Thanks to everyone who helped me out with my other post.
Looking to get Axiom speakers but need some advice

I have already ordered a VP150 and I plan to add M60's, EP500 and either 2 to 4 QS8's (5.1 or 7.1).
I have drawn up my current room at 1/4 scale and I inserted the Dolby 7.1 placement angles to see how far off my current setup is.

After inserting the Dolby 7.1 angles I can clearly see that it will be impossible to get my front speakers within the recommended 22 to 30 degrees but the rears and surround locations look very promising.
I can mount the rear QS8's on rear wall where my current rears are (6 feet up) but I will have to use FMS QS stands for the side QS8's (38 inches up).

I have included two diagrams:
The first shows my current setup and the second shows the potential setup with Axiom speakers:

CURRENT SETUP


AXIOM SETUP


I think the potential Axiom setup will work fine but I was hoping to get some feedback.
My main concern is the difference in height between the QS8's on rear wall and QS8's on stands.
My other concern is the spacing of M60's up front.
I can space the M60's out a little further but I don't want to impede the left front M60 with my love seat.

Thanks to all,
Zak

Zak,

Your setup looks like it will be pretty close to ideal, and even if you can't squeeze the front left speaker into the narrow zone, you'll be off only by inches. Keep in mind that the placement angles are ideal recommendations for a perfect world -- one without pesky furniture or the opinions of spouses.

Don't sweat it. I can pretty much guarantee that the majority of forum members here are further from this recommended placement than you're going to be, yet we still enjoy our systems thoroughly.

I think it looks great. Even if you spread out the 60's a little more, which you may not have to, I don't think the couch will be an issue. The tweeters and midrange are at the top of the speaker, and the woofers won't really be affected as much because of the lower frequencies. Besides if you look at a picture of the 60's, the woofers are a little higher than the 80's.

The Q's should be fine as you will adjust for distance (delay) when you setup your receiver. Also, they are very forgiving. You may find that the 500 works better moved away from the corner a bit...

Yes, Zak; try to get wider separation on the M60s. Another point is that since you'll be using back surround speakers, the side surrounds don't have to help provide back surround, so they can best be placed directly to the side of the listening position at the 90 degree angle, rather than farther back as you show in your second diagram.

One thought could be that you move the component rack and the sub where the M60's are, which will give you more room to play with, and avoid placing the sub from the corner. Looks like a nice room!

I think I would have thought I died and gone to HT heaven if I was able to set up my HT like yours. You are near perfection. Small tweaks hear and there will make up for any off placement issues.

Zak, you have a great room layout there, enjoy.

I was under the impression that your front speakers should reside in the degree separation illustrated by you diagram, instead of your rack and sub.

I got my VP150 the other night and I love it.
I decided to re-arrange things up front so I moved my sub and component rack to the inside and moved the front speakers to the outside. I'm not sure if I like the new look but I think it sounds slightly better like this.

I originally planned on replacing all of my current speakers with Axioms but after listening to the system now I can't imagine it sounding much better.

Here are some pics of the current setup:






Zak

looks pretty good to me, i'm sure the soundstage is much more accurate now. Try playing with the toe-in to see if it improves the imaging a bit.

If it sounds good, don't mess with it (especially if it can save you the cash).

Having said that, I would at least consider going with the QS8s. For now, keep your surround backs and use a pair of QS8s as side surrounds. QS8s on the side emit an AMAZING sourround sound field. So far, they are the best speaker purchase i've EVER made. Of course, my VP150 will be here soon and M??s will get here one day, but my surround sound has NEVER been more enveloping.