Opinions on up comming speaker purchase

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Hello Guys, I've been looking at getting axiom speakers for a few months now and I like most people have a budget to work with of around 2000-3000 but I wont have 3000 up front and was thinking about getting 2 M60's for the front, VP100 center, qs4 v2 surrounds and the EP500 Sub. My room is not that big and I play mostly xbox 360, listen to music, and watch movies sometimes. My seating distance will be 9 or 10 feet from the front speakers and from what I read the vp 100 should do the job up to 15 feet. My room is not optimal shape neither, there is a wall on the front and right side from sitting. I will take some pictures of my non optimal size room and post them over the next few days. The living room is not big and I plan to buy these with the future in mind and I defently want a tower speaker. I've herd and read so many great things about axiom over the last few months and I'm very impressed with what people have to say along with those on the forms who help out. The service and quiality provided by this excellent company has defently influenced my decision to finally buy some good speakers with price/performance in mind. any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

A questions regarding the 2 surrounds which are the QS4 V2's is it possible to mount these into the celing or do they have to be a little above ear level?

Not sure what you are saying by "into the ceiling"? You can mount them from the ceiling, but should allow 4-5" or more of breathing room for the top woofer. Axiom sells a mount on their product page, Omnimount also makes one that works, or you can DIY like me.

Kevin, welcome. Yes, the Axioms give you an outstanding performance/price ratio and the system you propose should be excellent. As is my preference, I'd suggest that you also consider a vertical M2 for a center speaker.

The surrounds typically should be about 3' above ear level, but this isn't critical, and a slightly higher position hanging from the ceiling, such as Randy's, can work very well.

Yes a ceiling bracket like that would be perfect, I was not sure if you could have the speakers so much higher than ear level, so that's excellent. I've never considerd the M2 as a center but that sounds like an idea to check out for sure. Over the weekend I'll get some pictures posted of what the room looks like for some opinions. Thanks for a the comments and advise so far

Quote:

As is my preference, I'd suggest that you also consider a vertical M2 for a center speaker.

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>>Have you ever thought of making this your signature

haha

Kevin, instead of the QS4s that you are thinking about, I would try to stretch your budget for the QS8s for a deeper response from the bigger woofers.

Well a lot may depend on your ceiling height. Our basement ceilings are 9ft, however, if you look in my pictures above you can see I have my Qs8's attached to a bump down area that hides some venting and an I-beam that spans our basement. The bump down is 10", so I'm guessing the Qs8's are about 7-7.5ft off the floor.

I hope that this isn't too tangential but what is the benefit of having a bookshelf speaker pulling centre channel duty in place of a typical centre channel speaker?

I ask because I'll be potentially be purchasing the VP150 early in the new year. It's a bit overkill for the room (12x16) but then again so are my M60's.

Cheers,

J

When you have 3 identical speakers up front, with identical drivers, they will be perfectly matched. I've known some people to use 5 m80's in a 5.1 setup. Of course, this would not work in many room environments or budgets.

Centers speakers have a horizontal orientation, which is much better for most situations, than using a floorstanding or larger bookshelf. Just make sure you use the same brand of speaker so they are matched.

Thanks for the input so far, I've got my room dimensions below. width = 14 ft, 11 ft deep, 8.6 ft high. It's only a short distance to the couch which is 9ft from the front of the speaker, so the VP 100 should be fine. Should the QS8's be on the side of the listener or behind? also I'll have the M60's about 6-7 feet width apart in the front that would make it about 9-10 feet from the listiner.

From the Axiom FAQ:

Where should I place my surround speakers?
Ideally, surround speakers should be either wall-mounted or stand-mounted to either side of the couch or primary listening area, from one to six feet higher than seated listeners' ears, and slightly forward or rearwards of the listening area if you wish. Axiom's Quadpolar surrounds are especially versatile and can yield excellent performance with stand or wall-mounting to the rear as well as at side locations. (see our dedicated stands for the QS Surround speakers in the Store). Rear center speakers for 6.1 and 7.1 installations are intended to go on the rear wall at about the same height as the surround speakers.

Kevin, in a 5.1 setup the side surround speakers should be a little farther(maybe about 2')back than even with the listener, to lend a little back effect in the absence of 7.1 back speakers. Since you're going to be sitting almost up against the back wall, the best position is likely to be on the back wall about 6' up and separated about 10'. If, as you indicated, you might use a ceiling mount, position them similarly.

Since you have the 14' width available, it'd be a good idea to separate the front speakers a little more, about the same 9-10' that you'll be away from them.