Very BIG Room? Music and Home Theatre Challenge

These would work...you can help him rebuild them!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7356945558

Dave

I too can understand your desire to consider the Magnepans as they are a wonderfully musical and awesome value speaker. I too owned the 3.3/3.5's for 6 years and it was mighty tough to let go of their strengths. They are perfectly suited for music-based systems in moderately sized rooms, but ultimately their lack of dynamics makes them not an ideal choice for HT setups in any sized rooms.....forget about it in the room you describe. The series 20 will not be any different here.

I will comment however that all planars are not created equal and perhaps the SoundLabs might be a viable choice if you are seeking the strengths of such a speaker. There is a new model, nearly 9' tall, that is supposedly even more efficient than the latest versions of the other SL models. As an owner of the A1s, there is not an issue of covering the low end at all. In an HT based system, you will have any number of subwoofers so no speakers need to cover the bottom octave anyway but the SL's cover this area like the Magnepans can not match at all.

Speaker issues aside, I recall that A'gon member Mike Lavigne did quite a writeup on the efforts to build a big room, electrical circuits, acoustical treatments, etc. I would think he could steer you in the right direction in many key areas.

I say look at some older klipsch Heritage speakers like the Lascalas or cornwalls, or Chorus. These are all around 100db efficient and work great in a big room. I have the Klipsch Epics Cf3's. They are 100 dB efficient and they can crank with uncompressed sound that can easily fill a large room. I can only imagine a room with those all around, it would be awesome. Their size and looks are perfect for a big space like that as well. Or look for some speakers that are used in a movie theater. I also vote for a front projection system of some kind. Mine is a 90" diagonal but will soon go up to a 106" when I get my new projector.
That room will be alot of fun to create. Best of Luck for your friend.

any comments on Wilsons for BIG rooms?

...thinking Watt Puppies, not Max, or WHAMM or Alexandria or whatever.....

and appreciate all the cautions about Maggies in a big room.

However, would those concerns be mitigated somewhat by sitting closer to the speakers? Or would the sound still be swallowed up?

Thanks for suggestions so far.

One option to consider is a line source speaker which has less db drop per distance than a point source speaker. I have seen and heard the Wisdom Audio million dollar home theater set up in a large venue with the sound radiating clearly throughout the exhibition hall of the Reno Home and Garden show. Very impressive! I ended up getting the Adrenaline Rush speaker system because of the impression it made on me. You might not want to spend a million dollars but I am sure that there is something about the line source phenomenon that will impress you.