Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater First purchase of HT system

Hello. I am considering the following for my first ever HT system. I have a 20 x 35 room, although I only use 20 x 20 of that for the viewing/sitting area. And I have wooden, open beam, cathedral ceilings. The fronts, center and sub have to be in an entertainment center on the wall with the TV and the rears will be about 7' from the floor mounted on the walls on either side of the sitting area and slightly behind. What do you think of this system: VP150, two QS4 for rear and two M22ti fronts and an EP350 sub. My receiver is a Denon 1802. Is the EP350 overkill and do I need to go with the QS8's ? This is primarily for movies, not music? Am I doing the right thing here? Thanks.

with a room that big i would suggest the qs8,,they deliver a bigger sound in a big room,,as for the floor sub it will need to be away from the front of the ent unit,,preferably by your couch,,belive me you will see why.if you choose to place it in front you will lose almost all of your bass,,i dont know why its just the way axiom subs deliver bass.

I don't have a choice about putting the sub in the entertainment center. Is this really that bad an idea?

johng

I my experience, putting a sub directly in front of you really kills its sound. It makes sound very off and you can't hear some frequencies well at all.

If I were you, I would try REAL hard to place this somewhere else. Experiment with different placements and you will hear differences. Then leave it where you like it best. But I must warn you, don't put it somewhere and listen for 2 minutes. Listen to sounds that hit different bass frequencies, this way you can hear the affect of the placement all over the spectrum of sound your subwoofer will play.

I had to try REAL hard just to get to buy this. One stipulation is sub must be in a cabinet. I don't have a choice.

Hello JohnG,

A few comments are apropos, based on the preceding messages: Most of us live in rectangular rooms (square rooms are even worse), which--in terms of getting smooth bass response throughout the area--is highly problematic. The long wavelengths of low bass frequencies interact with the room's dimensions to create standing waves. Those in turn generate regions of bass cancellation--where you'll hear little or no bass, or only certain bass frequencies and not others--and bass reinforcement, where you may have overpowering bass at one frequency and a "hole" or node with no low bass at all.

So when you place a subwoofer, you're trying to find a location for the sub relative to your listening position that is somewhere between these areas of bass cancellation and extreme bass reinforcement. Your sub may be fine at the front of the room (it's nothing to do with how Axiom subs deliver bass, Canadian guy, or "front-of-the-room placement kills bass"). It's entirely a product of your room's idiosynchrasies, dimensions, where you sit, and where the subwoofer sits.

You could test in advance whether the entertainment unit placement will result in good, indifferent, or poor bass by putting the sub at your listening position, and crawling around the area where the entertainment cabinet is while low bass frequencies are playing. If you hear smooth, extended, powerful bass, then you're in luck. If it's boomy, "one-note" bass, or you hear little at all, then you're going to have to pick a different location. Crawl around the room until you find the spot with the smoothest bass, mark it, then move the subwoofer to that position. It's a tedious process, I know, but it's easier than hefting a sub around the room!

Regards,