Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Help me decide... please!

Papa,

You should see if there is anyone in your area that will let you demo their system.

There is a guy that lives over near the Bluffs, can't remember his name, but I think he purchased some Axioms about a year ago. I'm about 2hrs East of you..

Steve, welcome. I'd agree that the QS4s should be fine in your size room and of course will save some money that possibly could be applied toward a new sub in the future.

Hey D, welcome... (yeah, I've from Iowa too, but just a little further away than SirQuack)...

Anyway, my first home theater (going way back) had 2 subs in it that were, ahem, a "lesser brand/model". Actually they were basically just some cheap subs that seemed to "do the trick" for me and I was happy with them. Of course, I had a bunch of mediocre speakers to match. When I got my Axioms I didn't want the sound to be spoiled by a poor sub, even if my subs could shake the neighborhood, so I upgraded that as well.

Now I am in approximately a 10x15 room (with odd dimensions) with M60 fronts, VP150 center, QS8 surrounds and an SVS 20-39 PCi sub (12" - 350 watt that they recently discontinued). If the Axiom offerings at the time would have been a little "stronger" I would have gone that route, but that is another story...

I could easily get away with M22 fronts for the room size and still have great sound. The M60 fronts were bought when I was in a much larger non-dedicated room, so I needed more speaker than a pair of bookshelves.

As for the sub, holy crap Batman... Night and day difference. Sure I went from two 10-inch 150 watt subs to a single 12 inch 350 watt sub, so there was a little more power at my disposal, but wow. The quality of the sound was the best part. Yeah, I can still shake the neighbors' houses, but there is so much more to LFE than just rumble, and a quality sub is really important.

Now, I fully understand budgets (although I usually blow them on things like this) and making sure that the wife is on board with everything, but I just wonder how much you will be missing by having, no offense, a crappy sub in the mix. I only say that because I was there myself. You could end up not only missing out on all of the LFE benefits, but also end up "muddying" your overall experience. So if you really can't put a new sub into the mix now, be absolutely positive to put one into your plans for the future and hold to it. Don't just settle for a sub that seems "good enough" when you aren't really hearing a quality sounding sub.

It is an interesting question: what's a mother to do? A good sub is hugely important but I suspect the light will shine once you implement the speakers you have chosen in your room, and it will become clear what the next best step should be (absolutely save up for a decent sub). If you have the cash, buy everything all at once, and if you only have credit please stimulate our economy, please please, we're drowning, aaaaah!

You guys are going to keep pestering me until I'm forced to buy a sub too.

I don't know. I think I'll have to wait and see how things go first. It's for sure on my list for the future though.

Credit just gets me into more trouble. I don't need more trouble.

Understandable Papa D . I hope you take the plunge on the Axioms however . When you get them setup in your home you then can decide if upgrading the sub is needed .

Cheers!

I have both the QS4's and QS8's, the only difference I've noticed is that the Qs8's can put out more volume. As mentioned, for your room size the QS4's should be fine.

I'm pretty sure I'll give Axiom speakers a shot. As I said before, I've been researching for quite some time and they seem to be what I'm looking for. Of course I won't really know that for sure until I get to hear them in action.

One thing I'm curious about, I keep seeing references to the "Axiom Sound". Can anyone define what exactly that is. Or is it something that can't be put into words but has to be heard?

Neutral, clean.

Some people prefer a warmer sound (raise midrange). Some people prefer a slightly rolled off high end (laid back).

I like the 'Axiom sound' because it reminds me of live music; like a front row seat, or at least first 10 rows.