The idiot would be me. I’m not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination. I haven’t had enough exposure to high end gear to begin to describe what the hell ‘bright’, ‘warm’, ‘laid back’, ‘in your face’, ‘soundstage’, or any of the other audio terms mean. I know what sounds good to me, and what doesn’t. I do know what quality, fit and finish, customer service and value means though. I’m not well off, but not destitute either. I’m somewhere in the middle. If I have my heart set of a set of $5000 speakers, I’ll get them. But I didn’t get where I am today (financially) wasting money on high dollar gadgets in which lesser expensive gadgets would perform what I was looking for.
I have had a set of M80TI’s for about two years now. I use them for a stand alone two channel system powered by Rotel gear. I have an Outlaw sub that thumps along with them. I’m not going to go into what I think about them, as there’s enough reviews and opinions here that have already said enough. In short, I’m quite happy with them. I have no desire to try anything else. They rock.
I am now putting together what I hope to be an adequate HT system without breaking the bank. I spend roughly four to six hours a week in front of a TV watching movies and a couple TV shows that I have somehow or other got hooked on. Other than that, I’m usually doing something as I have trouble sitting still for very long. But when I do sit down, I really enjoy good sound and being totally distracted by whatever is on the boob tube.
Enough of that crap and on to the new additions.
I ordered a set of factory outlet M22’s, M3’s, QS-8’s and an EP 500 in a Boston Cherry finish. They are going to my ‘temporary’ TV area in the house, and will eventually go a dedicated room for HT when I get around to finishing it. For now, I plan to use the 22’s as mains and the pair of M3’s as a center channel in parallel. When I move to the HT room, the 3’s will be used as surround backs, QS-8’s will be the side surrounds and the M22’s will be used for the center channel in parallel. My 80’s that I’m now using for two channel will be moved to this room, and used for the mains. I’ll probably get another set of M80’s in wood veneer for the two channel system.
I’ll be using a HK 7300 for the HT. I ordered it a few days ago, and it ‘should’ be here tomorrow, so this post will be a continuing story as I progress through all the steps of hooking everything up, calibrating the system and then listening to the speakers over the next few days.
Last night I packed all the boxes upstairs and unpacked the speakers. Word of advice, don’t carry the 500 while in the box up stairs by yourself. It’s not too heavy, but it’s big and awkward with no hand holds on the box. Take it out of the box first as that cardboard is slippery. Suggestion to Axiom: order your shipping boxes with hand holds. Fed-X guys will appreciate it and I bet there will be less dropped, damaged and returned speakers. Just the big boxes.
Starting with the QS-8’s, they are bigger than I had imagined. Quite heavy for their size too. I could not find a damn thing wrong with them. Nothing at all and I am a wood worker who knows what to look for. The grills snap into place and the pins have a round head that will obviously not allow them to come off without considerable effort. They ain’t going anywhere.
Then I unpacked the M22’s. Man these little fellers are cute! They are much smaller than I had thought they’d be, even though I had drug out a tape measure before ordering them to visualize how they’d fit in my entertainment center. They are narrow and very unobtrusive if that’s the look you are going for. By now looking for imperfections was a game to me. I couldn’t find anything wrong with the first one. Ah-ha! I found a blemish on the second one! ……..a slight imperfection on the bottom of the speaker that will never be seen.
Then I unpacked the M3’s. First impression was that these are not ‘little’ bookshelves speakers. Although they are not as tall as the M22’s, they ‘appear’ to be bigger. They are wider and just look more menacing than the M22’s. I’m actually considering using them for mains and the M22’s for a center now. If you are looking for a ‘small’ bookshelf speaker, I recommend that you cut out the M22, M3 and M2 dimensions on a chunk of cardboard to see what I’m talking about. I could not find any blemishes are imperfections on either of the M3’s.
Now to the EP500 that I’ve heard and read so much fanfare about. Found a defect! The bottom rear corner of the lamination is wrinkled. It will never be seen though, so I couldn’t care less. Found a second defect……someone forgot to install the two front threaded inserts for the carpet spikes. They started to drill the holes, but only down about a quarter of an inch. I’ve emailed Axiom and asked them to send me two inserts because I don’t have any with the same thread pattern as the spikes. If I did, I’d have already fixed the problem. This will be a fairly simple fix. I’ll just finish drilling the holes and epoxy the inserts in place. Anybody with a cordless drill can do this. For now, the sub is sitting patiently on the carpet waiting for a receiver.
When I pulled the EP out of the box and was surprised that it wasn’t as heavy as I expected. My Outlaw is just as heavy. Being a mechanically orientated kind of guy, I like heavy things. Heavy usually means stouter to me. And with all the comparison’s I’ve read where this sub performs as well as some of the top line SVS and HSU subs, I was expecting it to be physically larger and heavier. This probably means nothing, but just my initial perception. However, I am wondering if I should have bought the EP 600, but I’ll give the 500 a whirl first. If it performs as well I’ve been reading, I’ll keep it. If not, I’ll trade up to the 600.
I also ordered some pre-terminated speaker wires and a sub cable from Axiom. If you think the cables look sexy on their web sight, you’re in for a pleasant surprise when you get them. They are just too cool! They look badass. Kinda like a viper the way the cover reflects light and feels. The outer cover is tough as hell and will definitely provide plenty of protection.
When I get the AVR and fire these up, I’ll post an update.
Great review!
I'd like to hear your thoughts of M3s as centers.
The EP500 will shake the house. I too have been thinking about a EP600, but am leaning towards stacked EP500s.
Enjoy the new sounds!
Can't wait to hear your impressions when you get it all lashed up and running. I have M22ti's as mains and really like them. They are perfect for my medium/smallish room. I also have M3ti's in my computer room and I love Love LOVE those little things. I'm sure you'll be suprised by the performance of those minimonsters. I've never heard the EP500 but based on the reviews here it should serve you well. My 350 does just fine.
Thanks for the preview, I hope to hear what you think of the M3's as centers also. I'm thinking of going with either 3 or 4 across the front as mains and center and your input is greatly appreciated.
Nicely done, Mike. Just a word about the EP500. Big and heavy doesn't always equate to "better." It depends on how you look at it.
I don't have any options for placing my subwoofer, and the bigger heavier SVS subs won't fit in my available space. So I am THRILLED to be getting comparable, and in ways superior, performance in a smaller, lighter package.
It's kinda like my 68 lb., 43 inch, DLP TV compared to my 75 lb., 24 inch, CRT bedroom TV. The CRT may be heavier, but I wouldn't want it instead of my DLP.
In reply to:
It's kinda like my 68 lb., 43 inch
Boy am I glad that phrase ended with TV.
Hmmmm.......DLP.......Damn Large Pe.........oh never mind!
Loved the review, especially the part where you looked for defects!!
I did the same on all five of my Axioms! It wasen't till the last two that I found one!!
...have a pair of binding posts, both with "red" stripes!! It's cool!
It's different!!
It's not from F.O.!!
It dosen't matter.....
.....but it's fun to talk about!!
......anybody got a speaker with two "Black" stripes??
Mike
That set up should sound awesome. Please be sure to post some pix when you get it all done. Like BassTek I too have the 3t's in my computer room being powered by my vintage Stromberg Carlson amp. The sound is incredible in that 12 x 13 room.
You will be quite pleased I'm sure.
oz
Rich, you shouldn't treat the two red binding post defect so nonchalantly. Now the electrons won't know which path to take. You should consider calling Joe immediately for a replacement or at least painting one post black to resolve the ambiguity.
I know what you mean about the electrons being confused!!
To make sure that I didn't make an error myself when I connected the speakers; I slapped a meter in series between the questionable post and the wire to see just which way the electrons were marching, and sure enough, they were confused!!
They'd go one way and then right away; they'd quick turn around and run back the other!!
Then just as quickly, back the other way again!!
It was funny to watch: They just didn't know which way to go!!
Anyway; I don't know if it's the funky wiring or what with the confused electrons. It may be my speaker, or it may be my ears, but I swear that jokes on TV now are funnier than they were thru my old speakers!!
I just couldn't set it right and miss out all this fun!!
Yeah, Rich, that was what I was afraid of; imagine those electrons having to go both ways, as if they were....well, alternating, to coin a term. But if it sounds good to you, that's all that counts; just trust your ears.
Update:
No receiver yet….dammit…. Fed-X guy showed up with a package, but it was just those stupid ass-ed window blinds I was instructed to buy. Has anyone bought window blinds lately??? Get ready to choke when you find out how much they are. I could have bought my projector for what those damn things cost.
I really feel like an idiot now. I got a phone call from Joe with Axiom while I was preoccupied fighting with a bracket to mount the Q’s. He asked if I was having troubles with the EP 500. Man I can’t say enough good things about Axiom customer service. I told him what my ‘expert’ wood worker’s opinion of what the problem was, and he politely informed me that that would be incredibly weird. The holes are drilled via CNC routers and the inserts are installed from the inside (duh, I’ve done it numerous times, feeling really stupid now). The holes were packed with sawdust and just appeared to have not been drilled. A couple pokes with a small screwdriver revealed the insert….. God, I’m such a dumbass………
Oh, and to really make myself feel even mooooorrrre brighter, I ordered the wrong sized speaker terminal spade connectors with the cables! I ordered ¼ X ¼ going off what the product page said “Axiom speakers are designed for use with the ¼ spade connector”. The terminals are ¼”, but a ¼” spade will most definitely not fit (without bending them). Another email to Axiom…ho-hum, ho-hum, off in the short bus I go…… I even measured the things before I ordered them. Well maybe this little screw up will result in a more descriptive product guide for dipshits like myself. I still think they're really cool cables though...
So if your looking to buy pre terminated Axiom speaker cables, learn from my mistake and call the nice folks at Axiom first.
And I’ll post some pictures after I get everything situated. But at this rate, it may be several weeks, and not days…….
Well since it's a bit of a wait until we hear about the listening impressions I have a bit of a newbie question:
Is there a recommended way to run speakers in parallel? Should you jam all the wires into one Banana plug or spade? Or should you go spades for one and Bananas for the other? Is that even possible?
BT, welcome. It doesn't really make a difference except possibly the convenience factor. You could attach two bare wires to one output terminal(trimming the ends of the wires down to fit more easily, if you like), or do the same with a banana plug or spade. Then, as you suggest, a spade could be used to attach one wire to the terminal and a banana plug for the other.
Seeing how this is just a temporary set up, I was just planning on using wire nuts (connect the cables from the speakers to one cable going to the AVR). I like the banana / spade idea though.
For the HT room, I'm terminating the speaker wires at j-boxes throughout the room at the speaker locations. I’m undecided if I’m using banana or spade connectors at this point. Probably spade, for the sole reason of allowing the cable to hug the wall. They make several different types of audio “receptacles” (for lack of a better word). You run the wire into the back just like a 110V receptacle. The doubles can be jumper'ed for two speakers to be ran off one home run cable to the receiver. Make sense?
Axiom emailed me back about the spade connectors being to small for my speakers. I’m gunna know the whole Axiom staff before I’m done with this…..I can see it now.
Their speakers are in fact designed for ¼” spade connectors. At the base of the post, under the washer that’s under the M80 binding post jumper, the posts have flat spots on them. The spade slides onto the post no problem, and the flat areas keep the connector from twisting while you are tightening the cables. A very clever and very nice feature. Unfortunately, my Outlaw sub does not have this nice feature and I still have to send the cables back to get one end fitted with 3/8” spades.
I got banana plugs that can piggy-back. Real easy to parallel.
While filing away on the Outlaw’s binding posts with a jewelers file yesterday morning to get the new speaker wires to fit (just couldn’t wait for an exchange), Fed-X dropped off two more boxes. (no more blinds thank God). The new HK 7300 and my SAVR2 device for my mega changer controls. I can tell I’m not gong to get any work done on the house for a while……….too many new audio toys to play with.
I bought one cable with terminated ends that I cut in half and installed banana plugs on the cut ends to go into the amp. I didn’t realize that the Axiom speaker wires are actually dual pair wires (two reds, two blacks). Not sure what size the conductors are, but my Klein strippers cut them perfectly with the 16 gauge slot. The insulation on each of the conductors is pretty wimpy, but that is negated by the polyvinyl sleeve and braded cover that encases all four conductors. I just twisted the reds and blacks together, added a little solder, slid the bananas on and cinched them down. Worked great. I wish I would have had some of those nifty two-into-one shrink sleeves that Axiom uses, but a few raps with good ol’ scotch super 88 electrical tape worked just fine. If you are planning to use Axiom speaker wire, I suggest you call and ask if they’ll sell you some of those shrink rap adapters. It’ll make for a real clean and professional installation.
Well I figured I might as well fire up the 80’s and listen to some tunes to see if the new speaker wires made any difference. The wires they replaced are Home Depot 14 gauge. I wasn’t expecting to hear an improvement (I’m not in the speaker wires make a difference crowd). But what the hell, I might as well keep an open mind. I found Alison Kraus in the changer and ran the Rotel’s volume to about the 12 o’clock position (about 100 db’s or so). Alison Kraus has an amazing voice to my ears. Out of all my CD’s (two full 400 disk changers), I think she sounds the best of them all. Great recordings and between the different instruments you hear with blue grass and her voice, the M80’s really shine.
My conclusions to the speaker wire debate: this is a stretch, and I mean a BIG stretch……There may be a slight, - very slight - improvement in SQ. If (and I do mean if) there is any improvement, it was only at very high volume levels (about 3 o’clock on the dial).
For the price though, Axiom speaker wires are one hell of a bargain. I’ll definitely be buying a roll for the HT room.
Now that I had speaker wires for the HT system (those 14 gauge Home Depot wires off the two channel system), and my new AVR, I spent the rest of the day yesterday getting that system fired up.
I ended up running two cables into banana plugs for the parallel center channel M3’s. Worked great. I didn’t even solder them together this time and the binding screws on the banana connectors held the wires just fine.
While running wires to all the speakers (six of them), on the last speaker, I finally noticed that little washer under the binding post nut. While standing with one foot on the arm of the couch and the other on a coffee table with one of the M3’s balance on my thigh with a little help from an elbow trying to thread a needle (speaker wire into binding post hole)……..I finally noticed the washer. It’s the same color as the nut, so I didn’t even know it was there. When you have a speaker upside down, it slides up the post. And when you insert the speaker wire into the little hole ‘below’ the washer, and then tighten the nut, you cut the damn wire! So, after re-doing the other five speakers I finally got to start playing with the 7300’s configuration screen. Remember this…….put the wire between the nut and the washer!!
The 7300 is a beast. It’s huge, heavy and has more in’s and out’s than the mustang ranch. It also has more frigging ways to set up a HT system than I’ll ever care to figure out. Not only do you have to set up the audio, but there are more configurations for video than audio. I’m not exaggerating either. If you’re bored and want the kill some time, download the owner’s manual. There are even advanced options for the advanced options. The manual is very thorough as well. Doubt I’ll ever read the whole thing, but all the info is there.
All that being said, I spent about two hours screwing with the settings; calibrating the speaker volumes with my Radio Shack meter, setting the delays and the X-overs (everything at 80 right now). One point of interest to make, the two M3’s running parallels are set 6 db’s lower than the M22 mains with the AVR to get the volume the same.
I popped in Mission Impossible II and jumped to the first car chase scene (where he’s chasing the chic through the mountains) for a quick “test”. Son-of-a-beeeaaaccchhhh!!! Crap! The only place I can fit the EP 500 in this little area (10 X 12) of the loft is right behind the couch under the vaulted ceiling about two feet behind it. Earlier, I had set my beer on the window sill while ‘re-doing’ the speaker wires. The beer didn’t stay on the window sill and ended up half in my lap and half on the carpet. I think I might have pissed my pants a little too. Frantically reaching for the remote, I hit stop and took a couple moments to collect myself and take a quick look out the window to see if anyone was outside the house (surely they’d have heard the sub if there was anyone out there). Phew…..no one outside.
I forgot to set the sub’s volume and just plugged it in and turned it on. From the factory, they left the volume in the max position and having the HK turned up to around -15 didn’t help much. I’ll just say that the crash screen was pretty f-ing loud. I turned the sub down to half volume and continued to watch the movie.
I had a dinner party to go to last night, so I haven’t had a lot of time to watch movies or listen to CD’s yet. Over the next few days I plan to do that and I’ll post an update. I also need to play with the 7300 quite a bit as I’m pretty baffled right now. One thing's for certain though, I'm pretty pumped over this new system. TV used to be nothing more than a mental distraction to me for re-charging my batery. Now I'm just looking foward to 'hearing' and 'feeling' the movie. I've got close to two hundred DVD's to 're-watch'.
Initial thoughts for now worth mentioning:
- the M3’s seam to overpower the M22’s, even though they are all calibrated to be equal. They just seam to have more of a presence than the M22’s.
- the M3’s blend nicely with the M22’s and don’t sound out of place, just more as stated above.
- the video processing of the 7300 is real. No [censored]. I haven’t even figured out all the features, but can say with absolute certainty that I can see a significant improvement with standard digital satellite signal. Before, watch satellite TV was like watching TV when I was young and up on roof turning the antenna while my sister would yell “back the other way stupid”. Now it’s every bit as good as a DVD.
Gotta run for now. If anyone has any suggestions for setting this system up, fire away.
Great post; Mike!
Enjoyed every word of it!
One thing really hits home though,and I hope it dosen't appear to cheapen your experiences, but, one thing you stated really hits the target!!
Perhaps we should always start with something like....
"Hi, Mr(or Ms or Miss or Mrs)Newie! Welcome! and watch out for the washers....."
Cause YEAH, standing on a chair balancing an inverted M3 about half an inch from the fragile plastic glare shield of our new wide screen, really, REALLY, jogged my memory!!
I'm glad you're happy with the new system! Thanks for posting your impressions. I'm trying to decide whether to go with 2 M3's in the center. I may just try one at first and then order another if I feel it's lacking.
Congrats on gettting everything setup, have fun re-living your DVD collection!
Another update….
I spent the better part of the weekend playing with the HK’s surround settings, moving speakers, changing X-overs, moving the sub all over the loft, listening to CD’s and watching a few movies. I’m going to have to watch the DVD’s and the Superbowl again, because I was too preoccupied screwing around with things to pay attention to what was on the boob tube…….
By the end of the weekend, I think I got everything dialed in fairly well. Last night we watched the second Zorro, and it was a very pleasurable movie watching experience.
During all this, I learned quite a bit. One thing in particular that I had always thought folks were getting too carried away with, is speaker placement and how they are angled to the listening position. Same for the sub. Prior to this weekend’s discoveries, I thought folks who did this needed to get out more. I’m a believer now.
As I mentioned earlier, I felt the twin M3’s were slightly overpowering the M22 mains. Not much, but just enough to start irritating me, probably because I knew the difference was there. I tried bumping up the R/L channels two DB’s over the center, but that didn’t fix the problem. The center was still too much. The next thing I did was modify my entertainment center some, lowering the M22’s about 8” to where the tweeters would be at ear level. This helped quite a bit, but there was still something bothering me. Sounds just didn’t seam to blend together on those scenes where the sound traveled from side to side. Also, those close ups when someone is speaking was just too much. – Too much center. Too wide….I really don’t know how to describe it other than that. I had set the M3’s on top of the entertainment center above the TV horizontally with the woofers together on an angled shelf that I made out MDF to point them down toward the listening position. I set them this way to duplicate what Axiom does with the VP center speakers; woofers in the middle and tweeters on the ends. At this point, I figured what the hell, and flipped the M3’s over, positioning the tweeters together and woofers at the ends. What an unbelievable changed this made. If I hadn’t have heard it, I’d be telling someone they were on crack if they told me this would make a noticeable difference. By moving the tweeters together, the F/C/L blends together as well as I could hope for. Close up vocals are now localized at the person on the TV instead of “somewhere in front”. While watching the second Zorro last night, one scene had a horse drawn wagon rush across the screen from right to left. It was pretty friggin cool to actually see and hear it move across the front of my loft, and not just the TV. Perfect. If anyone is using two speakers as a center in the horizontal position, try flipping the speakers over, I’m not exaggerating. You’ll notice a BIG difference.
After I got all that figured out, the new ‘coolness’ of having a kick-ass sub was wearing off. Instead of just having great bass and “feeling” the vibrations in the couch, I started noticing that I could hear exactly where the sub was, and also which way it was pointed. I’ve read numerous times from folks who know subs that you should not be able to make this out. Low end frequencies should just ‘be there’, and not come from one spot in the room. At the end of the day, the sub is now about 10’ behind the listening position, pointing in the general direction of the TV. Bass is now everywhere, and I no longer ‘know’ where the sub is. The down side is those cool vibrations felt in the couch have been reduced quite a bit. By moving the sub to where it is now also cost me another $600. When I ordered the 500, I had thought that it should be in a particular area of the loft where the 600 physically would not fit. I wanted one, but opted to go with the 500 for real estate reasons. Well, where the 500 is now sitting is in an area that a vertical 600 will fit quite nicely. In about three weeks, a 600 will be standing there and the 500 will be on a plane back to Axiom. I should clarify that I simply “want” the 600 and do not feel as if I “need” it. The 500 is a very impressive sub. It’s hard to believe that it puts out as much bass as it does being as small as it is (and it’s not exactly small either).
As mentioned earlier, I also listened to some CD’s in two channel mode to hear what all the fuss is about with these cute little M22’s. I turned the sub off and cranked them up for a while. I’m not going to give a long winded report on them, as I don’t really know what to say. In a nutshell, if I was blindfolded and had not ever seen these little fellers, I would not believe that they are as small as they are. Although cute and small, they will pump out some serious sound. Very detailed and not lacking in bass. They ain’t my M80’s by a long shot, but they aren’t itsy bitsy bookshelf speakers either. They’d be perfect for some areas like an office, den, small living room or bedroom.
As time permits, I plan to do some more stereo listening with the M22’s and M3’s in my great room where the 80’s are. I’m just too curious to not try them out. I’d like to set them all up next to the M80’s and so some testing just to hear the differences of the three speakers. When I do, all post my thoughts on that.
To summarize the high points of all this experimenting, here’s my suggestions to the other audio idiots out there like myself.
1- Watch out for them binding post washers. They are there for a reason.
2- When you buy terminated speaker cables, make sure you get the right size and don’t assume anything.
3- Speaker placement is in fact critical and not just something audio geeks do. Try moving things around a bit.
4- Sub placement is also in fact critical. Move that sub around till you get it right. You’ll know when that is too.
5- Make your cables a little longer than you think you need them. (long story that I intentionally left out)
6- X-over settings are important. Try different levels until you get it right. Again, you’ll just know. I’m at 100 now.
7- Turn the sub down from max and don’t leave bottles of beer sitting precariously on window sills when you first fire it up.
8- It takes a lot of patience to file down binding posts with a jeweler’s file.
9- Axiom should consider putting hand holds on their heavy boxes.
10- M3’s are a lot bigger than they look in pictures.
11- Carpet spikes will poke through shoes. Don’t move that sub in bare feet.
12- Carpet spikes hurt like hell when you trip and drop the sub on your foot.
13- Dig the sawdust out of the spike holes first before assuming the factory screwed up.
14- Buy your sub cable extra long, you’ll end up needing the extra length.
Great post indeed. So at a 100hz crossover you don't have any problems locating the sub? I'm somewhat worried because my current receiver, an older Marantz SR5200 doesn't have a variable crossover and is set to 100Hz. I've heard most people run 80Hz or 60Hz and thought I might have a problem. I guess it all depends on the sub and the room as well, but it's good news if I can keep my receiver a little longer.
Also I have one question, did you try the M3's upside down close to the center in the middle of the TV? I've read that it's bad to have an upright speaker tilted sideways (something to do with dispersion patterns I think) and was wondering how this configuration sounds compared to your current woofers out, tweeters in horizontal setup. I suppose that could just be what audiophiles say and it may not be audible to the average person.
Thanks again for posting impressions. They've been helpful!
The X-over point didn’t really help with the sub being, oh what’s the term……? Well, knowing where it is. This was strictly related to where I positioned it. By raising the X-over to 100 from 80, sound just seams to be fuller throughout the area. I think a set of M60’s or M80’s would probably benefit from a lower X-over as they move a lot more air than the little M22’s. I have a very unique situation to where the TV and seating are in a dormer section of a common loft that is open to a vaulted ceiling and the main living area below. Where the sub was, and still is, is an area where the roof rafters go from the roof pitch to the floor (8/12 pitch) and it is covered with knotty pine which is very reflective. When it was closer to the seating area, the roof line (going to the floor) was acting like a chamber that seams to direct the sound, and localize the sub. By moving it away from the seating area to a part of the loft where the roofline is higher, it allowed the low frequencies to even out throughout the loft.
As far as vertical vrs horizontal speaker placement, I think if you were to use one directional speaker, you would have to run it vertically. If not, the highs and lows would be off axis to the listener. That is one reason I went with two. The only place I could set the center was above the TV and it is about six feet off the floor. That’s why I had to build an angled shelf; to redirect the sound down toward the seating area. When I move all this to the dedicated HT room, I plan to use the M22’s as a center and keep them vertical, close together and just below the screen but as high as possible. The M3’s will be used as surround backs, and I’ll be mounting them horizontally and angled downward. If they sound funky, I’ll just use them in the garage and buy another set of QS-8’s.
I’ll post a couple pics when I get time to give a better description of my layout. All said, this has been a great learning experience for me.
Thanks for the reply, I'll stop with the questions now and let you enjoy the new system.
Mike, it was interesting to read of your adventures. I gather that you ran into the too short cable problem(that's the one case where the cables REALLY make a difference!)and that you tragically lost some bottles of beer during combat.
Really excellent review, Mike. Thank you very much for sharing your impressions and adventures.
mdrew - Thanks for taking the time to share all of the above. Very good info on several levels.
Nice write up Mike, thanks for taking the time to do it.
I had just got done getting new carpet and rearranging the furniture. This created havoc on my frequency curve; I had one heck of a peak at around 80 Hz. The system just wasn't sounding as good as it had been. Before I was running the 80s crossed over At 60 Hz. I tried different positions and to no avail, so I remembering this post started playing with the crossover. I tried 40 and 60 but still had a terrible peak (+10db) at 80. When I tried the 80 Hz setting it pretty much got it within a couple of db, so that's where it is staying.
Interesting. Did you move the M80s as part of the re-arranging ? It sounds like the M80s were not in a good place for smooth bass, but taking the crossover up to 80 moved more of the bass to the sub which apparently *was* in a good place...
The 80s were put back to right about the same place. The main thing is the seating position was moved closer by 3 feet. Before I was sitting next to the back wall. Seeing the main difference was the seating what effect would this have?