Our cave is now finally ready for my wife to put the finishing touches on. Here are some details for anyone that may be under-taking a similar project.

Construction was with 4" studs, Roxul mineral Flexi-batt insulation in the outside walls and 7" Roxul Safe n' Sound in the 9" fir floor joists. The Safe n' Sound was also used in the interior walls and to fill any voids. Drywall all around is 12 foot long sheets, 5/8" glued and screwed. All doors are safe n' sound with an STC rating of 26 with rubber gaskets in the door jambs. The walls to the laundry room have off-set studs to reduce sound transmission. When the laundry room door is closed, I basically can't hear any of the appliances. I've measured more than 20 dB of attenuation with the door closed vs. open. The furnace ducts are lined with sound-proofing material. The 4,000 cubic foot main area that you see in these pictures is heated via the 30,000 BTU fireplace (I always have it turned down to 10,000 BTU) as I didn't want any noise pollution from forced air ducts. There is a return air duct in the back and that has been carefully designed to limit the noise. The place is lit with 34, 120VX50W, incandescent bulbs (par 20 I think).

The seating area is 10 feet back from the front wall which puts me about 8 feet away from each of the front speakers. The audio is dialed in to within a few dB of 0 for each speaker with the exception of the sub. For music, I set the bass management to 40 Hz and movies 80 Hz. I have the EP600 gain set to noon (almost all the way up) with the LFE gain on my Denon set to -9dB for music and -6dB for movies. Even at this low setting, the EP600 shakes the entire house during movies (but not in a bad way ). I know that these sub settings are contrary to what most recommend, but I have found, through a lot of trial and error, that this is what sounds best for me in this very live environment. The cave is completely tight with the exception of some fireplace resonance between 18 and 23 Hz. This resonance is really only a problem during movies. I also tried the sub in the front of the room with no difference in performance. I finally settled on this location because I feel it looks more balanced.

You can see I have some very aggressive toe-in on the M80s. I spent over 60 hours tweaking with their position. When I discovered this particular configuration, it was like heaven. At first, I thought that I had the surround going. I had to check each speaker for myself to convince myself that it was really only stereo. The same is experienced by others that listen to this system. I cannot stop listening to well-recorded music on this system (BTW, I do all of my music listening in stereo). Movies are also very theatre-like with a very immersive surround experience. Centre channel clarity is exceptional even 45 degrees off-axis. When people see pictures of this set-up, the first thing they say is I need a bigger monitor. The monitor is actually the ideal size given how far away we sit from it. Any bigger and you'd be able to see the pixels.

For anyone that is planning to develop an entertainment area, I strongly suggest Axiom for audio. Clarity, imaging, aesthetics, power and service all exceeded my high expectations. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

M80s, VP150 & EP600 (to the left)



QS8 left surround.



QS8s for left & right surround rears.



QS8 right surround.



View from the rear to the front.



The sweet area.

That's looking very nice!

Noise from air ducts is a concern of mine, but I think I'll just be turning my ventilation system off when I'm doing critical listening, rather than trying to tackle sound-proofing.

I'm looking forward to buying an EP600. I finally decided to go with that instead of a Hsu, so now it's just about saving the money. After that, it will be down to an amplifier and preamp/processor, and then I'll finally be putting my money toward the basement remodel. It's hard to be patient! It will all be worth it, though, I'm sure.

In the meantime, I like looking at systems like yours. Ha ha.

hi,

really nice, from every angle.

choice of materials, colors, lighting & even the photographs are of exceptional quality.

the only thing missing are friends kicking back and enjoying everything.

....which i suspect is about to happen. i haven't selected the movie for tonight, but that's done in a few minutes.

after that, curl up with the wife, enjoy each other's company - i hope you're doing the same tonight.

Elden

Strong work Mojo. Looks like you did your homework and now you will get to reap the benefits! I have had my Axiom's, same set-up you have, for over a year now and still can't get over how amazing they sound. Enjoy!

WOW! Terrific room! Well done!

Very impressive Tex, looks fantastic! To bad that darn pole is right behind the couch.

I could have eliminated the post. But then I would have had to live with my 20 year-old, foamless Boses, a no-name centre, two book-shelf sonys for surrounds and a 10 year-old 26" GE TV that is better utilized as a fishbowl. Oh, and the ceiling would have had to drop another 4" along that centre run.

Do you think I made the right decision ?

Looks awesome! Nice space to enjoy with friends and family. Is there a reason why you mounted your center on the wall vs on the stand? Does the height in relation with the front speakers sound more seamless?

Hi Zorikos and thanks,

I couldn't tell you if it sounds better or not on the wall vs. the console because I haven't tried mounting it on the console. Mounted on the wall, the sound definitely is seamless. The only added expense of wall-mounting for me was the full metal bracket from Axiom.

My first reason for mounting it on the wall was to eliminate any possible resonances with the console. Then I got to thinking that there are some other side benefits as well like a cleaner look and more flexibility if I needed to angle it up or down. You probably can't tell from the picture but the centre is actually angled up from horizontal about 5 or 10 degrees. I found that I had better clarity this way. Also, when I get a separate amp, I'll need the room on the top of the console for my DVD player and maybe by that time a game console. My wife likes the look better right now too. She's a little zorikia .

Nice looking room, Mojo. I would replace the pole with two stacked EP600s. Never mind the possible structural damage--imagine the fun!

Good show, Mo. As far as the relative settings on the EP600 level control and the Denon sub out level go, if that low of a setting on the Denon voltage output can keep the EP600 amp "awake", that's fine; either one can be set high with the other low to achieve the same overall result. Your toe-in doesn't appear to be all that extreme to me from the pic; I have the tweeters pointed at my ears, so what's your target point?

Absolutely beautiful, Mo! Really, this is really well done. Gives me plenty of ideas for my downstairs, now under construction. Love your center

That is why I had our builders install a 25' iron I-beam across our 30 x 31ft room, that way I only have one pole which is over by the bar covered in oak.

Mojo, you really need a projector.

My tweeters are also pointed at my ears. I just don't see too many pictures with such an aggressive toe-in. We're kind of unique I think.

As for the sub, it doesn't cut out. I have heard of issues from others but I haven't experienced it.

The rest of my family is downstairs right now watching Happy Feet and I'm up here above them being shaked by the sub. It's down-right scary .

I thought about a projector. But I wasn't sure how it was going to benefit me sitting 8 feet away from it.

Actually the engineer said that I can take the post out no problem...if I wanted the floor to feel like the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Two stacked EP600s would have been adequate I'm sure. Now I wish that St PatGuy would have been around during the design phase.

Looking good indeed, nice work.

Looks really nice.

Take out the pole. That thing really has to be frustrating.

I might not toe in the M80's so much...but not a huge deal.

I'd hang some posters or pictures on the wall to give your basement some color. Right now everything is a beige. I do like the lighting.

Looks really great though, I bet it sounds even better!

Oh...by the way, you might want to warn the person sitting in the reclining chair that if they recline too far, their head might explode from being so close to the EP600. Just don't want you to have a mess on your hands.

I actually found that, for my environment, the sweet spot becomes a sweet area when they are toed in like this.

OMG!! very nice!

I experimented a little last night with my toe in. If I have them pointed directly at the primary middle recliner, yep it is outstanding for that person, however, I have three recliners in the front row and a couch in the back elevated row.

What worked best for me was to actually have it pointed behind me when seated in the primary seat, 1/3 third the distance of the mains to that seat.

So, since they are 12 ft from me, they are pointing at a location 4 ft behind my head. In this setup, everyone enjoys the sweet spot.

Opportunity for improvement idea for you: install a motorized turn-table under each M80 with a room occupancy sensor.

What is funny, is that last night I was thinking about that also.

You know what they say about great minds .

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You know what they say about great minds .

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Yes, I do. It is that they buy Axioms