Where can I find a VERY loud home stereo/surround sound?

Question

Where can I find a VERY loud home stereo/surround sound?

Answer 1

It doesn't matter what advice we give you. Anyone who focuses solely on sound pressure levels is never going to be satisfied. The more deaf you become, the higher the sound pressure you require.

Answer 2

If you have selected 5.1 on the movie menu options, and you have no center channel, then you will miss most dialog.

Answer 3

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RE:

Where can I find a VERY loud home stereo/surround sound?

I've been looking into getting a REALLY LOUD set up for a while now, but I'd like to be able to watch movies in full surround. I 've got an addiction for loudness I have a bad habit of blowing speakers....I've even considered just wiring up a PA system, but I think the sound quality...

Answer 4

All horn loaded speakers like klipsch will be very efficient, not needing a lot of power to be very loud, also cerwin vega makes some big speakers that are very efficient and are a little cheaper than klipsch. With speakers like these you don't necessarily need a large power amp, although some of klipsch speakers peak at 1000 watts, you would get a strong 110+ db's from some of either brands speakers.

Answer 5

If volume is your top priority, at 2000K I suggest you look into the used market. Plenty of really good gear listed on e-bay, audiogon, and a few other sites. A/V gear does not hold its value very well so 10 year old gear that was bought for a few thousand can now be purchased for a 20-30% of its original cost.

Also check out local A/V shops. They tend to take a lot of gear in on trade from their existing customers when they upgrade. I know my shop had thousands of dollars worth of used equipment in the basement we could hardly give away.

Answer 6

Klipsch speakers will play pretty loud with out much amplifier power take a look at the Klipsch Reference series for better quality ...I would also recommend Revel speakers for more volume and high quality sound...but you will also need more quality amplifier power to push them... take a look at Emotiva or NAD for more power at reasonable prices ....also some of the Polk Audio speakers will play pretty loud take a look at the RTi series....also I guess you know that as a general rule the larger the speaker the more air it can push and the more volume so choose the largest models in the line that you have room for and can afford....also its your front right and left plus subwoofer thats going to produce the volume so your surrounds don't need to be that large they just need to keep up...a good sub would be the BIC formula F -12 also the BIC formula series may be the way to go they mimic the klipsch speaker and will also play loud with not that much amplifier power but also will not be as clear as the Klipsch speakers

Answer 7

I think you'd be surprised that if you compared two systems, one of good sound quality to another that doesnt sound as good but plays loud, you'd prefer the first system. I also think you'd find there is a sound level that is satisfiying without hurting your ears.



Another important factor is how big the room is your wanting to fill, and its acoustics. Larger rooms and rooms that are acoustically damped will require a system that can produce much more sound pressure volumes to be satisfying. Which in turn means much more power hence more expensive system.



Yes it would be very hard to get a system that can play loud and sound good at a modest budget as your trying to spend. You could probably find one that will play loud but to find one that also sounds good, not likely.



You might want to consider used speakers if budget is a real issue. Although I am not a big fan of these speakers but speakers that are horn loaded typically have very high efficencys which means they will play loud with very little power. They are also typically designed to be able to play loud.



Speakers like Klipsch, ( I cant stand them but many others do) are horn loaded and play very loud.



If budget is less of a factor, then you might want to look at speakers like Tannoy who make great sounding speakers and will also play pretty darn loud. Not concert levels like PA speakers but I think you might find they play loud enough and they happen to sound excellent.



But ya $2000 not going to happen. Safe up is what I'd recommend and get something that will actually sound good and play loud.



Kevin

40 years high end audio video specialist

Answer 8

One thing that you need to learn is that, to double volume, you must multiply audio power (watts RMS) by TEN.



You can get good quality equipment for your proposed budget, but if you have delusions of competing with the volume levels in your local THX cinema, then you are at least two orders of magnitude too cheap.



Yes, PA gear is rugged, and does so by sacrificing sound quality. So, at your budget, you can have good quality sound, or REALLY LOUD; But both for that budget, nope.

Answer 9

Have you considered DIY speakers? If you like a lot of dynamic capability you should consider building infinite line (floor to ceiling) arrays. Depending on your ceiling height this could mean 16 ~ 20 6" mid-bass drivers in each line and up to about 60 or so 2" or maybe more of a little smaller tweeter.



As an infinite line you don't need any delay or shading like a CBT so you could just series parallel all the mid-bass together and do the same with the tweeters and drive each speaker with just a 2-ch amp and a DSP crossover/EQ. If you use cheap enough drivers you should be able to build the two speakers, get a 4-ch or couple 2-ch amps cheap enough to have enough left over for an entry level NAD AVR with preamp outputs. In the end however I don't think you can keep that budget unless you just really go with cheap hardware. You still need subwoofers and a center speaker plus surrounds. The center would need to be pretty capable to keep up with those infinite line array mains. The surrounds not so much, you could get by with relatively simple surrounds.



NAD AVR: $600 http://www.audioadvisor.com/NAD-T-748v2-Home-Theater-Receiver/productinfo/NAT748V2/#.Us4RirTgxrM



2-ch amp $500/ea http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/xpa200



Looks like already this is not going to work since we're at $1600 and haven't bought the DSP's yet or even started the speakers. Even using these $7/ea 5" drivers http://www.parts-express.com/5-paper-cone-midbass-shielded-woofer-8-ohm--299-006 will put it over budget.



A more conventional build idea might work using a pro-audio 15" woofer and horn loaded compression driver. These can be 100+ dB 1w/1m so you could just drive them with the receiver and not need the external amplifiers.



The CBT 36 kit would be a nice option for home theater but the kit alone without amplifiers equals your budget... http://www.parts-express.com/audio-artistry-cbt36k-line-array-speaker-kit-pair--301-980



If you could find a good deal on some old Altec Model 19's or A7's that would be a good option but you would have to find someone trying to get rid of some not having any clue what they have... otherwise they will definitely be over budget.



If you can save up or mortgage the house, the floor to ceiling line arrays will do the best job. Here are mine... http://www.mfk-projects.com/theatre_main_speakers.htm For the center I highly recommend a CBT http://www.mfk-projects.com/center_speaker.htm but again, way out of budget just in cost of materials. Thing is, these type systems are not just loud, they also have superior transient response over more conventional designs. Even at modest listening levels the transients are so fast they make people jump. If that's the kind of performance you are looking for, infinite line mains and horizontal CBT is the way to get it. Unfortunately it's just not available commercially and would be astronomically expensive if it were so you have to build it and these are not trivial builds.



mk