Hello all,

I am planning on building a home theatre. Room is fairly small, but it’s all I have to work with for the time being. Dimensions are:

17ft long by 11.5ft wide. Ceilings are 7.5ft high.

The screen will be 100-120” acoustically transparent. There will be roughly 2.5ft of open space behind it to place front speakers and subwoofers. To the sides, and top and bottom of screen will be black acoustically transparent material to make it look like an entire flat, screen wall.

My question is regarding speaker choice. I am looking to do 7 identical speakers around the room and then 4-6 HTR in the ceiling for atmos. Regarding the speaker choice, would I be better off with 7x BRX, or 7x SPS?

If doing BRX, the front 3 will be on stands, and the side and rears will be on wall mounts just above the couch height. All 7 will be at same height.

If doing SPS, I will be building 7 boxes that are 3 cubic ft each, as I can’t place them in the existing walls. So they will essentially be in boxes/pillars attached to the walls. Again, all 7 will be same height.

Is one choice significantly better than the other?

The seating in the room is a U shaped couch that is roughly 10ft wide, and 7ft deep. Sitting distance from screen can be anywhere from 9ft to 12ft.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi SimcoeSound, First, using either 7 x BRXs or 7 x Invisa SPS in-wall speakers would be an awesome home theater speaker system. Next, I'd be inclined to use 7 x Invisa SPS in-wall speakers. The multiple drivers used in the Invisa SPS speakers would produce a bit more clarity, detail and 3 dimensionality.

When constructing the 3 cubic foot boxes for each Invisa SPS speakers, it's important to make sure these boxes are rock solid. I would suggest making them from 3/4" MDF or thicker. I'd also recommend filling these boxes roughly 50% full of Dacron or fiberglass insulation.

To round out this system, two SuperSub Xs would work be a great choice. They're quick, detailed, and quite powerful. In a real sense, they'll keep up with the reference quality BRXs and Invisa SPSs.

Either way you go, please some pictures of your system - as your building it - and when it's completed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Happy Listening!

Awesome. Thank you for the response.

I am leaning towards the SPS. I was looking at building the enclosures out of 3/4” MDF.

Just a couple of follow ups to this,

1) Is there a particular width of the column that will be better? If I build them 2FT wide vs 1FT wide, what would be the difference in sound? Especially for the front, behind the screen, I can’t do a full solid wall, so will I lose anything by making narrow/wide columns?

2) Would 2x super sub xxl’s, or even larger subwoofers be too much for these speakers/room?

Thanks again!

Hi SimcoeSound, The exact shape (including the width) of the back box isn't particularly critical. I would, however, try not to make the back box real shallow (in terms of depth). I'd suggest making the back box 6 inches (or so) deep. I'd also fill the back box approximately 50% full of Dacron or fiberglass insulation.

Using 2 x SuperSub XXLs in this system would be terrific. (Two SuperSub XXLs might be a bit more than you "need" in this listening room, but they'll sound awesome.) They wouldn't be "too much". I'm sure you could dial them in - to meet your listening tastes. Happy Listening!