No place for a box

[kjgarrison]

Hi all,

I am trying to put a 7.1 system in the family room. Not the ideal HT setting, with a ~4,000+ cubic ft. room.

My problem is that the TV is in a cabinet with the center speaker below, also in the cabinet. The R and L mains will either be in cabinet or possible towers to the sides (WAF).

I have NO place to put a subwoofer box. Here are my thoughts:

1. Are there any tower speakers that have subs built into the towers and deliver good bass?
2. I read a little about IB, and I have an attic above part of the room (starting at about the listening position and going back. No attic above the "front sound stage" and no other wall usable as IB (from what I understand about IB, that is.)
3. What abot "in ceiling" (non IB) speakers?
4. So as I see it, it is either combo towers, less-than-ideal placement of ceiling IB, or ceiling, non IB, for my subwoofer. Whis is the "lesser" of these evils?
5. Other ideas? Am I missing anything?

As far as budget goes, I don't want to miss out on hearing a good idea, so let's just say it is not an issue. That said, I am hoping to keep the overall speaker costs in the $1000 - $2000 range. If necessary it can be higher.

Thanks for your help.

[Sonnie]

Sounds like you are really strapped here.

Definitive Technology has powered subs in some of their speakers that I've heard good things about, but I don't think there are any that are going to do what a good sub will do.

I would not attempt IB until measuring the response at that location, which would require a sub in the listening position, plus REW or some method of measuring. IB might be your only option, but if the response there is problematic... no room gain... tapered low end response, you'll be no better off than with powered subs in your mains.

This may sound a little unusual, but what about smaller sub boxes with good bookshelf/monitors placed on top of the subs?

Also, have you looked at any of the cylinder subs yet? The WAF is sometimes better with those and then sometimes worse...

Can you take a snapshot of your front stage where your speakers are going and post it?

[Otto]

Good comments from Sonnie! I like the idea of placing bookshelf speakers on top of small subs.

Can you do IB in the floor rather than the wall or ceiling? That's where mine is, and it hangs into the crawl space.

[brent_s]

Is DIY an option? I'm thinking first about building subs as "speaker stands" for the recommended bookshelf speakers above. Since aesthetics appear to be a primary requirement in this project, the end result would probably look better than plopping your speakers on the typical cubic shaped subwoofer.

Depending on the room and furnishings, DIY might open up other options as well that can't be met by commercial solutions.

-Brent

[funky_waves]

Here is an example of a pair of Custom speakers I built some time ago. They have built in subwoofers. They use a sub driver nearly identical to the SVS12.2 These with built in 500wrms amps for the subs would be $2500, If you are interested in going that way, you can contact me with some size constrants and finish choices, and I can tell you what we can do for your price range. Or if you are interested in a pair of subs to put your mains on top of, check out the FW10.1, on sale right now for boxing day. Sorry the picture isn't very good.

[kjgarrison]

Thanks for the replies. I just got back and saw the email. Sorry for the delay. I will look into them in more detail and post. The Shack is awesome.