What have I done??? - Axiom Message Boards

I am in the middle of a complete house renovation. We bought a very poor 106 yr old farmhouse when we were married 11 years ago. I replaced the windows and siding, adding insulation to the exterior. Then I went and turned a 4 small bedroom 2nd floor into 3 more managable bedrooms and a full bath. This summer I ripped out the first floor and created a new full bath, a larger living room and dining room, and a new den. I put in a foundation for an addition (family room) and am just about done tripling the size of the kitchen. I am going to turn the basement under the addition into an eight seat theater, and recently bought the Epic 80 system (without sub)to go with my SVS sub.

Here's the deal. My wife wants surround sound in the family room, but does not want to see ANYTHING except the tv and DVD player. So I am packing up all of my other speakers and buying in-walls. I an rather unimpressed with the performance of all of the selections in my price range, but after corresponding with people on other forums, I am going to give the Audiosource 8" in-walls a shot. Others claim that they were better than anything else in the price range, and that as far as inexpensive in-walls go, they are pretty decent. So I will try them ($45/ea). They will probably suck, but is just for tv in the family room, not for music listening or movie watching.

Here's the second deal. Nothing can be seen. SOOOO.....I bought a Pinnacle Subsonic sub for $350 shipped tonight. It is brand new in sealed box with full factory warranty from an authorized dealer. I found a few favorable reviews online, and although it will never match a Hsu or my SVS, it should be easy to hide (it is an 8" cube!!!!). Apparently the twin 6.5" drivers in a sealed box with a 350watt amp puts out decent bass to about 30hz. As I said...TV veiwing only.

Now that I have told you my long story,...what do you think? I figure they should be ok for TV, but I really feel sort of like I could have done better for $600. I guess the COMPLETELY UNSEEN thing is a killer.

In reply to:
I guess the COMPLETELY UNSEEN thing is a killer.

You have my complete sympathy.

You have my admiration and sympathy for going through a full home renovation.

In 1991 we added a second floor to our house while we were living in it. Nothing anyone said could have possibly prepared us for that adventure. It was sort of like camping but with lots of dust.

As for the speakers, I think that for $600 you did pretty well PLUS you do have a dedicated room to experience the real thing.

Yeah, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have done all of the work myself (I am a mason by trade). Even the plumbing, electrical, and ductwork were designed and completed without outside help (well, ok, I had an HVAC guy make a plenum for an A-coil when I put in central air), they had to install the compressor because of the freon, but I did switch from fuel oil to natural gas and install the furnace myself!) I have a carpenter custom building my cabinets, and he will also do all the wood trim in the house because when I switched from lath and plaster to drywall, the difference was so great that all the woodwork needs major adjustment. Other than that, it is pretty much my baby.

Getting back to the speakers and sub...thanks. I sure hope they don't disappoint me. They will be hard pressed to come close to the Axiom/SVS/Outlaw/Parasound system in the theater.

Geez! I hate guys like you. I just hung some pictures and was feeling pretty hotsy totsy about my "skills," and then I gotta read about some guy who redoes his whole $%^# house, including a new furnace. Ego deflation, big time.

(Nice job, Bill)

thats a very sad story about not wanting to see anything...did you consider locking her out of the house???????...ron

Did you tell her that you don't want to see any pillows or curtains?

Mark

Re "don't want to see anything", you missed your opportunity. You could have told her you can do it, but it will be expensive, and gotten B&W in wall speakers. E.g., http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.models/Label/Model%20Signature%207NT

Of course spending that much money would be antithetical to Axiom's philosophy, so maybe it's good you didn't.

Don't worry about it -- what you got is better than most family TV rooms have. If you didn't already have another, better-equipped room, it would be different. But you do, so you're OK.

In reply to:
Did you tell her that you don't want to see any pillows or curtains?

Such a comment would only elicit "the look."

If the room will ONLY be used for TV and no music or movies, why bother with surround sound at all. TV speakers aren't too bad these days. - just curious, not trying to be a smart ass.

I thought about that. Virtually no TV programs except HDTV have Dolby 5.1 audio, and not many of them do. Hence there's no discrete multichannel material to drive the surrounds (whether free standing, in wall, cheap or expensive).

However he did mention a DVD player, so there are 5.1 soundtracks there. But why watch a movie with surround sound in the TV room when you have a much better HT room? Maybe for separate groups? So the kids can watch Nemo while the parents or guests watch a different movie? Just a guess.

Exactly. My 5 and 6 year old will not be in the theater unless we are. Besides, I am looking to the future of HDTV, which will have a 5.1 format also.