Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Moving soon...getting major upgrades...need help.

My current set up has just about worn thin on me. I love my speakers; vp150, m60's qs8's and m2i's...but the rest of my system; a 4 year old 52inch toshiba, a refurbished yamaha v2600 reciever, a denon 2910 dvd player, xbox360 w/HD DVD add on, a PS3...excluding the game systems of course...The other things feel so dusty to me. I'm looking to upgrade all those things plus add some more meat to my axiom system. Since I have no one else who'll indulge, enlighten, and take delight in this whole process, I felt compelled to post on my favorite AV forum.

These are the things I want to get for my new ht room...

1.Preferably a 144 inch projection screen. Atleast 120.

2.Either one of the two new high-performance entry level 1080p projectors; epson 1080 home cinema or the optoma hd80

3.One of the new next generation recievers(something mid priced with a lot of features, power not an issue, will use external amps) by your recommendations. Yamaha has soured me on recievers...

4.Concerning the adding of meat to my speakers, there are several configurations I've been considering;

I. An unlikely scenario, I have little hope it could work but I would love to do if it could -- FOUR vp150's, two on top and two on the bottom of the projection screen powered by two rpa-1 emotiva amps. My first choice was to use two m60's as the center channel to have four across the front, but I don't imagine I'll have that kind of room under the screen considering the size.

II. More likely scenario -- two vp150's, top and bottom, powered by an rpa-1, and axioms top of the line m80's as the mains(again, powered by an rpa-1), moving my m60's as the surrounds and QS8's as back surrounds(both powered by the reciever).

III. My next scenario I'm not very knowledgable about, but I've heard great results with -- two m22's as the center channel powered by the rpa-1. The rest would remain the same as I have it now. In what configuration would the m22's have to be in to get very good results? Is that set up preferable over vp150's?

5. Acoustical treatment on the cheap. I'm moving to a brick house(does that help?) that has a fairly large basement. I'd estimate about 3000 cubic feet. I'm gonna be putting a thick carpet there, as I hear that helps things. But I'm in the dark regarding room acoustics and treatments -- I know nothing of it. Where can I buy bass traps(what do bass traps even do?) and those foam pads that I see in fancy ht's? More importantly, where can I buy them on the cheap? Is there no cheating around room acoustics? If someone could link some info on the basics of room acoustics it would be extremely helpful. Of course your own insight and knowledge is even more welcome.

A note regarding recievers, the only one I've ever had is the yammie v2600...I hear great things from the likes of denon but there are a number of companies out there whose names have been thrown around in these boards but I can't seem to remember any of them. Audioholics really loves all things denon, but audioholics also sold me on the yammie, of which I'll never forgive them.

Drew, do you have a sub?

I have two ep500's

Well, dang--you got plenty in the sub department.

Here are some sites for room acoustics:

Ready Acoustics

GIK Acoustics

Real Traps

Eight Nerve

Lots of good info.

stay away from the foam crap, it does not perform as well as rigid fiberglass or rockwool, which is what the main companies use in their products.

If your even a little bit handy, you can make your own panels a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them. If your not a little bit handy, they GIK and many others are fairly affordable.

On my website I have pictures and articles on this subject. I just called a local insulation distibutor that sells to contractors for heating/cooling, etc. They sell Owens Corning 703 rigid fiber glass panels in 2ft x 4ft x 2" or 4" thick material. It is very easy to work with and cut if needed.

You can stradle the corners for bass traps (low freq's) with at least 4" thick material, and use 2" for the side wall/ceiling reflection points (higher freq's). Of course you will have to build a frame out of wood and cover with some material to make it look nice.

Thanks for the replys, but I'm a little weary that nobody has shot down my idea for four vp150's yet...Is it not as ridiculous as I thought it was? 144 inches is pretty big...

Are those new entry level 1080p projectors capable of putting out enough light to fill a 144 inch screen? Projectors are something else I know little about.

You should wait for the new crop of projectors at Cedia. Seeing how you are going all in, I'd stick with HDMI 1.3

The Epson is the HDMI 1.3 projector out yet. It's a bright projector, but noisy. I passed on it because mine is mounted directly above where I sit. Four VP's sounds like a dandy to me. You'd probably be better off with M80's up front though.... L/C/R

Also, wait for the AVR or Pre/Pro. Again, you'll want 1.3 Not many to choose from yet, but there will be later this fall.

That is a pretty big screen, mine is 10ft wide and I would not want it bigger. My basement is bigger than yours.

As for using 3 M80's across the front, I don't know that I can, I doubt there would be space underneath the screen for that. But M80's are mighty tempting. I've never actually listened to them before...Are they worth the few hundred extra bucks over the M60's? Is it possible to trade in my current axioms? Imagine 4 pairs of m80's...coupled with my two 500's...holy moly...

But anyway back to reality, would there be any special problems in having 4 vp150's? Could I save myself the cash and use one rpa-1 to power all four?

As for the screen size, the one im getting is 144 inches diagnol, which is around 120 inches wide, which would just about make us brothers. 10 feet is pretty damn big, I could just get smaller if it allowed me an M80 underneath but we'll see in the coming months.

And one more thing....Whats cedia?