Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Which way do i go -> 7.1 or 5.1

Hello Gurus

Am torn between the two configs -

My budget for spkrs - $1500.
Reciever - pioneer elite 53tx
Room size - 12 x 15 ft

config 1 : 7.1
epic midi system + extra pair of qs4
Price 1379

config 2 : 5.1
vp150,ep125,m22,qs8
price 1600

Do i save 100$ and have a 7.1 system or stretch by 100$ get a 5.1 system. My best buddy has a 7.1 built around klipsch and he is hell bent on me buying the 7.1....his opinion is that the 7.1 config is good enough for the reciever i am planning to buy.

Config 2 is more powerful interms of watts/sesitivity/freq-range.

So My questions are

1. is config 1 a compromise on sound QUALITY compared to config 2
2. If i move to a much bigger place, with tv room being 20% bigger than the current, will sound from config 1 suffer?

Your answers are greatly appreciated.

Thnx
Raj

I would go with the more capabale 5.1 system to start. You can always upgrade with more speakers. In my view it is better to upgrade adding speakers rather than upgrade replacing speakers which is likely what you will start wanting to do before long.

Without a doubt get the best 5.1 system you can. The difference between 5.1 and 7.1 is not "night and day", especially with the superb QS series surrounds that Axiom offers.

Hi,

Like Mark and Craig, I am also of the opinion that a great 5.1 system with M22 + VP150 + QS8 is the way to go.

Add another vote for an astounding 5.1 system rather than a 7.1 "under budget" system.

When 7.1 becomes the standard format, you'll just add a couple more good speakers.

Another vote for 5.1. There's very little 7.1 material, nor will there be any time soon if you include music. There is some multichannel SACD, DVD-A, DD 5.1 and DTS 5.1 music, but little or no 7.1 music I'm aware of.

It's true Dolby PLIIx can extract 7.1 from 5.1, but if this works anything like PLII extracting 5.1 from stereo, it's variable at best. Anybody that's done much comparision of synthesized 5.1 via PLII vs discrete 5.1 (DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, SACD/DVD-A 5.1) will tell you discrete is a lot better. I'd had to sacrifice for 7.1 when your only source material will be a few DD-EX movies, and PLIIx synthesizing the extra two channels from 5.1 (assuming your receiver even has PLIIx). For SACD or DVD-A I don't think the two back speakers will ever be used, at least on any material I've seen.

For all these reasons it's best to get a quality 5.1 system, not settle for less capable components to get 7.1. But make sure your receiver has at least PLII so you can hear stereo material in 5.1, and consider getting a multiformat SACD/DVD-A player (e.g. Pioneer DV-563A) so you can play SACD and DVD-A music discs, most of which are 5.1. Some of these are incredibly impressive. E.g. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon SACD is mind-blowing.

One more thing. I love Axiom but instead of the EP125 I'd suggest a Hsu STF-2. It's about the same price, but I think most would agree it's somewhat more capable.

My 5.1 config has all the spkrs at 200+ watts and when the frequency responce is compared, the config2 caters for little more lower frequency than config1.

My questions are
1. given the above stats, what makes the config2 sound much better than the cofig1 [ 2 extra sorrounds ]?
2. My reciever will output 100watts per channel, so config2 makes me feel i am buying spkrs with more watt power than needed.
3. I have a 27'' tv, can my tv take the weight of vp150?

These are my last minute concerns b4 i jump in, appreciate all of your time and thoughts.

Thnx
Raj

OK, let's just start with the max amp power. As I have stated in other threads, it DOESN'T MATTER. This is just the maximum power that the speakers can take. It doesn't mean that in order to perform well, they need to be amplified this much. Wattage means almost nothing when you're comparing speakers. Therefore, half of your stats are irrelevant. Config2 sounds better because the M22s, VP150, and QS8s are all more capable, better speakers than the speakers in the Midi (M3, VP100, QS4). I am almost certain that your television will bear up under the 17 lb weight of the 150, unless your TV is particularly badly designed.

"3. I have a 27'' tv, can my tv take the weight of vp150?"
I had the VP150 on my 27" analog TV for about a week. The TV certainly held the wait, but the speaker was actually wider than the TV. It looked a little funny, so I put in under the set on my AVS3.