tcwalker5 Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 We had our first super bowl party yesterday and I was completely underwhelmed with the volume. We could barely hear the game or halftime show. Very disappointing for our new home. Granted we had a LOT of people and the talking was loud, but still I was maxed out at 100% and could barely hear it. Since it is the family room and we have a dedicated theater, I did not elect to install surround sound. However, I still would have expected ample volume. So I will ask my dealer for recommendations. In the meantime I wanted to solicit recommendations on areas to improve. Room size is 25' x 30' with open space to kitchen next to it. Is it the amp? (Triad 8ch 100W) Speakers? (Origin Acoustics D62) Source (Spectrum Cable box)? Triad 24x24 Matrix set to gain of +3dB. How high can this go without distortion? Would surround sound have helped? I expect that the answer is that this is grossly underpowered, so I want to understand where to invest in the upgrades. I would have hoped my dealer would have anticipated this and recommended the proper equipment or set it up correctly. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 13 minutes ago, tcwalker5 said: Room size is 25' x 30' with open space to kitchen next to it. How many speakers? Amps itself has plenty of power - shouldn't have to use +3 gain on the triad at all - but in that size of a space, you'll need more speakers, plus you're only running 6/6.6" speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippavisual Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 For that size of a room and you only have a pair of in-ceilings?? Yes, it would be very underwhelming while having a big, loud party. Either add more ceiling speakers for better coverage or go with some floorstanding models and larger amp to power them. Also, if you want it to sound good when its loud, I'd recommend getting a sub for that zone too. What kind of sub will depend on your design wants and budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adidaswood Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 We have a similar setup, Big family room open to kitchen. I had the surround wired, just in case. it only took me about two months to go ahead and put the surround speakers in. I feel like it would have helped you, it certainly helped us. Is there a way to get a sub in there? Also Distortion can also have a lot to do with the speakers. What is their efficiency rating? if you have really inefficient speakers it will take more power to run them high volumes. I don't know much about your speakers. Did you get any clipping or anything like that when you turned it up? or did it really just max out? Do you have any settings the limit max volume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcwalker5 Posted February 8, 2019 Author Share Posted February 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Adidaswood said: I had the surround wired, just in case. I did the same thing, so I will add those speakers as a first step too. 1 hour ago, Adidaswood said: What is their efficiency rating? I can't find the specs online. They are origin acoustics D62 in case anyone knows the specs. 1 hour ago, Adidaswood said: Is there a way to get a sub in there? Yes. Does anyone have positive opinions about hidden in-wall subs? The interior design is very particular and would not accomodate a traditional exposed box sub. It would need to be installed behind the drywall and invisible. 1 hour ago, Adidaswood said: Did you get any clipping or anything like that when you turned it up? or did it really just max out? Do you have any settings the limit max volume? No distortion or clipping. Just no more volume. I also checked and no max limit that I could find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 Honestly at 6" speakers I'm not surprised. From what little I could find on them, they seem like they'd be well suited for a small bedroom... In a space that size there really should be 4 8" or 2 10". The amps you have as such can handle the room volume just fine, unless there's a setup issue like a max setting on volume devices, or a misset gain dial, the issue is going to be the speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcwalker5 Posted February 8, 2019 Author Share Posted February 8, 2019 1 hour ago, tcwalker5 said: They are origin acoustics D62 in case anyone knows the specs. Correction. They are actually D63 23 minutes ago, Cyknight said: In a space that size there really should be 4 8" or 2 10". My assumption would be that the 4 8" should be configured as two stereo pairs rather than surround. Would you agree? Or can it be configurable on the fly for loud TV vs movie watching (which we don't do often since I have a dedicated theater, but might be good to have). Fortunately, the cutout for the 8" is the same as the 6" so I might be able to just swap them out. But I also might get pricing on 4 10" just to have the overhead if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adidaswood Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 This isn't super scientific but you can download a SPL meter on your phone and get some rough guesses at the db levels in the room. Especially with the volume all the way up, and that may give you some idea of what those speakers are producing in the room. I mean if you tell me 120 DB and you don't have clipping then it might just be that you were having quite the party. if we are talking 60 or 70(probably won't be, that would be some bad speakers) db then you have some work to do. it is probably a setting that is limiting it. Since you didn't have clipping or anything like that this part is just academic, but interesting if you ever wondered what some of the numbers mean. to know for sure where those numbers could be you might want to email their tech support and ask them for their sensitivity spec. It might also help you and your dealer to dialin the right speakers for the room. https://www.lifewire.com/speaker-sensitivity-3134850. I don't know if this article is exactly technically correct, it is likely dumbed down a bit, but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. How is it under normal conditions non party conditions, do you have trouble hearing it. Can you make it too loud without a bunch of extra noise? Cy is probably right, but getting some numbers might help you feel better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 33 minutes ago, tcwalker5 said: Correction. They are actually D63 My assumption would be that the 4 8" should be configured as two stereo pairs rather than surround. Would you agree? Or can it be configurable on the fly for loud TV vs movie watching (which we don't do often since I have a dedicated theater, but might be good to have). Fortunately, the cutout for the 8" is the same as the 6" so I might be able to just swap them out. But I also might get pricing on 4 10" just to have the overhead if needed. Use stereo - unless the setup is specific to 5.1 or up settings, surround settings on a receiver will not help your cause. Even if it was, for music listening and parties stereo or even mono is usually better. Could it be done dynamically, sure. What that would take would require more insight into your setup than I have. Likely means getting a receiver, the right one that has accessible direct selection of surround zones, possible rewiring and or adding or upgrading switches...could also just be a receiver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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