. They would either sound very low, distorted or you'll simply damage them by using too much power.

 

[lovinthehd]

So when looking at specs look for something that has preouts, like preout = 7.3 or something similar?

Usually listed in the input/output section of specs for an avr. They may indicate 7.2 preouts (doubt you'll find a 7.3 ).

 

[Michael Valade]

They are reference six 4 way speakers. They are 6 ohm speakers. Here is a picture . And love inthehd you are correct I typed it wrong it said 7.2 I. The description.

 

[lovinthehd]

I wish we had the budget for that for sure. My main goal was to try and utilize my current speakers and receiver that I’ve had for years but just don’t use much anymore in the space. That is one reason. I am hitting the used market. Do you think the crown amp would be better for the money than spending $150 on the carver and chancing it needing some repair?

Carver repair can get pretty pricey....Carver indicated about $300 per when I inquired a while for a rework of my amps (which I haven't done yet, someday I will drive up there to drop them off). You could possibly not need to deal with any maintenance for a while, or it could already be in need....just a chance you take with stuff that old.

I own four of the Crown XLS amps (1500s) and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Good luck on your hunt.

 

[Michael Valade]

Carver repair can get pretty pricey....Carver indicated about $300 per when I inquired a while for a rework of my amps (which I haven't done yet, someday I will drive up there to drop them off). You could possibly not need to deal with any maintenance for a while, or it could already be in need....just a chance you take with stuff that old.

I own four of the Crown XLS amps (1500s) and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Good luck on your hunt.

Thank you for your input. It was very helpful.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

what is the distance between chairs (where your head would be) to the screen? 35-40ft?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Your speakers specs here:
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/infinity/reference-six.shtml
I threw the numbers here:
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html
Assuming 35ft distance and 200W RMS amp into 6ohm (not that hard to find)
Dolby labs recommend speakers to be able to play at least 75db with 20dB SPL peaks.
With a pair of Inifiny Sixes, you'll get about 98.5dB SPL at the listening position.
Keep in mind it's not a bad number, but I think your speakers are not made to play that loud continuously, you'll likely damage them permanently, which would be a shame, they still have value in them.

 

[Michael Valade]

Your speakers specs here:
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/infinity/reference-six.shtml
I threw the numbers here:
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html
Assuming 35ft distance and 200W RMS amp into 6ohm (not that hard to find)
Dolby labs recommend speakers to be able to play at least 75db with 20dB SPL peaks.
With a pair of Inifiny Sixes, you'll get about 98.5dB SPL at the listening position.
Keep in mind it's not a bad number, but I think your speakers are not made to play that loud continuously, you'll likely damage them permanently, which would be a shame, they still have value in them.

That distance is a good assessment. Keep in mind though we usually watch with a group of people, sort of a movie night with people sitting everywhere. I guess the best thing is to set them up and see what happens. I couldn’t find wattage numbers on the carver amp, would it hit the numbers you are talking about? How about the crown 1000 series instead of the 1500?

 

[lovinthehd]

The Carver specs http://www.carversound.com/carver-amplifiers/tfm-25/

Crown 1000/1002 has just slightly worse signal to noise ratio spec (97 vs 103 dB) but would work fine. I'd definitely set up your system first before any changes....keep in mind you only gain 3dB spl with a doubling of power and those speakers as was noted are probably not spl monsters to begin with.

 

[Michael Valade]

Just for education purposes what would be considered something that is an “spl” monster compared to my speakers? Are we talking more of a PA style speaker with horn tweeters? Or just a different brand with a better sensitivity rating?