Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Getting into HT - How's This Setup?

Hi Guys,

I've been lurking on the Axiom board for months and I'm ready to take a very repeat very big leap. I'll save you the mushy preamble except to say that I am very appreciative of your candid views - this has been the most informative and balanced board I have visited. I'm excited to be a potential Axiom owner.

Okay here's what I have in mind (I'm starting from zero so this will be all new equipment!):
Fronts: M22
Center: VP150
Surrounds: QS8
Sub: EP350

Pre-amp: Outlaw 950
Amp: Outlaw 770

For the time being, I'll be using this setup in a medium-to-large sized room (15X20) with my viewing/listening position approximately 10 feet from the TV. The room has windows on one long wall with the opposite wall open to another room. Mounting the QS8s on the walls is not really an option - I was planning on getting the Axiom stands for them.

So with all that, the bank is just about broken. I've got enough left over for cables and wire (thanks for the great advice from the board on that too!), but no budget for any immediate upgrades or additions.

Now here's my questions:
1) I opted for the EP350 to get the lower frequencies that appear to be weak on the EP175. I do like the idea of floor rumbling bass for HT and I like a large variety of music (basically everthing except country) to include hard rock and some dance/techno stuff, so I figured I would appreciate the 350. I read in other posts that folks seem very satisfied with both subs, but I thought I noted a sort of consensus that besides the lower range, the 350 definitely has the ability to cover a medium to large room with lots of bass if you want it. Would you agree?
2) Given the fact that one side wall of my HT room is completely open to another room, do you anticipate that I will be able to set up the QS8s (on the Axiom stands) adequately to get good surround effects?
3) Lastly, but certainly not least, if I were to need to trim a few hundred US dollars out of my budget, where would a relatively painless place be to cut or reduce my choices? I considered dropping down to the 755 amp (since I am only using 5.1 now, although I would like to add a rear speaker or two later), or maybe dropping the VP150 and using the speakers on my TV (Sony XBR Wega - actually it sounds pretty nice...) for a center. Opinions?

Thanks in advance for your advice and I hope to be able to contribute some views of my own after I get this rig set up and running.

Best regards,

- Jeff

Setup looks good! I have the M80s, VP150, QS8, and a custom 15" subwoofer. I also have the 950, but have an adcom amp (great deal from a dealer friend)! IF you really need to trim the budget, Outlaw is coming out with a new amplifier (model 7100) that does 100w x 7 (into 8ohms)! I think outlaw is offering a deal for both the amp and 950, dont have the price in front, but I do remember it was a few hundred less (maybe 1700 for both)! 100 watts should be sufficient, the axioms are efficient speakers.

-z

Jeff, I'd certainly hope if you get all that good equipment, that you wouldn't find a need for "immediate upgrades"!

1)The EP350 should be more suitable for higher levels in a larger room; 2)Unless you set up along the window wall that's pretty much how you'll have to use the QS8s, and they should sound fine; 3)Consider the 755 amp for $400 less and if you later need 7 channels, get a pair of M200s. Marc at Audioshop still has the EP350 on sale for about $420 U.S. plus shipping. Considering postponing a center channel speaker isn't a bad idea. The center channel is very important for movies, but the speaker isn't. Using the mains to play the center channel in "phantom" mode works fine, the disadvantage being the narrow horizontal area where the dialog will still appear to come from the screen. Except for someone sitting well off center, this would sound better than using the TV speakers. Also, don't forget factory outlet for the M22s and QS8s.

Thanks to all for the replies - both private and public. I've been out of town but I'll call Marc about the sub tomorrow.

Would anyone care to comment on amp wattage? I know this is highly subjective, but I'm concerned about not getting enough. I'm intrigued by the soon to be released 7X100W Outlaw amp, but I originally targeted 200W to make sure I had plenty of headroom. I really do not want to have to buy another amp anytime soon. I also do not want to buy more wattage than I need. I've got an old Kenwood 100W receiver now, but I really can't use it as a basis for a decision. The pre-amp section is so crappy that I think at high volumes the amp is just amplifying noise so I generally don't turn it up as loud as I would like. I'm not running a nightclub, but I do want to make sure I've got enough headroom to handle dynamic recordings. Maybe a clean pre-amp/amp would do the job great at 100W. Any opinions would be appreciated.

I'm not sure about the Outlaw series, but the Onkyo receiver I had claimed 110w per 7 channels. After more research I found that it wasn't doing anything close. Take a look at this link http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/3401/ratevsac.htm
It show's different receiver ratings by channel driven. I don't recall who posted this originaly, but it helped me out.

Rick

The 7100 will be more than powerful enough for a room your size. None of your speakers are hard to drive, and all have high sensitivities. If you were running Maggies you might need the juice of the 770, but I don't think you'll have a problem. The Anthem PVA7 is also highly regarded and worth considering.