Hi, folks,

After many hours of reading, I have been persuaded to try Axioms for my new home theater.

I posted two "drawings" I need you to look at:
http://www.geocities.com/menoclu/

1. viewing/listening will be 60% 5.1 movies and 40% 2-channel music (jazz, funk, instrumental).
2. my room is 13.5W x 16L x 8H for a total of 1728 cubic feet.
3. There is carpet on the floor. As I sit in the home theater, there are two arched-top windows on the right covered with curtains. Front and left wall are clean, even though we may build bookshelves on the front wall, which will come in 1.5' or so. There is a large arched opening on the back wall behind me over my left shoulder as I sit in the home theater.
4. the display will be a 42-47" flat panel.

I want the M60s. Are they too big for the room?
Will I be better off with the M22s?
Given my room layout, where shold I place my surrounds? You won't see them "drawn' since I don't know where I'd put them. For the left surround to be on the back wall, it'd have to be high towards the corner, because of the arched opening.

Thanks a bunch,
Rodney

Rodney, welcome. My view would be that the M22s, supported by a good sub, would certainly be enough for that size room, but since you really want the M60s, no problem would exist with them. It looks like you'd be sitting about 8' away from them, which should be far enough for the drivers to "blend". You'd be too far from the back wall to put the surrounds(which are side surrounds)there. About 6' up at the front edge of the window farther back, with the other directly opposite on the open wall, should be fine.

Hi Rodney, and welcome.

Basically, I'm just going to echo what John said by sharing my experience. I had M22s paired with a subwoofer in a similarly sized room, and sat about 8 feet from them. They were certainly adequate, but I felt something was missing in the upper bass/lower midrange area (in all likelihood due to less than optimal speaker placement or incorrect receiver settings on my part, and YMMV). I exchanged the M22s for M60s, and was completely satisfied with the results. They were certainly not "too big for the room."

I think one common error folks make, or are forced to make due to physical limitations of their rooms (my situation ), is not giving their speakers enough space. Speakers should be influenced, as little as possible, by nearby surfaces, because the reflected sound from nearby surfaces can negatively affect the sound of the speakers. If you'll look at BrotherBob's disgustingly gorgeous room below (OK, so I'm very jealous ), you'll see his M80s have a good deal of space around them.



Ideally, bookshelf speakers will not be placed on bookshelves, but rather on stands in an open area. You'll note that the top plate of most speaker stands is actually smaller than the footprint of the speaker itself, thus eliminating any possibility of reflections from the top plate.



I agree completely with John's suggestion for surround placement. The optimal placement for the QS surrounds, IMHO, is slightly to the rear of the seating area, so place the right surround in the space between the windows as close to the rear-most window as you deem aesthetically acceptable, and from 1 to 3 feet above your ears. And, place the left surround directly across the room from it at the same height.

I agree with Jack. If you have room for the towers, and the WAF is not an issue, I would suggest them for the 40% of the time your not using them for HT.

Guys,

I can't believe I already had three quality replies this morning. Thank you all very much. Many times in forums people reply, but the replies don't eally address the issues/questions.

Well, M60s they will be.

I will take exact measurements as to the width and location of the windows and back opening and post later.

Thanks again,
Rodney

P.S. Indeed, BrotherBob's ht room is wonderful.

You will love your 60's.

You *did* get some good answers there, not sure if I can add much. Your room size is fine for either M22s or M60s, although with the M60s you'll probably want to "use more of the room" than you would need with M22s.

To that end, I might suggest you move the seating position a couple of feet closer to the back wall, move the TV and front speakers further into the room as well, and position the surrounds just BEHIND the second window rather than between the windows.

If you are thinking of building bookshelves on the front wall you would probably have to do this anyways. If it were my room my first thought would be to leave walking space between TV and bookshelves, rather than putting the TV on the shelves.

Something like this :

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2873960110048161985HqMfIo

For some reason I can't upload to my normal web hosting area so you're gonna have to click on the link.

Moving the seating position away from the midpoint of the room will also give you more options for subwoofer placement.

Rodney:
I setup my HT recently in my basement. ( 16 ft X 40 ft). QS8 Surrounds mounted 25 ft away from the fronts (M22ti's) on the side of the wall (about 3 ft behind the couch and a foot above the couch).
The center is VP 150 & sub is the Axiom 350.
In any case have this setup for just over a month, and am very happy. Of course, havent heard the M60's, so wouldnt be able to compare, but havent found the M22's wanting as far as sound. Trying to put pictures on the board, but havent figured that one out yet.
Hope that helps...

Heres trying to get the pictures up..
[image]C:\Nataraju\TEMP\home theatre pictures\DSCN0387.jpg[/image]
[image]C:\Nataraju\TEMP\home theatre pictures\DSCN0388.jpg[/image]
[image]C:\Nataraju\TEMP\home theatre pictures\DSCN0389.jpg[/image]

Raj, to post your pictures you need to use a free service like photobucket.

Quote:

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To that end, I might suggest you move the seating position a couple of feet closer to the back wall, move the TV and front speakers further into the room as well, and position the surrounds just BEHIND the second window rather than between the windows.

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Assuming he has the leeway (and permission ) to do this, that's a great suggestion, John. May I also say, John, that it's very good to have you back on the forum. Your contributions are substantial.