Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Update on New Set Up and Velodyne v HSU Compare

JSkip: There will undoubtedly be a noticeable difference when you calibrate the speakers (there certainly was for me). It really made my surrounds come alive. As I'm finding however, the less you are a purist, the more you may be comfortable with setting separate components above your reference level. For instance, I think I prefer setting my sub about 5db above the rest of the speakers. Similarly, you may want to tinker with your surrounds. I promise not tell anyone if you don't. :-)

Re. 12 gauge versus 14 gauge: I was going to use 14 gauge for the same reason. There was a noticeably physical difference between the two wire with respect to thickness but knowing what I went through to get those cords into the walls, I wouldn't change it for nothing (unless, of course, something was really wrong). Since a lot of people have chimed in on the merits of 14 gauge being adequate, I personally wouldn't go through the effort to swap it out.

Thank the Lord this is a three day weekend because I'm having way too much fun listening to my CD collection again. The kids are dancing around the house, my wife is skipping around...who knew the impact this would have on everyone in the family. Again, too cool.

Jskip - you're right about the surrounds, when you are listening to music in 5 channel stereo they are much more noticeable than when watching a movie. They are not really supposed to draw attention to themselves.

On a side note - I have a Pioneer 53tx with the auto-setup feature, and I must say it is awesome. It automatically sets the speaker distance, levels, sizes, and EQ's them to timber match. Of course you can change everything if you don't like it. I have a pair of Energy C-6's that I use for stereo listening, sometimes they can be a bit bright, with the EQ on - it lowers them 2db at 11.5khz. Nice. Of course you can hit one button on the remote and it goes to "direct" mode that bypasses any processing.

fyi, the Hsu subs aren't really "ash" colored anymore. I bought mine about a year or so ago, and at that time they had just started making their smooth black finishes. It's quite a nice finish.

Thanks for the review!