Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dedicated Theater Speakers

I would like some inputs on which Axiom speakers would be best for my dedicated theater room. Primarily the speakers will be for home theater.

Should I go with the Epic 60.500 and save some money or go all out with the Epic 80.600?

It is isolated from sound by a room-in-room contruction, spec'd at 60dB attenuation. The room itself is about 2000 ft^3 in size.

I plan to use a Yamaha 2700 to power the speakers, but I haven't purchased it yet.

I plan to use the VP150 for center channel, and QS8 for sides and back, but I just can't pick the mains and subwoofer. Do I need the M60 or M80 and the EP500 or EP600?

I value my hearing so will not be cranking the volume up excessivily, the sound isolation is so I don't disturb the neighbors or sleeping kids when I watch movies.

Welcome Kemet,

Your room sounds awesome. Not that it has anything to do with your question, but could we get some more details about construction materials, finishing treatments, etc.? And we LOVE pictures here!

The sonic signature of the 60's & 80's is very similar, except that the 80's will play louder, and have a little more low end. (Mostly beneficial for music)

Since this will primarily be for movies, and you won't be listening at "Randy" (sirquack ) levels, my thought would be to go for the 60/500 combo - but add an additional EP500. Not for more bass, but because it would really smooth out the bass response in the room. This setup would only be $356 more than the 80/600.

Hi Kemet,

I have 4000 cubic feet with the Epic 80-600 and the 600 is definitely over-kill. I would suggest the 500. You can always try a second 500 at a future time if you don't have flat enough response throughout your listening space. What are your room dimensions and how far from the fronts will you be sitting? I sit 8 feet away from the M80s and I don't recommend sitting any closer than this.

I have a room of about the same size as your's and there are times that I think that my M60 fronts, VP150 center, and QS8 surrounds are MORE than enough. Of course, don't tell my wife... I would not go for anything less than the VP150 (No VP100) or QS8's (No QS4), but I probably could have gone less with the mains. I bought mine when I had them going into a much larger, non-dedicated area, so I needed to full more air volume with sound.

With that said, I wouldn't trade my M60s for anything smaller, even if they are more than enough. The M60 product is at a great sweet spot in price/performance. I wasn't interested in the M50 and I am glad that I don't have bookshelf speakers (although I think that my wife would have rather had them)... I love low end sound, and don't want to rely on the sub to do all of the work, especially in music, which I listen to about 85% movies, 15% music.

My sub is non-Axiom, so I can't help you out there, but I would be voting for the M60 set up. Of course, some people will tell you to get the most speaker that you can afford. There is some logic to that (if you move and make a larger theater, or if you never want to feel like you need to upgrade - yeah, like that will ever happen ) but if you are like me, you live within a budget, and need to try to stick to it. You can use the money saved for something else, or heck, just not spend it and be that much more ahead for the next thing.

Best of luck. When you decide what you want to do, let us all know. We are a curious bunch.

I am going to go ahead and suggest the system I currently have in an 1800 cu.ft. room.

If you aren't going to listening to alot of music, and you don't care if the music you DO listen to is with a sub, then I think you would be MORE than happy with M22 mains, EP500 sub, QS8 surrounds, And an additional M22 vertically orientated for your centre channel (or a VP150 if you don't have room for a vertical M22).

This would give you a seamless sound stage across the whole room. But for let's say, 80% movies, 20% music, my system is more than enough for me, I have yet to crank it to levels that the speakers can't handle, its just too loud...and the EP500 sub is a freaking monster, I have it around 7 o'clock (or less than 50%) of its capacity, and in some movies, the bass is so loud that you can't even talk to the person next to you, its great . I can honestly say I don't know what an M60 tower speaker would add to my system, it sounds that good to me. This is with crossing over at 80hz on all channels to the EP500 sub.

Not sure if you are on a budget, but you can save about $500 going with the M22 route.

Thank you for the welcome.

No finished pictures yet as the room is under construction. I don't know much details about all the layers of materials that are going into the construction, e.g. the type of foams, fiberglass, insulation, drywall, plywood thickness used but alot of mass and absorbtion is going in. Set of communicating solid doors to get in the room-in-room, and a seperate ventilation and AC system from the rest of the house.

The side and back walls will be with a dark burgundy cloth, and the ceiling and front wall will be a dark blue color. The screen is a 2.35 ratio 128 inch Carada, the projector will be at 3.8 meters with a Panamorph lens. Track lights on the ceiling and scones on the walls for accent. The stage and riser will be 25cm in height.

I prewired just for one sub up on the stage. To start I will be going with one subwoofer only, trying to optimize 2 subwoofer positions sounds difficult and would likely need to be symmetric. Atop the riser position in the back is out I think since the rear subwoofer would be firing into the seating there? so with 2 subwoofers I would have to put them in the left and right in the center of the room. I was hoping to have the subwoofer atop the stage to even better isolate it.

Hi Mojo,

Yes, I was wondering if the EP600 would be overkill for my sized space.

The room dimensions are approx 5.4 meters in length, 4.1 meters in width and 2.5 meters in height, which is approx 2000 ft^3.

The main seating position should be about 11 feet away from the screen, so maybe 9 feet from the mains then.

Considering the small Yamaha mini-bookshelfs I have now, I am sure too the M60's would be awesome. I don't claim to be an audiophile so if I won't notice the difference even side by side with a subwoofer than that's great.

I still have a few weeks before I need to order the speakers, but everyone's response is giving me a lot to mull over.

I sense that the M80 posse has not awakened from its slumber yet. As a new member, I have the duty to tell you that you must get the M80s.

Really, either the 60s or the 80s are great speakers. The 80s are just more great. The EP500 should be sufficient for your needs, as others have said. Of course, sufficient isn't always enough...