Thought I would make my first post here and report on my new system. This is my first high-end HT system. Before this, I had a old set of Cerwin Vega speakers hooked up to a high-end (using that term very generously) Sony receiver. That's all been left in the dust now :-) Here's my new system:
Axiom Grand Master 175 system (M22ti, QS8, VP100, EP175)
FMS-16 stands for the M22ti
Harman Kardon AVR-635
Denon CD player (forget the model, but one of the first ones made with a coax digital out)
crappy Toshiba DVD player (good enough for a few months til I can upgrade)
DirecTiVo
PlayStation 2
Ideally, I would have loved a set of floor standers like the M60 or M80 with the 12" sub, but that just wasn't practical in my current apartment situation. I'll upgrade someday...maybe :-)
I am just THRILLED with this new system! Totally blown away! I might as well throw out the boxes tonight, because there's no way I'm sending these babies back.
A few thoughts and observations:
- Brent at Axiom was simply the most helpful guy ever...he answered all my questions and concerns.
- My original decision was between the Axioms and the low-end Paradigms (Reference series, I think?) I got to audition some M60 speakers against the Paradigms, and I definitely preferred the Axioms. The Paradigms, to be fair, did sound quite nice, but I liked the Axiom sound better...and the price was definitely better. I ordered the M22ti unheard on Brent's recommendation considering my room size. Good call!
- The Harman 635 sounds fantastic and has all the features I want, but I gotta say...it has the most confusing interface I've ever seen for getting the bass management stuff calibrated. I did the EZsetEQ or whatever they call thier auto-calibrate thing, and I like the sound it's produced. I'm a little concerned, though...it sets my fronts and center to "large" and the surrounds to "small"...it also calls my 10" subwoofer an 8". All this seems to go against everything I've read about calibrating bass management, but when I try to do it manually, it always comes out sounding worse, and I go back to the automatic settings. I need to get all this figured out and make sure this all sounds as good as it can.
- Speaking of the Harman, I had narrowed down my receiver choice to either a Harman or a Denon...one was looking just as good as the other, but I ended up going with the Harman simply because I found a much better price on it than the comparable Denon model.
In the spirit of being totally fair, I've racked my brain trying to think of something to complain about, but this is all I can come up with:
- The boxes the Axioms shipped in were just a little on the flimsy side. They arrived safely, but I was concerned about how they would hold up if I had had to send them back. Thank goodness I don't need to worry abou that.
- The FMS-16 stands are great, but one very small complaint...I'm not so crazy about the way the collar sits on top of the metal post and has tightening screw around it. I know this is done so that it can be loosened and rotated, but I do wish it were just a little more stable. Shouldn't be a problem for me, though, as my speakers aren't near any walkway. My cat never knocks anything over, but he does have a horrible cable-chewing fetish. I have to go to great lengths to protect my cables from him. I'm used to that :-)
Anyway...didn't mean to type up so much. Mark me down as another happy customer! I'm going to dig through these message boards this weekend and see what all I can learn here.
