I'm moving and I'm going to have a room that I want to slowly convert into a theater. First step in the journey is going to be the speakers. The room at the moment isn't that big, and I'm not planning on extending it for 5-10 years. It is currently 11'x18' with 8' ceilings-and it opens into a hallway at the back that I'll likely wall in and install a door for in the next year or two. I was looking at the Epic 80 M500 system for the speakers, but I got to thinking-will they over power the room? Am I getting too much speaker? I'd like to get something that I'll be happy with for the next 20 years, which is why I'm willing to get the uber speakers I've read so many great things about.

I don't think there's any such thing as "too much for a room". Maybe "more than adequate" is a better term.

I was thinking the same thing- about the M80s. I went with custom wood finish M60s instead. A few more weeks, and they'll be here. I figure they will be speakers I'll have for a very long time, so I want them to have a nice finish since they'll be the center-pieces of my HT. I thought about the M80, but I really don't think they are "necessary" or that I'm losing anything by going with a "lesser" speaker. The M60 is a wonderful speaker and I will in no way feel that it isn't powerful or "good" enough, compared to the M80- plus it's more practical with it's smaller size and 8ohm load.

Imho you can't overpower a room, I've owned the 60's and now own the 80's, for your room size the 60's would be more than enough, they are really great speakers. But if you can afford it and want to avoid upgradeitis go with Axioms best, you can always turn them down
If you want to save some cash go with the QS4's and a VP100 along with M60's and I think you would be more than happy. As far as the sub goes stay with the EP500 because you will never regret that choice, it's that good!

I don't think you can have speakers that are "acoustically" too big for a room -- you just have to think about the physical aspects. As an example, M80s are pretty deep so the fronts of the speakers are going to end up over 2 feet away from the wall, and maybe a bit more once you find the spacing that sounds best. If that is so far into the room that they are too close to you or you can't walk around the room that might be a problem, but otherwise no issues.

Oh yeah, big speakers are a pain in the butt to carry around, particularly going up and down stairs. Ask me how I know that

EDIT -- hold on, your room is 11x18 feet. There are people on the boards running M80s in dorm-sized rooms -- one guy even has an EP600 in there too.

I thought you were talking about a SMALL room

What Bridgman said.

I just wanted to underscore the notion of the dimensions of the speakers and the configuration of the room. If you are seated along the short axis, you might have issues with the M80's because of their depth. It's not that the M60's are that much smaller or shallower, but each does need some breathing room behind, so have a pretty good idea about positioning before ordering either.

Likewise, the impedance may or may not be an issue. Trying to run the M80's on (for instance) an older, lower-end Sony receiver could cause problems that you would not experience with the M60's.

I have to respectfully disagree with the previous posters on some points, but agree on one.

First off, I don't believe that a system of M80s and a 500 will "overpower" your room. Although I own M60s and not M80s, I've found that Axiom speakers can sound extremely good with lower power levels and in a small room (mine is 13' square).

I do, however, think that your question is a valid one. My previous (non-Axiom) floorstanding speakers just sounded completely lifeless without cranking them up. Likewise, I have a system in my studio that combines some old Design Acoustics PointSource bookshelf speakers with some Cambridge Soundworks passive subs (an unusual scenario, I'll grant you) and have the same exact problem. At lower levels, it's just completely lifeless. When cranked up a bit, the setup doesn't sound bad.

I don't have an explanation for this. I'm not a believer in esoteric cables or little tripods to hold the cables off the floor, wooden knobs, power cables that improve the sound, etc..etc..etc… I understand that "louder sounds better" in a general sense. I wouldn't A/B speakers unless they were matched extremely well for volume.

Yet, rational explanation or not, to me, some speakers just don't sound good until they have some decent power applied to them. Some day when I have time to kill (HA!), I'll pull out an SPL meter and graph the system at two or three volume levels to see if there's some non-linearity thing happening.

I think most can agree that if you placed a gigantic, stadium-sized PA system in a bedroom, it's not likely that the setup would sound good as it's inappropriately-sized for the application. That's an extreme example, but I think it illustrates that there ARE times when you can have too much speaker for a room.

In this case, though, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Axioms don't seem to have that problem and I think they'll do very well for you!

Cool, I'll stop stressing it then. The dimensions of the room come out to be just over 1500 ft3 which is what the little wizard at the top of the page considers the borderline between small and medium.

Funny you should mention 'older sony receiver'. That is exactly what I have, but I'm going to buy a reciever in the 1000-1500 price range. Rotel, Denon, and Pioneer are all getting my attention. I listened to the Rotel vs the Pioneer and the rotel sounded ever so slightly better to me-but the salesman was trying to sell the rotel, so I don't know if things were configured properly.

In the end it probably won't matter which receiver I pick. what I'm doing is going to be such a huge upgrade over my condo surround sound that it simply won't matter. I'll probably get separates in 3 or 4 years anyway.

Thanks for all the reassurance folks. I can't wait to move to try these puppies out.

Acoustically, no, M80’s aren’t too big. Physically, yah, probably. I’m having troubles arranging mine in a 12’ X 15’ room along with an EP600 and a pair 22’s being used as a center. The whole front wall is nothing but drivers. They’re fairly tall speakers too, which is governing my screen size and its height off the floor.

If I were you, my primary concern would be layout and size of the speakers. Remember, Axioms are rear ported and they really do need to be placed a few inches away from the wall, which compounds space limitation issues.

Check out my HT.

I am real happy with my 80s and 500!