Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Epic grand master 500 driven by ???

Compromising sound I definitely do not want to do. My thought was to 'hide' the speakers behind something made of sound-friendly cloth. The columns wouldn't be made of solid materials. Since I haven't started construction of the room yet, it's just an idea I'm floating around.

for another 600$ you can get the epic 60 500. that will give you larger left and right speakers, as well as a larger center channel. I would recommend taking the cash out of your electronics budget to fund the increase in the speaker cost. I completely agree with getting a good midrange receiver, and investing in an outboard amp, i would use the receiver to power your surrounds, and then get a nice 3 channel amp for the L/R/C. Then if you want to go to a full pre-pro system, you just need a processor, and a small 2 channel amp for the surrounds.

What is the volume of the room? that plays a big part in what speakers would be correct for your space.

Ah - I misunderstood. Sorry.

Still, if "hiding" the speakers is something that is important to you, perhaps check out the in-wall and in-cabinet versions on the product page.

That might be a better and more elegant solution than a column made of grill-cloth.

after checking out the in-cabinet 60's, i'm really starting to think those will be the way to go. and yes, i agree that solution would be much more elegant than the column idea.

the room hasn't been built yet, but i'll make some rough measuring tonight.

Lex, one more thing. You really don't have to pay list price for Denon receivers (same goes for Marantz). I'm sure other AVRs are similar, but don't have personal experience. You can get them from authorized online retailers for much less.

The Epic 60 500 and EGM 500 both come with the VP150.

oops, sorry i looked at the epic 50, not the grand master package.... i don't know why i looked at the wrong thing...... your right.

dakkon, so it would be worth it to get a cheaper AVR and use the pre-outs to a 3-ch amp than to use the amplifier in the receiver to drive L/C/R?

"worth it" is in the ear of the beholder. You're going to get a variety of opinions as well as some scientific assertions.

Depends to some extent how big the room is and how loud you want to listen.

I think it would be the best choice for you.

my reason for saying this is because you said you wanted to go the pre-pro route, but you don't have the budget for what you wanted right now. You could decide on an amp brand that you like and start with a 3 channel.

if you wanted to get a receiver and stick with it, my recommendation would be different.

i am a pre-pro person, and personally i think this is the way to go. with the pre pro, the power supply for the amp, is only providing power to the amp boards, in a receiver there is 1 power supply, that is for the amp boards, and ALL the other circuitry in the box. I am of the opinion that the power supplies in the receivers do are not comparable the power supplies of a good amp.

when i got my axioms, i got a mid level receiver, and a 5 channel amp, i really liked this set up. Depending how how much volume your room is, and the sound level you like to have your music/movies will kind of depend on how much power you will need.

I when i moved into my current house, while watching movies, the 5 channel amp would have a few channels go into clip protection from time to time, so i changed to a 3 channel and 2 channel set up for more power.


with all that being said, the "sound quality" will be the same between a receiver amp, and an outboard amp. Both are solid state amps, and will have no appreciable sound difference, the only real difference is the amount of power that they can supply to your speakers.

I would recommend trying to go the balanced interconnect route however this will increase the cost for both components, to get a receiver with XLR outs will be the high end, but you can get an amp with both RCA and XLR and when you get you processor, you can get a processor with XLR outputs. I have tried both RCA and XLR connectors, and there is a difference between the 2 and XLR is definitely better.


i hope this helps explain my reasoning. and also maybe helps you make a decision.