Very BIG Room? Music and Home Theatre Challenge

Ok, no horns....
Speakerlabs can put out loads of bass and can be much less directional.
Otherwise, I like B&W Nautilus series, Coincident and maybe wilsons for this large room.

O.K., how about giving us a budget? Please indicate all the needs, such as speakers (how many?), power, cables, source, etc.?

Ditto to the big full range speakers. My sound room is about 32.5 x 19.5 x 12 and it has a large doorway into a substantial kitchen / eating / relaxation area about 14 x 24 x 12+. Even with four 15 inch woofers and four 9 inch mid woofers in cabinets large enough to be coffins, the bass is relatively weak in the kitchen (this is being driven by two monster amps with 2.4kva transformers in each). I had to upgrade the speakers from four 12 inch woofers and four 7 inch mid woofers because the bass wasn't enough in my listening position. So I'd recommend some big speakers and they may still need to be augmented by subwoofers for that kind of an area. BTW, I love Montana speakers but go with what you and your friend like -- I'd just plan on going big!

For those who say horns are not my cup of tea, I would like to bring up a few points. I live in So. California, where we have many great movie theaters. The sound to my ears in some of these theaters is impressive to say the least. When a movie calls for a band to play on screen for instance or a great score, the sound is huge and live sounding. I am thinking of the last Lord of the Rings Movie, when they lit the fires that jumped from mountain to mountain. If you heard that score in the theater I was in, you would be unable to be anything but impressed by the grandness of the sound, in MYHO, Fantastic! The clarity and openess of the sound, the lack of compression at all volumes, and the huge dynamics that easily fill these large rooms makes the movie experience great fun, unless of course they play it too loud. I would think you all have had some similar experience at some time or another and it all comes from horned speakers. Anyways, I wanted that sound in my home and so looked into horns, which led me to my KLipsch Epics CF3's. They are 100dB efficient @ 1watt and yet can handle 200 watts continous with 1000 watt peaks. That sounded impressive to me. I purchased a pair of of this site on blind faith as I had never heard them before. Out went my Audio Physic tempos and in they went. They didn't dissapoint either. They are great at low volume and have uncompressed concert hall slam when cranked up. Whats not to like about that. Well, thats my rant on a old thread that no one may read.
Peace.

As I've said earlier and as Elevick and Shiva have pointed out there are very sound reason for suggesting horns, especially in this application. If one is trying to simulate the sound one hears in a movie theatre, it makes even more sense. I have no desire to replicate what I hear in movie theaters. I certainly hope we can do better than that. While Shiva points out all that might be good in horns in a theatre he does leave out all that is bad. I haven't been to a movie theatre in California, but I have in New York and elsewhere too. I suspect that the top N.Y. theatres have sound sytems comparable to what ever any other locale might have. Well, I find them just dreadfull. As Shiva carefully suggests they can be too loud, where even whispered dialogue is shouted into the cinema. Despite the many speakers there is no real soundstage and side and rear speakers are always gimicky and too self evident ( hight tech special effects aside, you know Star Wars et al.) The honkyness is absolutely annoying and I always leave with a mild headache and my ears ringing. I don't suggest that my priorites are the same as everyone elses and horns may be just the ticket for some. As for me, not my cup of tea.