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Comparing Speaker Configurations
#218171 08/16/08 10:40 PM
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grunt Offline OP
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Came home Friday to find my Axiom factory outlet order had arrived. Again, as with the first order, a projected 5 week wait was less than 2 weeks. I got one additional M80, two M22s, and two QS8s with stands. All speakers were in perfect condition, I couldn’t find one blemish on any of them. The boxes were even unscathed, however not to sure about the no signature thing FedEx does.

I plan on trying several different configurations based on what others have posted here, and I'm open to suggestions on other things to try. So far I’ve only done some preliminary tests none of them are A/B comparisons since the order arrived before I could pick up a switch. Here’s what I plan to try and some preliminary observations.

M80 center sitting in front of the TV even with the mains. Awesome! Dynamic and seamless soundstage across the front. May even sound better when sitting in the sweet spot than a phantom center with M80s.

M80 center upside down above the TV. Almost as good as above just as dynamic but may not be as seamless. However, the vertical expansion of the front soundstage seems intriguing for movies. Massively better than a single VP150 above the TV.

M22 dual centers above and below the TV. Not as dynamic as the M80s but very big soundstage centered on the TV both horizontally and vertically.

M22 dual centers laying horizontally above the TV with tweeters in the middle. Can you say lobing. Not noticeable in the sweet spots but just move my head a little and there’s different SPLs at each ear. Feels very strange but does confirm that I never noticed any lobing with the VP150. I need to play with the distances between the speakers because when in a sweat spot the “wall of sound” coming from this configuration sounds very interesting with movies but I can already tell I don’t like it for music.

QS8s as surround back speakers. (I have only DD-EX and DTS-ES sources) with EX and ES sources rear soundstage sounds fuller and blends better with the front probably due to moving the surround L/R forward some. Not noticing any change with vanilla 5.1 sources but still have much experimenting to do.

M22s as surround back speakers. Haven’t tried it yet.

Back to playing with my new toys now that I have a switch to do some A/B comparisons.

Cheers,
Dean


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
grunt #218172 08/16/08 10:50 PM
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Hey Dean, thanks for the info! That's really cool stuff--sounds like you're having a good time, too.

But... how the heck did you get the M80 upside down above the TV?


I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
Ken.C #218174 08/16/08 11:47 PM
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 Originally Posted By: kcarlile

But... how the heck did you get the M80 upside down above the TV?


Simple answer…no W.A.F.

More precisely, my apartment lease doesn’t allow anything nailed to the walls so when I made my theater I built a frame to hang curtains from around the inside of the entire room including a façade even with the front of the TV. Part of that façade includes a shelf originally for my VP150. Not only did I overbuild it a little bit as luck would have it there is just enough room for a M80 to sit vertically on the shelf above the TV. Also didn’t hurt that I spent 10 years seriously into power lifting before I got back into running recently.

The vertical separation between the tweeters on the L/R main M80s and the center M80 is just over one and a half feet, almost the same as it was for the VP150.


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
grunt #218178 08/17/08 01:25 AM
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That... explains everything. I'd still love to see a picture of that, though. ;\)


I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
grunt #218185 08/17/08 02:07 AM
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Very good, Dean; that's certainly quite a bit for just "preliminary tests"! Not my favorite configuration, but one other that you might check would be vertical M22 centers immediately at the left and right edges of the screen.

On using the QS8s as back surrounds, of course you can apply DPLIIx to both 2 and 5 channel source materials to give the back surrounds some work.


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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.


Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
JohnK #218197 08/17/08 03:35 AM
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 Quote:
M80 center upside down above the TV

Instant qualification for the ManPoint card Platinum if you leave it in that configuration. ;\)


Fred

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Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
fredk #218205 08/17/08 06:34 AM
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 Originally Posted By: kcarlile

That... explains everything. I'd still love to see a picture of that, though.


 Originally Posted By: fredk

Instant qualification for the ManPoint card Platinum if you leave it in that configuration.


I’ll take a picture as soon as I borrow a digital camera from someone at work. Or maybe I’ll just admit it’s the 21st century and buy one.


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
JohnK #218206 08/17/08 06:37 AM
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 Originally Posted By: JohnK
Very good, Dean; that's certainly quite a bit for just "preliminary tests"! Not my favorite configuration, but one other that you might check would be vertical M22 centers immediately at the left and right edges of the screen.

On using the QS8s as back surrounds, of course you can apply DPLIIx to both 2 and 5 channel source materials to give the back surrounds some work.


Thanks for mentioning the sides of the screen John. Originally I hadn’t considered it since my mains are very close to the edges already and I figured it would be just like a phantom center, however I could separately control the volume of the center that way which was my biggest beef with running a phantom center using the mains.

I must say that I am very impressed with the M22s. At the lower volumes I’ve been listening at so far I think they may on a price vs performance basis be better than the M80s. I’ll have to also try them as mains teamed up with the EP500.

I’m starting to notice that the DPLllx is doing more than I realized. So far it seems to be very source dependent. I was watching parts of some “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episodes and listening to one scene in the Bronze it sounded like I was really in a bar with the characters. And those DVDs are only Dolby Surround.


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
grunt #218210 08/17/08 12:10 PM
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Have a great time with your experimentation.


Dave
Re: Comparing Speaker Configurations
grunt #218214 08/17/08 01:03 PM
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Your *apartment* lease??!! Holy crap, your config sounds like the ultimate lease-breaker \:D

What fun!

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