An update to all my friends in the Axiom forum about the purchase that I was planning for Axioms from Oman.

Apologies for the long thread, but I am very exited with the new set.

My New Axioms arrived on Sunday in perfect condition, I recieved the call at noon that the FedEx guys are waiting at my home. My understanding boss (a nice guy) let me have the rest of the day off. I went home and unpacked the Axioms, they were all in perfect condition.

I should have posted earlier, but was too busy in the office (financial year closing ... etc), and enjoying the speakers in the evenings. I am now the proud owner of the following:

A Pair of M80ti
VP150
2 Pairs QS8

I have a dedicated room, so WAF is not a problem. The wife occasionally wanders in, gives me the 'look' and leaves. I am pretending that I do not get it at all .

I have used the M80's and the VP150 and 2 QS8's (on some books on a shelve) so far. I am planning to setup the QS8's tommorow to get a 7.1 setup with my SVS PC+ 20-39.

I placed the M80s on the side of the projector screen (around 8 feet apart) slightly toed in, with the VP150 in the middle on 2 speaker stands. The QS8's will be fitted to the walls tommorow, with two Pairs going to the sides (5-6 feet high), slightly behind the listening position by 1 feet. The back pair will go on the back wall 8 feet high pointing downwards using Axiom FMB pointing downwards towards the listening position 2 feet apart (there is a big window on the back wall).

I initially had the M80's pointing straight ahead, this caused some problems with imaging. I toed them in slightly, like I learned from reading EVERYTHING that Alan wrote on this website, and imaging improved immensly. For the first time in my music listening life, I nearly swore that the sound was coming from the center speaker and had to check the 3805 to ensure that it is in DIRECT mode not PLIIx mode. The M80's sound sweet and I am glad that I got those instead of the M60's. They are also large and I feel masculing and powerful just looking at them . I am very happy with these, they are the best speakers I have ever owned or listened to in a private home. AND ... they are NOT bright. They sound just right. Even old recordings do not sound THAT bad. My big surprise was when I played the CD "Auberge" by "Chris Rea", this is one of my favourite cd's. The CD is not a prime example of a quality recording. BUT, I never realised that the voice of Chris Rea was this deep. Other CD's, pink floyd, eric clapton, lara & reyes, ottmar liebert, diana krall ... etc, all sounded wonderful. I heard detail that I could not hear before. I am very pleased with these speakers. And they are not fatiguing, I listened for more than 10 hours in the first day and reasonable volume and have not experienced any discomfort.

The VP150, I placed on 2 speaker stands near each other. Looks nice. But the sound was not so good. After spending a couple of hours reading the manual and some of the Tips and articles in the Axiom site, I flipped them upside down and the sound immediately improved. I also increased the center channel by 1 DB and it is slightly better. I am not very happy yet and I have some fiddling to do to improve the sound (forward / backward repositiong). Speaker sounds good, but speach is not as I would like it to be. I tried StarWars P1, LotR RotK, Gladiator, ... etc. So the VP150 is still a work in progress.

The QS8's will be mounted tomorrow, but from what I hear so far, they sound good. StarWars P1 sounded good.


Oh well, enough for now. I will put in an update when I can and will post some pictures when everything is in place and looking good.


Thanks for all the help ...


Another happy owner ... and another member of the community ..

I cannot respond to posts immediatly because of the time difference .. and because I am listening to something in the dedicated HT room

Nat:

Excellent!

thats great man.. glad you are happy with the M80's. i am sure if you keep joshling with the VP150, you will get it to sound great. i also have boosted the center up by 2dbs in my set-up. and keep trying movies to show off the QS8's. they really bring movies alive. here are a few to try.

open range
the bourne identity
harry potter: chamber of secrets
either of the spider-man movies
saving private ryan


give it some more listening, and give us some pics!!

bigjohn

Nat, that's just outstanding! Congratulations.

Your enthusiasm is a joy, and I'm relieved to hear that you don't find them "bright."

I too, feel the VP150 is the weakest chain in the link (do NOT interpret that as meaning I think the VP150 is "bad"). Keep working with it.

With apologies for belaboring the obvious, be sure the distance settings are correct in you receiver's speaker menu.

Enjoy!

Glad you like them. My only comment would be that your proposed positioning of the QS8's sounds a little odd.

The side surrounds usually go a few feet above ear level, and about 1' in front of the seating position...not behind.

The rear surrounds also do not need to be pointed down at you. I'd mount them flush to the wall with the supplied T-bracket. Again, a few feet above ear level, but this time directly behind you.

Other than that, it sounds like you've got yourself a great setup! (And a great boss!)

It's funny how speakers can make you feel like your first bike did when you were a kid.

I've found that when the wife gives the "look" give her the ear to ear grin that you have when you look at the speakers. Trust me, the look will go away with the disarming smile.

In reply to:

---

The wife occasionally wanders in, gives me the 'look' and leaves.

---

Just dim the lights and put on a mushy chick DVD...

Soon, she'll be asking what HT items you'd like for your next birthday!

Spiff,

Actually, Dolby Labs give you about a 15-degree range back or forward of an imaginary line drawn across the listening area. If the QS8s are exactly even with you to each side, they'd be at a 90-degree angle to the front speakers. So there is flexibility. In some rooms, there might be slight differences in the surround envelopment if they were slightly behind or forward of that horizontal line across the room. And if you want the QS8s to do double duty for SACD or DVD-Audio playback, there is a persuasive case for keeping the QS8s a bit more to the rear.

With the QS8s' quadpolar driver array, I hear little difference in my own installation. Nevertheless, I always urge some experimentation. "Well above ear level when you are seated" is, in my experience, always beneficial. Just how high doesn't seem to matter much with the QS8s. But direct-radiating surrounds tend to be much "fussier" about mounting location, again depending on the room and seating arrangement.

Regards,

Thanks to all for the good wishes

Ajax:
Distance settings are correct, but I am not sure about the calibration that I did. I used the Denon 3805 Auto setup. Sounds good, but I think that I can do better. I have ordered the DVE disk and will re-callibrate when I get this. The Denon Auto Setup gets all the distances accurrately. Seems to always make a mistake on the Sub distance though !!!

Spiff:
This was done because of the available space in the room. One of the viewing chairs is next to the wall and the side speaker will be right next to the ears of the person sitting there. Also, after checking with Axiom, I was told that this will work. With regards to the back speakers, I cannot put them right behind me because of the large windows right there. They will have to be 5 feet higher than the listening position and 3 feet higher than the surround speakers. Therefore, I thought that pointing them downwards towars the listeners will help in getting a seamless integration with the surrounds.
You will see what I mean when I post pictures

lomb7:
Thanks for the heads on
I have been married for 8 years now and am a master of the innocent looks. "The Look" is dissapearing

Mark:
Will do once the QS8's are in place.

The QS series surrounds are pretty forgiving when it comes to placement. Put 'em where they work the best, and don't worry about it.

Nat, great to hear that you're enjoying your Axioms. On the 3805, don't assume that a manual calibration will be as accurate as what it did. The sub distance setting may not be a "mistake", since a delay in the sub amp circuitry makes it seem farther away than the physical distance.

After spending lots of time reading many posts and many 'articles' by alan, I finally managed to resolve my issues with the VP150.

This baby is now upside down, on 2 speaker stands below my projector screen, 1 inch in front of the mains. I have calibrated it 1 db hot. It sounds wonderful.

I am very happy with the setup.

I auto-calibrated, then calibrated via the RS digital meter and the receiver internal tones. I will recieve my DVE disk in a week or so and then I will re-calibrate. In the mean-time, my HT sounds like a dream.

THE END.......

With my Axioms coming next week, your postings about your experience are (a) very helpful and (b) fill me with anticipation!

One question - I've not yet come across comments about the VP150 and "flipping it" upside down. Where can I read up on that?

Engine_Joe (I love that screen name, by the way ),

Because the VP150 hs an angled top surface, which slopes downward from the front surface, toward the rear surface, flipping it simply aims the speaker slightly upward. This makes it possible to place the speaker lower than your ears, like under your TV or Screen, yet aim it directly at them, thus giving you more placement options. You just flip the grille to make every thing look correct. I have mine like this under my HDTV.

Apparently, doing this resolved a placement problem Nat was having.

I read about this and a few other tricks in the VP150 user manual. Yes I read all the manuals and they are useful. I suggest that you spend some time with the articles by Alan on surround and Sub placement ... enlightning.

Congrats on the purchase and I hope that you will be as happy as I am.