Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Advice for speakers for our Plasma TV upstairs..

Ok, we are finally getting to the point of deciding on wall speakers for our living room upstairs, WAF. We have a 46" Panny Plasma currently, so I would probably spread the speakers out a bit in case we ever get a larger TV. We will be sitting about 14ft back. The room is 15ft x 21ft with a slight vaulted ceiling. The 15ft dimension is the one that is setup for viewing as the fireplace is off to one corner.


Questions:

1) Which speakers? I'm looking at the On-Wall, and the T-Series Inwall (less models). Performance wise I don't think there will be much difference. Installation wise, not much either. Any feedback from users that have heard both?

2) Do I really need a center channel for this setup? In my basement, the width of my front soundstage is like 15ft, so a center is vital as the Phantom center does not work as well off center with wide seating. I would think in this situation where the speakers will be much closer, and listening criteria is not as crucial, that just having the left/right as Phantom will work fine?

I won't be using Q's for the surrounds, so will probably put identical speakers as the front left/right on the back wall in case I decide to move the TV to the opposite wall some day.

3) Haven't figured out where to put my old Denon 2805 yet, but will need to run the speaker wires within the walls from the attic down to that location.

4) Could I run an additional pair of wires hooked up to each speaker, from the second speaker terminals to a different location where I might move my receiver some day, if I move the TV to the opposite wall?. I would not have them hooked up on the receiver end obviously unless I moved the receiver some day.

thanks for now...Randy

I forgot to mention that budget is a WAF issue. I don't have a lot to spend, so I might have to go with 4 T2's, 4 W3's, etc... will that be sufficient? Not sure I can swing the 4 W22's or T22's, but if I can convince the wife on the improvement, if any, I will try...

For a sub, I will have to borrow one of my 350v3's from downstairs...

What about 4 or 5 of the M0 on walls they just came out with? You'll have plenty of sub with one of your 350's up there. Just a thought.

I was looking at the M0's as well Ed my NL buddy. I just am not sure when I look at the specs. With the 3" woofer, and 160hz on the low end, just not sure if it would satisfy. I may want to listen to some 2 channel music from time to time at higher levels, so figured the bigger offerings might work better.

Randy, on the center channel question, I don't know why the speakers would be "much closer" than downstairs if you're going to be sitting about 14' back. It would seem that a separation of 12' or so would still be desirable. Regardless of the amount of separation, the phantom center image will be directly in front of someone sitting in the middle and will move to the left or right to still be in front of him when he's not in the middle. It won't move any farther out than the speaker on that side.

If you look at pictures of most Plasma/LCD setups, it appears people place the speakers maybe a foot or so outside the TV. I think it would look a little strange to have the speaker seperated by 14-15 ft, if you only have a 46-50" Television, wouldn't it? I know it is not all about looks.

Downstairs my 80's are about 12ft apart, and they sound great anywhere from 1ft to 20ft back. I just figured for a TV scenario, you would still get great sound at 6-8ft apart, even 15ft back. Heck, my old boom box sounds great and the speakers are only 2ft apart.

I'm sure Randy will be along any moment know to recommend M80s irregardless of room setup.

Oh wait, never mind................

Well my wife likes the clean look of the In-Wall speakers, however, I don't know what I would do about the center since Axiom only makes the M2 and M22 version. Axiom does not make an In-Wall Center speaker that I know of, unless it is in the works. The problem is they would have to accomodate the width between the studs, for 16" on center, I believe that is like 14.5" between the studs.

I was thinking if I went with M22 Inwalls for the sides, then maybe I could use an M2 Inwall for the center speaker and leave it vertical. Since it is not as tall as the M22 I was thinking it would look better. I think it would fit horizontally between my studs, but am worried about the sound since it is designed to be vertical.

Another concern I have is the In-wall version does not have a bass port, like the On-Wall architecture series, which has ports on the bottom of the speaker. Just concerned about the sound difference.

The have the VP-150 "in cabinet".
I think that's similar except it might be too deep for a normal wall.
Not sure as I ain't no carpenter!

Randy, if it's not a load bearing wall, it shouldn't be a problem to cut a 2x4 wall stud to make room for an inwall centre, then maybe just add a horizontal 'header' top and bottom to cap the cut 2x4 and clean it up.

Before you consider this, are you the "Tim Allen" or a "Norm Abram" type?

Unfortunately, I'm the "Tim Abram" type!

I'm fairly handy, but really don't want to cut up the finished wall in our living room anymore than I have to....

Cut?!! All you need is a hammer.

Well, I think we decided what we are going to do...we are not going to go with Onwall or Inwall speakers. Karen is not real excited about em cutting holes in the wall or having permanent speakers attached to the walls, in case we decide to move the furniture around at some point.

So, I think I will go with M22's for my left/right speakers for starters. Probably will go with a VP100 for the center, and still undecided on the rear channels.

I plan to prerun speaker wiring using wall plates from one wall to the other wall. That way if I decided to move the Plasma and receiver to the other wall, I can just use banaba plugs to unhook everything, move it, and hook it up on the other wall.

Just trying to decide on color now....

I love my M22 VP100 combination, you should be very happy with the sound. Are you planning on getting another Ep350 for the room as well

Hey Jay,

What I may do initially, is bring one of my 350's upstairs, since downstairs I would still have the 600 and another 350...maybe at some point I could save up to get another sub.