Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Speaker choice for 13' X 21' room

Hi,
I have an area in my basement that is going to be my HT. Dimensions are 13 feet (width) by 21 feet (length). The tv/viewing spot is going to be on one end of the 13 foot side. The room is already wired for 7.1. So now comes the speaker choice. I'm thinking of going with the following for now:

M22 for front L and R
VP100 for center
QS4 for surround L and R

I'm uncertain about the sub and not buying the rears immediately.
My question: Are my speaker choices good for the room size I have? Should i be going for the VP150 for center?

Thanks
LH

I would recommend (instead of the VP150) a vertically orientated single M22 for your centre channel.

Another option would be 2 x M2s (or M3s) wired in parallel for your centre channel.

If you're on a budget and don't mind waiting, the Factory Outlet is a great way to save some money.

First off, Welcome!

Next, what is your budget? That should be a factor here as well, otherwise someone will say that you would love M80 fronts, etc, etc and have a completely unrealistic budget idea for you. I have my gear in a 9x16 room, and I love it. It might be a bit more than I "need" but i really love it. I originally bought my speakers for use is a larger area (12x 40) but your area still fits within the "medium size room" using the Axiom calculator at just over 2000 cubic feet.

Give us some dollar amounts to make sure that we keep within that, and then you will hear more from others who own the exact models that you are looking at.

Have you tried the Home Theatre Wizard up there ^^^^^^^
it would atleast give you a starting piont.
Mt22's are great but get a sub specially for movies.

I asked a similar question as my basement is 16x20 and wanted to stay with the M22's(which were shipped on monday...yahoo!!). Alan told me M22's, VP150, QS8's and EP350 at least, but leaned a bit more to the EP500.

I have gone with M22's which should arrive tomorrow, QS8's on order and my STF-3 from HSU which fills the room amazingly. I'm planning on the VP150 when I get the $$ and a buddy of mine who is a bit of an audiphile said he never regretted getting a real good center channel.

I would suggest you go with the larger center and QS8's and might be able to get more bang for the buck from an HSU, SVS, or Rocket sub.

Regarding the budget question, max for speakers and sub i wanna spend is prolly around $1500 (US). Also, this is more of a long term HT project. I just got my basement finished and wired last week. I still have painting to do, receiver research to get done....and TV! Axioms are high on my list for speakers though. Will post more questions on my quest for good sounding movies in my home. .

Thanks
LH

Or, if you have an extra stereo amp lying around, you can parallel the RCA output from a receiver or pre-pro using a splitter, and use both amplifier channels for the two center speakers.

I'm contemplating one or two M2 for center channel, to go with my M22 mains. I'm also contemplating a third M22 layed on its side. Not a perfect dispersion pattern, but it would give me the opportunity to set it upright in my next HT configuration. This was one recommendation from the Axiom experts when I asked them about center channels.

I tried the Mt2 on top of the tv last night ... no go it is not shielded I even turned it upside down and still not good. Only thing I can do now is put up a shelf or buy a mount to mount it on the walll l ....
I may do that tonight , gosh son is going to be upset. He bought a second hand Denon from his step-brother last night well he pays $15 allowance every two weeks for it, actually it was first Denonamp. and he had no speakers so I couldn't get placement last night for the MT2's so told him he can use them til I can ... he is 12 and he is such a Denon gear and Axiom guy now. He is on the site and had $2000 in his order basket. Oh well got him trained well on Axiom gear. so to rob the thread , but you may need a shelf if you have a CRT TV

Personally I don't care about spending the little extra cash to get one of the VPx center channels. Now, I can only assume the center channels ARE shielded and shouldn't have any problems placing them right below/above the TV.

They are. I've got a VP100 sitting right on top of my (rather sensitive) 27" CRT. No problems. An M22 did cause problems.

Same here. M2s caused significant fringing on my CRT TV. Turned upside down and spaced up an inch or so with a couple of paperbacks the fringing was negligible.

VP100 had no fringing. There may have been a tiny bit but not enough to concern me. I put the VP100 on top of the TV and never looked back.

Then I upgraded to a projector so I guess I could go back to M2s but honestly I thought the VP100 sound was just the tiniest bit more clear than the M2s even after matching levels as carefully as I could.

I can place my VP100 on top of my JVC 32" but not my VP150

Hi Axiomites!

Resurrecting an old thread here. Since I wrote this up over 2 years back, I've pretty much completed my HT. It's a 7.1 setup:
- fronts = 2 x M60 v2
- center = VP150 v2
- surrounds = 2 x Klipsch SS.5 http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/ss-5-overview/
- rears = 2 x old Infinity (can't remember model).
- Sub = some Sony sub....can't remember model off hand

There's some pics of my HT here:
http://ranchhod.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=42&page=3

(the Sony sub is not in the pics above. I was using an older Infinity sub that eventually died. I need to take new pics...)

All this was built with the intention of getting the best sound out of blu-ray movies and i think i've achieved that. The Axioms are phenomenal!!! Watching movies with this setup has just been great.

Now the reason for the choice of surrounds and rears was more a cost thing. I got the pair of Klipsch on a deal and my rears were from my beginner HT from nearly 8 years back.

So i'm thinking of upgrading my surrounds (not my rears) to a pair of QS4s. Will I notice a significant improvement? Based on my room size, should I be looking at QS8's rather? If it's not going to be significant, I would rather save the $$$. Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks
LH

There was a thread somewhere in here where a forum member compared the QS8s to the QS4s and he found the 8's to be better sounding, closer tonally to the majority of the Axiom line up, ie M22, M60, M80s, if I remember correctly. I had the older QS4s and didn't like the sound the different tweeter had, the new QS4 v2's have the same tweeter now so that isn't an issue. If money really isn't a huge concern then I would go wih the QS8's just for the fact they can play louder and if you ever get a larger HT room you may need the surrounds to go louder. If money is the biggest concern then get the QS4s, I am sure you would be very happy with them as well, as they still offer the same diffuse sound the QS8s offer.

Jay, I think that was Dan(magicman) who did the QS8/QS4 comparison. There's honestly not too much diff in the price IMO. I'd go with the 8's and use the FO to save a few oysters.

You are correct sir, it was Dan, just couldn't remember for the life of me.

Ok, I think you guys are referring to this thread:

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=190284&fpart=1

I'll read through that.

Adrian, what does "FO" stand for?

Thanks
LH

Factory Outlet, you can save 10% by ordering from it although you'll have to wait 3-4 weeks on average to receive your speakers. Don't worry about the quality of them, many of us have obtained our speakers via the FO and have either found nothing wrong or a very minor blemish that has been cleaned up that is barely visible in the vast majority of cases. Soundwise they are the same, it's only the cosmetic touchup.

Ah yes. FO = Factory Outlet. I bought my other Axiom speakers through there and they were perfect.

Thanks
LH

My room is about the same size as yours, but it is my living room (and is open to the kitchen). I have m80's, Qs8s, vp150, and ep 500. sounds amazing!

FO = factory outlet I believe.

edit: whoa, guess I should refresh the page before I answer a question

Great looking room, very nice!

Well it seems you are an idealistic man in theory (first off you wanted to go on the cheap with some M22's and a VP100), but a sucker for performance at heart (ended up with some M60's and a VP150). If this is the case, then I too vote to spend the extra cabbage on the QS8's. After the slight initial hit I don't think you'll ever look back. However, if you really, really, REALLY want to stay on the cheap then here is another suggestion, perhaps buy a set of QS4's for now, and then later on down the road if you find yourself with a flush of cash (like tax time), then you could get a set of QS8's for the sides and move the QS4's to the back. And if you REALLY like the 8's over the 4's, then you could trade them in on Axiom's 'trade-in' plan for a second set of QS8's for the rears.

Just a thought.