Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dolby Pro Logic IIz Height Channels Which Speakers

Glad to see we got a good discussion going about this topic.

I'll probably go with the QS8s for the size and ease of mounting for height speakers.

Off topic: Has anyone used the Onkyo 1007 with the M80s? Looks like it should be fine from the specs?

Dean has the 3007 and manged to get it to go into protect mode after hitting 105db after awhile, which is way louder than anyone really needs to listen. I would think the 1007 would work just as well, but not quite capable of 105db, more like 103 .

So far I’m quite happy with my new 3007. I played my whole 7.1 system at 100dB for half an hour and then the L/R M80s alone for another hour and a half just fine. It got very warm but never to hot to rest my hand on it. After getting tired of wearing ear protection I bumped it up to 105dB and it shut down about 5 minutes later. Also I was playing GOA trance with a very heavy rapid bass beat so it was quite the workout.

It says it’s capable of the mains being bridged but in the manual it warns not to do this with 4 ohm speakers not that I was planning to anyway. Also for some reason none of the X007 series can use both height and wide Audyssey DSX speakers at the same time. Both can be wired up and you can switch between them but you can’t get sound from both simultaneously.

Are you running your mains on "large"? If not, the powered sub would have been doing most of the trance thump....

During the first half hour the L/C/R M80s were set to small at a 40 Hz crossover. For the next hour and a half the L/R M80s were playing in “pure music” or whatever Onkyo calls it’s version of Denon‘s “pure direct” with the subwoofer deselected.

I wasn’t sure which would put a greater demand on the amp section running 3 M80s crossed at 40Hz plus 4 QS8s crossed at 100Hz or running 2 M80s set to large so I mixed it up at little bit. When it shut down at 105dB it was just the 2 M80s set to large which it had already been doing for an hour and a half at 100dB.

New impressions of Audyssey DSX technology recently posted by Sound&Vision here.

I must admit, regardless of the perceived technological differences, this stuff is sure reminding me more and more of a combination of the front "presence" speakers that Yamaha has had for years along with the "side axis" channels that "Sunfire" had in their Pre-Pro and later AVR's. The Sunfire was the platform for the inaugural Pre-Pro/AVR's from Emotiva and they also had the side axis feature. I am surprised the reviewer never mentioned any of that in the article. For some reason, because they are Dolby and Audyssey implementations, they are attempting to make it look like these are innovative concepts in home theater which they are not!

For the sake of making a buck, I guess the patents have expired and all the manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon.

DSX sounds like it would be fun to play with. Thanks for the link to the article, Dan.

Casey, the technological differences between the Yamaha "presence" speakers and the Dolby "height" speakers are quite easily "perceived" because about the only similarity in the approaches is the position of the speakers.

I asked Chris with Audyssey a couple DSX speaker questions.

ME: What type of speaker should I use for the height and wides; directional or non-directional like the Axiom quad-pole?

Chris: “The Wides and Heights for Audyssey DSX should be direct radiators (not dipoles or... quad-poles--don't know what that is).”

ME: How important is it to have the width speakers the same height as the R/C/L speakers?

Chris: “This is the same requirement for having the front L, C, and R at the same height: pans will sound strange (like smiley or sad faces) if your speakers are not at the same height. Same goes for the Wides.”


Now I need to figure out how I’m going to squeeze all these these speakers into my little 12 X 16 room….. The heights are no problem, but the width speakers are going to pose a problem. I think I’ll just order some M2’s for both the height and width speakers. Either that or use my M22’s I’m using for my center for the width speakers and try one of the VP 150’s. I’ve always wondered if I’d prefer the VP over the M22’s.