Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Request for advice from a novice

Hello,

I'm new to home theater, and I’ve finally taken the plunge and ordered my complete home theater system:

Axiom speakers: M60ti's, VP150, QS8's
Definitive Technology sub: Super Cube I
Pioneer VSX49TXi
QS8 stands

I also have a 65” Mitsubishi rear projection HDTV, which is 62” high. My room is 18 ft. X 16 ft.

My questions are:

1. I’ve read that the tweeter heights of the fronts and center should be the same, for better panning effects. Is this very important? Should I try to raise the M60ti’s on some sort of stands so that they'll reach the height of the center, which will sit atop the TV?
2. Should I angle the center speaker downward towards the listening positions?
3. Which corner should I place the subwoofer in: closer to the listening positions, or closer to the front speakers?
4. I plan to use Sound King 12 AWG oxygen free wire (from partsexpress.com) for all the speakers. Is this adequate or should I invest in more exotic wire?

1) The tweeter heights do not have to be 100% equivalent in height.

2) Yes, angling your centre speaker downward a bit will help in regards to your first question.

3) You really have to move the sub around the room to find the best sounding spot for your situation. However the most common locations is placing the sub right at the front beside their main speakers or right at the back behind/alongside their listening area.

4) That cable should be fine.

Enjoy your new system!

In reply to:

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You really have to move the sub around the room to find the best sounding spot for your situation.

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MC1,

Chess is right, and if you feel like some experiments, try the subwoofer-crawling. This technique surely helps optimizing the sub placement.

While having the tweeter all at the same level is optimum, it's not essential. Though you bring up a point about putting the M60's on stands.

I recently experiemented with putting a pair of M60's on stands for a completely different reason, and really liked the effect.

I've always found floorstanding speakers to lose some upper-bass clarity (as compared to a bookshelf speaker). This lack of clarity has always bothered me. To the point in fact, that I've never personally owned a pair of floorstanding speakers.

I put a pair of M60's on some small stands and gave them a listen...I liked the effect. It seemed to clear up that upper-bass quite a bit. Call me crazy, but when my new M60's arrive, they're going on stands.

MC, I'd say: 1. No; 2. yes; 3. Right in corner nearest front speaker nearly always best;4. That would be fine, may be heavier than you really need unless you have very long runs.

In reply to:

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Right in corner nearest front speaker nearly always best

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John,

I think that is a bit of overstatement. While the front corner is indeed one of the most popular locations and works fine in many cases, the results really depend on each room. For one, our living room makes it way too boomy when I place the sub in any of the room's corners.

Hi Sushi,

I agree. Start with a corner, and if it's too boomy, gradually move the sub away from the corner along one wall or the other until you get as smooth bass as possible for your preferred listening locations. It will never be perfect for every listener because of the vagaries of standing waves and room modes.

Regards,

Alan and Masa, I'll stay in the corner. In the corner, with the subwoofer cone within about 1 1/2' of the floor and each wall the maximum number of room resonances are excited. Assuming that the three room dimensions differ significantly(no cubes)the bass response there is both the loudest and the smoothest. Since it's louder there, the bass has to be rebalanced, but the solution is to turn down the level, not to move the sub.

assuming you have parallel walls and ceiling/floor and no furniture in the room.

John,

Well, my measurements don't support your theory. When my VTF-3 was placed at a room corner, the room modes made a nice roller-coaster frequency response, with multiple >10dB humps/dips between 20-100Hz. With the sub relocated at the current position, the room modes have been quite well tamed, only with two 3-5dB humps at about 38Hz and 56Hz. These measurements are certainly corroborated by my listening assessments.

Anyway, where does that conspicuous number "~1.5 feet" come from?