So I'm pulling wire as we speak for a HT room beside an exercise room in my basement. I've already pulled the wire and conduit to the exercise room and hung that sheetrock. So now that I'm committed to some idea of what I'd like to accomplish I'm now going to ask about the functionality of the 990 in some detail....

I've read the manual and made a few calls to Outlaw for advice. I think that I'm ok with my plans but I'd like just a bit more confirmation to feel all warm and fuzzy about what I have in mind.

I'd appreciate some feedback from the users here. My room is smallish. The room will be 14' deep, 15 wide with a 7'10' ceiling. Concrete floor, concrete walls behind dryall front and right. Regular stud wall behind and to the left. I can do anything for floors or wall treatments as this will be HT only room. The wall for entry will be two sliding pocket doors that open to the center. I'm planning on using Axiom M50's for front, VP100 center and Qs4 surrounds. 990/?? Amp and LFM sub.

So the questions are:

1. The exercise room behind the HT is wired for cable TV for a LCD on the wall and I've placed 3 ceiling speakers in boxes along a 14 x 26 room for music and TV when exercising. Can I drive those speakers from two channels of 7 channel amp with a 5.1 HT system using a 990/7 channel amp?

2. On occasion I'll want to push the HT signal to the exercise room to extend the video out into the exercise room, can this be done with the 990? A differnt video feed? Two different signals at the same time?

3. The HT is smallish, do I need 125 watts or can I have good sound with 75? What do I gain if I go with the LFM Plus sub over the standard besides another 25 watts? In the end, the cost differential isn't great but every dollar not spent on one piece of gear can go to other pieces of the puzzle so being prudent can have benefits.

Thanks for the feedback.

Russ

1. Certainly. With three speakers, two of them are going to be getting the same signal (a left and two rights, for example), but you can easily configure the 990's second zone to feed a stereo signal to the extra two channels of a seven-channel amp and use those two channels to drive those three speakers. In this configuration, you could listen to a separate source in the exercise room (such as radio or a CD) from the active source in the main room (such as DVD or cable/satellite TV).

2. The 990's second zone also has a video output (composite or s-video) can can be controlled independently of the main zone, so this can be done pretty easily. If you wanted HD video, you'd probably end up pushing the same signal to both spaces and using a component video splitter/booster to do it, but if an s-video connection suffices (as would be the case for a simple LCD display like the one a co-worker just bought for his kitchen) then you could push a completely independent video feed to the exercise room.

3. I'd match the amp with the speakers being used more than the room size. Efficient speakers would be fine with the 7075, but less efficient speakers could benefit from the extra power offered by the 7125. Axiom could give you some good input on this (as could Outlaw, of course, but I know that Axiom is familiar with Outlaw's amps and has a very solid feel for how much power their speakers need and like to have). As for the sub, the Plus will allow you the option of achieving lower frequencies (a tuning point of 18Hz) than the standard LFM-1 (a tuning point of 25Hz, also available with the Plus when you leave both ports unplugged). Personally, my LFM-1 goes plenty deep for me, but if you really like to have the ability to hit the "so low you can't even hear that low anymore" notes, the LFM-1 Plus will give you peace of mind in knowing you can get there with gusto.

Thanks for the input.

I should have mentioned that the 3 speakers in the exercise room will be 2-channel speakers. I plan on running the signal to a speaker selector, out to the exercise room.

I'll call Axiom for more advice on power. I'm tempted by the plus. How could you ever go too low???

I'll have to think about how good a picture I want in the exercise room. The LCD is an HD so I should take advantage of it.

Sounds like you're building into a nice setup. But several concerns come to mind. Most speakers that would be practical in rooms like you're talking about will put out a sound level in the 80-90db range, measured with a mike one meter from the front of the speaker, with an input of one watt. (Yes, one watt.) How that translates into the level in a normal size room depends a lot on how much sound is absorbed by the furniture, wall and floor surfaces, etc. With concrete walls you're going to have very little absorption and a lot of reverberation. In fact that will turn out to be a problem if you care at all about quality. So at least in your HT space I think you will NEED some sound-absorbent surface treatment, especially in the corners. As for the difference between 75 and 125 watts per channel: assuming one speaker with a sensitivity of 85db, a 75-watt signal (a brief peak, I hope) will give you about 104db and a 125-watt signal will give you 106db. Some difference, huh? And, at ordinary listening levels where our hearing is most sensitive - say, in the 70-db area - we have to strain a bit to even notice a 2-db difference in sound level.
My point is that there may be valid reasons for preferring one amplifier to another, but a power output difference of 2 db is not one of them. Put your money into room treatment.

Psyprof1 is right, room treatments will be key to good sound in a room of that size and what sounds like a square configuration. I don't know what you are planning for the ceiling, but you may want to consider some form of acoustical panels or tiles to help with the sound and to lessen sound transmission upstairs when you really want to crank it up. Insulation above the ceiling would lessen it further (except of course for that LFM-1).
It sounds like you're going to have a real nice setup between those 2 rooms. I really like the idea of the pocket doors. Good luck with your project!

I like psprof1 and rance's advice on room treatments. I have read that as much as 50% of what you hear is the sound's interaction with the room and the rest is the speakers and electronics. With a dedicated HT room you have more flexibility to install room treatments that absorb, and diffuse the sound bouncing off the walls, floor and ceiling. Low frequency issues can develop based upon the size of the room. Crutchfield Advisor has a nice article on calculating the axial modes of your room. These modes can negatively impact the bass creating boomy sound. Knowing the low frequencies that are a problem can help you design bass traps (often in corners) that can help. Higher frequencies bounce off hard surfaces (walls, floor and ceiling) confusing the listener as same sound arrives at times not intended. There are a number of resources on the internet for making your own acoustic panels that will absorb higher frequencies at reflection points around the room.

It must be pretty exiting to set up a dedicated HT room. Let us know your progress.

Gonk,
Clean out your mail box ... i have a question for you.
Thanks

Cleaned out (at least a little)...