Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Up grading .... what to get first..

I am in the process of upgrading my HT.. I have recently purchased a Pioneer 1016 A/V reciever and a HSU VTF3 M2 sub.. I also have a oppo 981 DVD.. I am torn between getting M22 or m50's for the front.. My room is 22 x12 x7.5 so not very large at all.. What do you think the beter choice would be for fronts.. And for the centre can I get away with a vp100 or should I go all out and get the 150... I am also doing this slowly so it will be pieces at a time .. should i start with the mains or grab the centre first.. Thanks for any help you's can offer...

Avdude

Go with mains first, you can always use the phantom center. I have M80s in a room around the same size as yours so you could look at the the M60s or the M80s for that matter.

If this is strictly an HT and you are on a limited budget, the M50's are a good choice. If you will listen to music more often and have the extra cash, the M60's would be a nicer choice due to the midrange driver giving extra clarity in that band.

I'm not sure your pioneer would be able to drive the M80's, so I'd shy away from them.

That was my first thought .. Until the other day when I came across the wonderful world of Multi chanel 5.1 and my ageing Bose 301 tossed me back into the couch like never before while watching Pink Floyd "The Wall" in 5.1 MC... The real weak link in my system is the centre( ageing Mission)... The New sub makes up for a lot of the Bose shortcommings it seems at the moment.. The Oppo has turned out to be a wonderful buy also.
I moved some furniture and did some crawling around on the floor to help with the sub placement.. With all the new gear .. It has taken some work but i have got things about as goods as it will get for now..
I thought maby if i got the centre first I would be much more impressed when I get the mains.. I was leaning towards m50 simply because I think I have great low end with the sub..( MY first "real" sub so i might be overly excited... lol)The 150 CC seems rather large as it will be under a 37" Lcd and would hang off my present rack/stand a few inches on each side..I have also read of people using single book shelf for a CC.. maby I should explore that route some more ..

Ravi ... It will be a 50/50 system and i do like my tune's .. I had some emails with JC and he recomended the 50's and 150 CC ... I'd like to keep cost down but not compromise too , too much .. If i have to wait a while longer to get the mains, i am prepaired to do it .. The way the dollar is going I might save some money in the long run ..

Get the mains first. If the mix is going to be at least 50/50 with music as important as flicks, go with the M60s. With the M60v2 there is no real reason to get the M50s any longer other than the cost. Wait the extra time and save the extra cash.

Yup; compromise is a foolish option.

>>If this is strictly an HT and you are on a limited budget, the M50's are a good choice. If you will listen to music more often and have the extra cash, the M60's would be a nicer choice due to the midrange driver giving extra clarity in that band.

I know it's going against the herd, but I would almost argue the other way round. M60s will definitely give that list bit of extra clarity, but put bluntly a lot of popular music recordings seem to be mixed for crappy systems.

If I were looking for a 50/50 system I think I would give 50s and VP150 a try. Right now I have 60s and VP100 -- I'm very happy with both but I do end up using my M40s for most pop music recordings. They're not as accurate as the 60s but I think they are probably closer to what the mix guy used.

For jazz the 60s rule. I don't have enough good classical recordings on CD to comment -- but I do have a few hundred top quality classical recordings on vinyl which I need to haul up to the new house one day.

Bottom line is that on great recordings the 60s will be better and on average recordings the 50s will be better. What kind of music do you listen to the most ?

Save up some money and buy M80s with a VP150. Use the 301s for rears or sides. Or burn them in the firepit like I did with my 601s .

I'd get the M60's if my room/furniture would permit it. I'd probably skip the M22 or M40 unless I had a decent sub and solely watched movies with my setup.

thanks for all the advice.. Your making things a lot easier.. lol...
Bridgman: Lets just say I'm a q107 type of guy.. Classic Rock .. some pop .. some country... were neibours, I live in Oshawa.....

Mojo: One day, hopefully by the end of the summer I can have a Bose burning party.. They did a decent job over the years but it is time for them to move on.. For now they will assume the role of rears when I get the new mains..

Hanzo: the room is prety full of furniture.. Neice is home from school and there are some extra chairs and a couch kicking aound but I can fit in Towers for sure.. I sit on the long wall only 10' from the lcd the centre sits on top of my audio cabinit directly under the lcd.. The sub sits to the right of the audio rack and the front's sit about 18' apart on the ends of the room...

Being so close to the centre makes me wonder if i can use a 100 or would the extra projection from a 150, fill the room better??? I plan on getting a spl meter after i have all the speakers bought, but for now I have used the test programme in the reciever and my ear.. So far most have advised to go with the 150 .. Which would mean building a new audio rack, because I would hate to look at it hanging over the sides of my present one for very long... I have never owned matched speakers so this will a be a big step up for me... I"m even torn between black and cherry... ... I should probably mention I like my music fairly loud but not ear shattering ...How can i put it I want to fill the room ..With good clean robust sounds ..

So far the vote goes to the 60's and the 150 .... I think in the back of my mind i posted the question hoping you guys would tone it down from prety much what JC had put together for me..