Greetings, everybody.

Unbelievable!! I placed my order yesterday morning and the 11 boxes of speakers/accesories/stands are sitting in my house as of now!! The problem is the Purolator guy woke my wife up too early in the morning. Now I am looking for a florist nearby.

I think I have a stomach flu and need to take the rest of the day off resting at home.

As I am kind of a newbie to this, I will post more questions here, inevitably some silly ones, and need all the helps I can get.

Congratulations! Is this your first high quality speaker purchase? I envy those who experience it for the first time...

What package did you purchase?

To fight a flue, you need isolation from other people (including coworkers) and as much exposure to cardboard as possible. You can quote me to your boss if you want. The best thing for you right now is to stay home, open 10-11 boxes (as many as you can find, actually) and fenshui the contents around your room. Touching cables may help, but this could just be folklore or something.

Welcome to the ever-growing Axiom family!

PS: medic8r could write you a prescription if it comes to that!

or a Doctors note

Yes, it's my first ever HT system.

This is what I purchased:
1 pair of M22
1 pair of QM8
1 VP100
1 EP350
Cables/Stands/Accessories

Now I am eagerly waiting for the delivery of the Yamaha RVX3800 that I ordered.

Yeah! Same benefits, less dangerous!

That's a good first ever!
Is your flue better?

What does his fireplace have to do with this?

Color and Finish?

Boston Cherry. The regular finish and color but I am sure the sound will be awesome.

I personnally prefer the regular finish. Altough I agree the High Gloss is beautiful when you look at it for the sake of looking at it, I don't like anything that attracts my attention from the screen and/or listening.

But, luckily, there are enough people liking different things that we have choices!

h317 its good to feel like a kid in a candy store once in a while; enjoy your speakers, you made a good choice.

classic...

I opened up all the boxes. No scratches at all. I just placed them on the floor now and anxiously wait for the arrival of the AVR. The stands were all half assembled and ready to go.

Ok, first dumb question ... is it a bad idea to place a speaker right over or close to an air duct?

Not ideal but other than the dust particles continually showering it when the furnace kicks in, it shouldn't be a problem, as the stands will keep most of the heat at bay.

Ok, my receiver came and I hooked up the front L&R and centre speaker. I hooked up the subwoofer.

The CDs/DVDs/iPod all play beautifully. However, there is no sound from the subwoofer. Could it be because I have not hooked up the QS8s yet (I doubt so but I am asking anyway). I have also gone through the Yamaha auto setup and it could not detect the subwoofer. I try to flip the switch of the subwoofer to "active" but it shill couln't pick anything from the receiver. Can anybody help? Thanks a bunch.

The QS8's will have nothing to do with the sub. How do you have your sub hooked up?

I use the 12' subwoofer cable I purchased from Axiom to connect to the receiver.

Okay, the first thing(this isn't silly; it's happened before)is to look at the back of the 3800 very closely and make sure that you have the sub cable plugged in to the sub output in the pre-out section rather than the sub input in the section of multi-channel inputs.

If that isn't it, disconnect one of the mains and connect the speaker wire to the sub(disconnect the coaxial sub cable)as if it was a main speaker and play something that has significant bass in it(turn the frequency control on the sub all the way up)to see if there's sound.

Also, have you selected something in the AVR ala Pure Direct which disengages bass management? Can you verify that the material you are listening to requires your sub?

You may also want to check if the Yammy is set to allow output to the sub. I am not sure how bass management is currently implemented in the Yammy. Previously, when you are using a sub and the LFE/Bass out is set to both; frequencies from 90Hz – 20Hz are sent to the sub, as well as the speakers that are set to Large. If you set the LFE/Bass Output to Main, then frequencies from 90Hz - 20Hz are sent only to the main speakers, only if the main speakers are set to large. If the main speakers are set to small, then only frequencies from 20Khz – 90Hz are sent to the main speakers. If all speakers are set to large, then the LFE/Bass Output is mute. You would need to be sure that the sub is allowed to get something.

John

I would also check the menu settings on the Yammy to make sure you don't have the bass out to only the mains.

I am glad that you said it wasn't silly. I did make that silly mistake. Now the receiver did recognise the subwoofer. Time to pop in the "Saving Private Ryan" DVD.

Thanks for all the help, guys.

The Yammy has three options: subwoofer only, both, main only. Is it a matter of personal preference or is there a general rule of thumb (i.e. size of subwoofer, listening distance ... etc?)

Since the your sub is capable of handling the low frequencies better, I would set the mains and satellites to small and the LFE/Bass Output to sub only. Frequencies below 90Hz as well as all of the LFE content will be sent to the sub, where they can be reproduced more faithfully.

John

Very good, 317(lots of inputs and outputs back there, eh?). As John hifi commented, set the bass output to sub only, so that the sub is responsible for the frequencies which it handles best and relieves the mains from some of the lowest bass burden. Some prefer to use the setting called "both", "plus", etc., which makes the mains run full-range(with the sub duplicating that lowest bass)and say that the sound is "fuller", but "full"(whatever that means)isn't necessarily good, and for more accurate sound keep the bass responsibilities divided. Enjoy.

Ok, now I am getting sweet sound from the system, I am trying to learn some tricks/tips from various sources.

1st question: I know that I am supposed to flush the centre speaker as close to the front edge of the rack as possible (please correct me if I am wrong). Do I move the front L/R speakers to have same distance from the wall as the centre speaker? Can the front speakers be places a little closer to/farther from the back wall without any adverse effects?

2nd question: What is a "toe-in"? Does M22 benefit from such position (my front speakers are approx. 9 feet apart)?

Thanks.

Often what is ideal for audio is not practical in the home. A few inches difference in distance from seat to center verses seat line to mains won't make a big enough difference to worry about. If you are talking about several feet, it might. Many receivers have settings where you can adjust for the different speaker distances. This would help.

I would try listening with them on an even plane. Pay attention to the sound stage you get (the virtual position of all the singers and instruments that is created by stereo effect.) Then move your mains out where you need them and listen again. If you notice a difference, then you can modify where you like it best within the parameters that the room allows.

Toe in has to do with pointing your two main speakers slightly inward towards the center/main listening position. Sometimes toe in creates a better sound stage. That is to say it helps to ensure you hear all of the sounds as if they are coming from various points in front of you, as the producer intended. If you need toe in and how much, is really impossible for us to say for sure. It can depend on the speaker, the room, the distances, etc. Again, you get to have the fun of playing with it.

I'd say, set em up in a basic, standard formation at the distances that make sense for the room and with no toe in. Enjoy them, because you will enjoy them even without these tweaks, and once you have grown accustomed to how they sound, you can start experimenting with positioning tweaks.

Striving for perfection can be fun. As long as it doesn't get so serious as to lessen the fun. I'm still having fun playing around with my stuff because you always wonder what if.... However, It's my own personal rule that I never do it before or during a movie and never when I want to just listen to the music. Oh, and never when my wife is sleeping. That's another goooood piece of advice.

There is more expert advice to be had for sure by the senior folks here but I like to throw in my basic help when I can as I feel I owe them the time.

Yes, the center speaker shouldn't be recessed on the rack so that the sound is diffracted by the front edge of the rack. Position it at least flush with the front edge. It isn't critical to have the center and mains the same distance away since receivers adjust the delay to compensate for a difference. The YPAO on the 3800 will do this automatically during calibration.

Toe-in is angling the speakers inward toward the listener. The Axioms have very wide and smooth horizontal dispersion when oriented vertically, but the best sound is still directly on axis, so the M22s should be toed-in so that the tweeters point at your ears. In general, the mains should be separated by about as much as your distance from them.

Thanks, JohnK and Murph. I will experiment your suggestions. I believe my front L/R and my listening position do form an equilateral triangle with sides of 9-10 feet. Now how about the QS8s? Should they be placed wider/narrower/same distance apart as the front speakers? Or is it again something for the individual listerner to experiment?

The QS8s are quite forgiving of placement, however to me they sound best when placed to the side and slightly behind the main seating for 5.1. Your reciever will compensate delay for the distance to the surrounds. As always experimentation by you for your room can improve what you hear.

317, from the way you phrased that, it's as if you're talking about having them behind you and facing forward. Keep in mind that in a 5.1 setup the QS8s are side, not back, surrounds. They should be on or very close the side walls, facing inward toward each other, and a little farther back(maybe 2')than the listening position.

Unlike the gaffe I made setting up the subwoofer, I did this right the 1st time around

Unfortunately, the lisening area is on the long side of the living room so the QS8s are sitting in the middle-right side of the room (meaning both speakers have at least 5 feet to the sidewalls). But I did make sure that they are sitting as close to the back wall as possible so they are 1'-2' behind me.

I have my QS8's on the back wall facing forward in a 5.1 set up since my couch is against the wall and side mounting was not really an option. (brick fireplace on right, and no side wall on the left... just an opening into the kitch)

I think the QS8's sound great this way, and as many have said they are very easy to place.

When I audition axioms before my purchase the QS8's were on stands facing in toward the listening area. I had him rotate the QS8's facing toward the front to see how it sounded and I did not notice much of a difference to be honest.

terzaghi, I'm in the same boat with my 8's as well. Had no choice but to face them forward, and to me they sound great!

Okay, since you're sitting close to the wall behind, either on/near the side walls facing in or on/near the back wall, spread very wide and facing forward works fine.