Hey guys, after a long painful wait, I finally received my Axioms yesterday. For those that didn't see my original thread asking for advice from the pros, I ended up with two M22s, a VP150 and two QS8s. I'm running an HSU STF2 sub and a cheap Sony 5.1 receiver for now. All this is in a room 22.5' x 13.5' x 8'
First thing I noticed out of the box... Wow these speakers are solid! I couldn't believe how heavy a single QS8 was. Then when I got to the VP150, I had doubts that the FMB would be able to hold it.
I opened all the boxes to inspect all my new toys. The only issue I had was with one of the Full Metal Brackets. The screw that is on the top of one FMB was cross threaded and stripped the housing. The screw head looked slightly crooked to me, and it fell out after a slight CCW turn. At the point the threads were done and it had nothing to bite into when I tried to screw it back in. I feel if the screw they provided was slightly longer it wouldn't have been an issue.
I thought for a second of calling Axiom and getting it replaced. Then threw that nonsense out the window, because I wanted my speakers up that night! So I ran a tap through my FMB, picked up a slightly longer screw at the HW store and all was right in my world again.
First step was to toss my "theater in a box" Sony's into a new box designated to the attic.
The M22's I was able to mount on my wall high enough to be out of my 13mo Son's reach. This placed the tweeter above my ear level, but nothing could be done about it if I wanted to keep them safe. Besides at my seating distance I was told having the tweeter that high wouldn't be an issue. I was lucky because there were studs, 8" from each side of my TV. I had picked up a bunch of drywall "butterflies" incase I couldn't find a stud, BUT because of the weight of the M22's and VP150 I have doubts of them holding.
Next was the VP150, and this is where I ran into an issue. There was no stud in my wall to mount it just above the TV. I considered using the butterflies, but kept having a vision of them pulling a chunk of drywall out and seeing my beautiful new speaker crash to the floor.
There was a window in that wall at one point, and I found a horizontal stud at roughly 7'. So that's where I felt the safest attaching the FMB. After it was mounted, I aimed the VP150 directly where I would be sitting with fingers crossed It wouldn't sound odd.
QS8's were flush wall mounted with the supplied "T" bracket and some butterflies without an issue.
I let my Receiver run is auto gain and distance cals. Then it was time to test out my new speakers. I chose to watch Scott Pilgrim vs the world on Blu-Ray first. For one, because I'm a videogame dork, two the music is catchy and three, my friend who helped me mount my speakers wanted to see it.
First thing I noticed was voices were clear, loud and very realistic. It instantly made me realize how bad my original setup was.
Once the first song came on, I think I had a grin from ear to ear. I heard sounds that I didn't know existed in that movie (I already watched it twice before). It filled my room like it was all around me. I couldn't pick out any single speaker through out the whole movie. The voices all sounded like they were coming from the screen and not my ceiling.
Now I know to you guys that's what you've experienced for years, but this is a first for me. I now see what you guys mean when you say "seamless".
The second movie I popped in was The Pacific. Shortly after is when I realized how awesome the QS8's were. The first rain scene came up, and I was there with the guys in the middle of the storm. It took me a moment before I realized it, but I didn't notice at all when the QS8's started pumping out the sound effects. With my old setup, you knew exactly which speaker was pushing out its sickly sounds haha.
This morning the wife was watching the second part of the Pacific, and when I got up about 7' away from the TV, I could tell the voices were coming from above. I was a little bummed at first. But because it seems to be the safest spot for the speaker, and at my normal seating position it sounds perfect I deemed it as not that important.
But that does raise a question. Has anyone wall mounted a M22 or VP150 using only butterflies and drywall with no stud to screw into? I'm not going to risk being the first haha.
Tonight I'm going to try the Xbox and maybe watch an old favorite of mine, Fight Club.
Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice! I'm very happy with my setup, and still excited about it. I can be a bit long winded when I'm excited... or drunk. For the record, I'm not drunk.
Dean (the not so scruffy one)
