Open floor plans and subwoofer

[chashint]

For those of us who have houses with "open" floor plans where the whole house should essentially be included in the cubic footage of the listening area; and that listening area is a multi-purpose family room where placement options for a sub are limited and the potential for sound treatments is very low...
How should we approach a sub purchase ?

[chashint]

In my case the speakers I have are already a pretty significant part of the living room decor, I really don't want to be adding more than one additional box.

The listening area is ~17d x 23w x 14h (5474 cu ft) there are adjoining rooms and more rooms thru short hallways.
Being an open floor plan the sub will be exposed to ~16500 cu ft of air.
The speaker distances to the best listening position is 13' LCR and 7' LR RR.

Current equipment is Pioneer VSX23, Klipsch RF83, RC62, RS42.
If I add a sub to my 5.0 system I want it to integrate with the other speakers and just add fullness and some additional impact to the sound but it doesn't need to blow my hair back or rattle the whole house.

I have never measured SPL so I do not know how loud we listen to movies, and while I would say we listen at a loud level I think it is safe to say that it is no where close to reference level.

I have read so much about people having real issues of integrating a sub into what seems like perfect listening rooms that it makes me very hesitant to make this investment.

If possible can anyone reassure me that plunking down $900 to $1k on a sub is sure to improve my sound quality and movie watching experience ???

[Mike_TX]

I used to have an open floor plan 3 story house in Houston.
I'm not sure of the sq ft or cubic feet, but the 2nd floor had 11 foot ceilings and the 3rd floor also had high ceilings.

In that voluminous space a subwoofer made a very noticeable improvement.
It didn't "pressurize" the listening area like you get in a car or a small room, but the sound was much improved.

I think you'll enjoy it.

Mike

[etcarroll]

I too have a "McMansion", with my listening area in the middle of 1st floor, which is wide open to rest of house.

I went from an Onkyo HTIB to a Rocket 5.0 system of RS1Ks and RSC200 up front, and then I added an SVS PB12+2. The SVS makes a huge difference, and due to WAF it's not ideally placed. Mike is right, it will never 'pressurize' an open area, but for movies, it makes a helluva diff.

You'll also want to look into some sort of sub tuning gear, I used my htpc, a ratshack meter and the freeware program REW.

The SVS is great for 'boom' in movies, just watched 'The HurtLocker', it was gut-churning. But for music, it's 'iffy'. In your case, if you can wait, a CS 18.2 might be the way to go. If you're handy, maybe one of Danny's servo subs.

[Mike_TX]

His AVR has "Pioneers exclusive MCACC room calibration", I'm not sure how that compares to Audyssey (at all or...) in the bass area.

It's a start.
I'm using Audyssey Pro kit and it really made a difference.

Mike

[etcarroll]

I have a Pio with MCACC, it's great for the 5.0, not so much for the .1.

REW found a large peak I had that I tamed with the SVS' PEQ. Made a big difference in music listening.

His AVR has "Pioneers exclusive MCACC room calibration", I'm not sure how that compares to Audyssey (at all or...) in the bass area.

It's a start.
I'm using Audyssey Pro kit and it really made a difference.

Mike

[dvenardos]

In my case the speakers I have are already a pretty significant part of the living room decor, I really don't want to be adding more than one additional box.

I will just add that I think that the form factor of the upcoming CS 10-2 is one of Craig's better ideas. Since you can use it as a lamp stand / end table it makes it much easier to get multiples in a room.

[chashint]

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply.
I will probably add a sub to my system in the not to distant future.
I would like to give one of the TCA subs a chance if they become available in the not to distant future.

What single TCA sub will be a direct competitor to the HSU VTF3-3 in sound quality ???

[dvenardos]

What single TCA sub will be a direct competitor to the HSU VTF3-3 in sound quality ???

That is pretty similar to my Outlaw LFM-1EX which is also a HSU design. Craig also has the Outlaw LFM-1EX and, of course he is biased, but it sounds like the 10.2 will be the one to compare that to.

Here are the posted specs from the prototypes.

http://www.tweakcityaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2273