Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Is this theatre layout workable?

Yes, that riser calculator is a great tool. I would think 10" will be fine too, if 11" will let you see the bottom. You may want to measure the floor to the top of your head in one of your recliners (if you have them) and compare that to what the calculator defaults to of 42". I found that reducing this to 40" makes a huge difference in the riser height. Go with what you need, just good to double-check the defaults.

Are you going to frame the outside of the riser with the 2x10, and then use 2x4s as supports throughout the middle? Make sure it will fit down the stairs, and through the doors- you don't want to find you cannot get it in the room after. You may have to build it in the room. I did this and put it up on its end in the kitchen area when the floor was carpeted. Then the riser was carpeted and just set in place. A waste of carpet under it, but no need to secure it down as you mentioned.

Hey Robb,

Nice drawing...

First of all I think the Qs8's would work fine where you have them, moving them back slightly would be ok also, but don't go to far. Are you planning on any rear's for 6.1 or 7.1? So far it looks good. My front row is 13ft back and my screen is larger than yours, you should be fine.

1) Not sure how big your riser is going to be? The couch on my riser is a full 3 person couch with recliners built in. There is enough room on the front side to walk to your position, however, I only have about 5" on the sides and 3" on the back extra. Also, make sure you place cross members and corner braces out of 8" material as well. Mine is built like a tank and has padding and carpet to match the floor.

2) Your placement of the left/right Q's is very similar to mine and it sounds awesome, they are very forgiving.

3) As Dave mentioned, I would still with at least an 8" riser. Keep in mind, a 2" x 8" is not really 8" wide, at least in the states. However, once you put some plywood on top, it will be higher. I also put "moving buddies" or sliders under my platform to make it easy to move if required, it is very heavy.

4) As mentioned above, I put one cross member, and also corner angled pieces in all corners. Think about the weight that will be on this thing. I think I used 3/4" plywood.

5) Ideally you want the tweeters of the center/mains to be at ear level. This may be difficult for all seating positions. You will be ok if your a little off. My center is actually a little lower and at first row ear level, my m60's are a little higher.

AVS has many Axiom haters, so that is most likely why you are not getting responses.

>>First of all I think the Qs8's would work fine where you have them, moving them back slightly would be ok also, but don't go to far. Are you planning on any rear's for 6.1 or 7.1?

My room is quite small So I wasn't planning on having 7.1 but since I am adding the riser the sound needs to be more dispersed througout the rear so I am thinking about running some wires just in case.

Regarding the QS8s, What would be the best spot for them? 1 ft back? or just keep them where they are? If I am planning on 7.1 will this give me alot more forgiveness on the placement of the sides? I am hesitant to even move them back 2 ft because I don't want to have the front row suffer.

>>Not sure how big your riser is going to be?

In order for them to see my centre channel I calculated on the riser calculator the bottom of the VP150 as the bottom of the screen, I need something like 12 11/16" riser if the screen is 40" from the ground and the bottom of the VP150 is 32.5" from the ground. And a 10 9/16" if I put the screen up to 42 inches from the floor and the VP150 bottom would be at 34.5".

I am leaning more towards the 12 x 2 solution and 3/4" plywood than the 10 x 2 simply because once I do it, it is done! and whats 2" anyway?

>>As mentioned above, I put one cross member, and also corner angled pieces in all corners. Think about the weight that will be on this thing. I think I used 3/4" plywood.

Corner pieces straddling the corners on the inside? I was planning on making 2 halfs of the riser in the basement and combining them. I will be using at least 1 middle beam of 2 x 12 and the rest 2 x 4. I wasn't planning on having a riser back there when I wired the room for electrical, I have outlets that end around 12 1/2" up from the floor. DOH! So My plan is to build the risers with 2-3" of space on all sides in order to access the outlets...

>>Ideally you want the tweeters of the center/mains to be at ear level. This may be difficult for all seating positions. You will be ok if your a little off. My center is actually a little lower and at first row ear level, my m60's are a little higher.


I plan on making my own stands for the M22s so I can make them the exact height that I need them to be.

thanks for the advise!

-Robb.

They make a right-angled drill that contractors use. It may fit in the smaller opening. You can probably visit a tool rental shop and find something you can get that will make it easier. Wait and you will probably get better suggestions.

I must say you guys have an awsome community here. Very helpfull and very passionate about helping others achieve their goals and such. Just thought I would say that about you guys, you rock!

On another note, here is an updated pic with a 7.1 setup, and I added stairs too The only thing I am wondering is if the rear Q's are too far to the outside of the listening area. From the primary middle in the front row they are at about a 150 degree angle. I could move them 1 more foot towards the middle and they would both be on some studs.

Take a look and feel free to chime in!



-Robb "not getting any work done"

I think the rears are perfect about where they are. I have found I like them spaced about the same as the front left and right. 150 degrees would fall perfect into Dolby recommendations:



Just my vote. They would sound awesome in either location.

Your drawing looks great.

Robb, the back surrounds are supposed to be located to the outside of the listening area, if possible, so that the listeners can on occasion experience either a left rear or right rear effect.

>>but I do desire to get that extra 9db under 100hz when wall mounted. So I will just have to suck it up and use stands

Do you really need to care about that extra LF response if you have a sub, or do you want to listen to music without the sub ?