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New System for Pool Table Room

Hello,

I have gotten the go ahead to put a pool table in our family room. Right now this room has a 8 ft diameter trampoline and is filled with kids toys for our 3 year old. The living room also is filled with toys and kids stuff. Basically the entire downstairs of our home looks like the apt from BIG lol. Trampoline is going outside and dads gonna get a pool table! Need some tunes in there. 
No real good place for speaker placement. I was thinking KEF LS50W in the bookshelf that would be close to ear height while standing. I have outlets in the bookshelf so this solution would be pretty clean. But....... It is a bookshelf and it is off to one side of the room and it is offset to one side. So obviously far from ideal. I hear the KEF has good dispersion and thought some DSP tweaking may make this a descent sounding little system. Ohh and probably put a small sub in one of the corners. maybe something wireless.
The other option which I have not investigated very much is getting some in ceiling speakers or possibly some on wall speakers and a small sub. I don't like the idea of figuring out how to route all the wiring etc but if this would be a better solution which I am guessing it probably is would it be worth the trouble? The wife has begrudgingly agreed to my middle of the house upstairs man cave plan so I don't wanna poke the bear by making it unsightly ;-). 
Any and all suggestions welcome. Thanks!
Ohh and room is 27x18x8 and is open to kitchen which is about 4 steps up.  
mofojo
7 responses Add your response
rongold's avatar
rongold
49 posts
 
Our ‘poolboys’ have refurbished a pair of E-V Aristocrats w/ EV T-35 tweeters, mid range horns and EV SP12Bs. Placed in the corners, and driven by a vintage Pioneer SX-xxx receiver.......sweet!
mrdecibel
3,063 posts
 
I would mount a few " bipole " speakers on the walls to cover the length of the room. B & W, Klipsch, so many to choose from. Adding a sub, well, that could easily be located somewhere centered in the room, or, get a pair of subs. Start with the speakers, and see ( hear ) if a sub is actually necessary. Looking for specific left or right ? It is still, imo, a background listening type of area. I am assuming you have another dedicated type listening room. And btw, when the kitchen is occupied, the sub ( s ) might be felt, as well as heard, to those kitchen occupants. Be gentle on the wife, as she is giving you a lot of latitude.
mofojo OP
2,289 posts
 
I hear ya about the ceiling speakers. I just dont wanna brand new big project. On the bottom floor of 2 story house so no attic to run wires. I'm sure I can figure it out without too much drywall cutting if I put in the time. But I suuuuuuck at drywall repair. Damn the sound of some great ceiling speakers with a hidden sub sound pretty awesome. On that note any suggestions about an in ceiling option below 3k. 
Mr D,
I agree that the sound of pool balls is great. 
That being said this room will be used a lot and there will most certainly be music playing most of the time while we play. Obviously no sitting in the sweet spot critical listening but I still feel a good setup could be appreciated somewhat vs a boombox.
Millercarbon,
I like the idea of the small system in the corner although I dont think it will work out in this particular room. 

Thanks for the suggestions 
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,661 posts
 
Ceiling speakers is the route I would take!
mrdecibel
3,063 posts
 
The sound of pool balls is wonderful. Why mask it ? A boom box should do. Unless, you intend to spend much more time in this area listening to music. You have not made that clear, unless I do not know how to read. Just try to simulate a pool " bar ", where sound quality is generally 2ndary, and is " background ".
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
#1 Do not put the Trampoline outside. If your insurance company sees it your liability insurance will double!

Just hang two Sonos speakers and one of their subs. They all have built in DSPs. Put a Connect on your main system and anything you play on your main system will go to the pool table room.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
My first consideration on reading this is, what really are your looking to get from this? Realistically? Because the room is big, open to another noisy space, and listening is secondary at best. A conventional stereo setup aimed to sound good near the table sounds difficult if not impossible. But then why under the other circumstances would you even try? The answer to me seems to be to face the reality this is gonna be background for the most part anyway.

Your in-wall idea is the obvious solution. Obviously also you don’t really care for it. Who does? It sucks. But it is in this situation eminently practical.

My outside the box option for your consideration is (if you can find appropriate space in this big room): Set yourself up with a very simple sweet little near-field listening system. Tube integrated, CDP, bookshelfs on stands. Done. Well, quality power cords, interconnects, speaker cable- always need all of that. Done.

Even way out of the sweet spot background listening playing pool it’ll probably sound better than the in-wall, and for sure will look a lot better. Go for major style points- simple, elegant, compact. If you can set it up with a chair in a nice near field location then the size and noise of the room will be a lot less of a factor, and turn being off in a corner into a feature not a bug. Fully tweak it out with nice yet budget wire, etc, I did one exactly like this grand total $1200 and it was really fun enjoyable listening.
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