Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners upgrade advice

Demetrios: What is (are) your source(s)? I understand you want to upgrade your speakers so my advice, lets say opinion, might not be exactly what you are looking for. But if you are looking for substantial sonic upgrade, I would suggest you upgrade your source (before the amp or the good speakers you already have). The source is often overlook by many people and I suspect that could be your weakest link instead of the vp150. But then I am more an audiophile (stereo) than a home theater person (5.1).

Your denon 3808 should have plenty of punch for your speakers. From what you say it sounds like you may be missing some dynamics and system synergy. The pics of your setup show some room for tweaking. Nice gear btw.

I would focus on getting your room into better shape to notice great improvements for very little cash. In order of importance (and easyness) I would say:

1: Listening Position in relation to room boundaries
2: Front Speaker Placement
3: Subwoofer Placement
4: Bass traps and acoustic treatments

I am always amazed at pictures online of people with great gear and lost opportunity. Everyone can benefit sonically from setup changes. Biggest upgrade to do and one of the first I would say. Good luck.

Hey guys, where did you see pictures? I didn't post any. I did take a few shots with the ipod and imported them onto my computer, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to add them to a post. I'm sorry but I am not at all savy w this kind stuff. Don't get me wrong guys...my equipment sounds very good, but I definitely struggle with center channel dialog while watching movies. All movies are usually blu ray and played through my oppo BDP-103. My source is the denon 3808.

All speakers are set up through the reciever and I run audyssey at least twice a year to recalibrate with the change of the seasons.(windows open, less humidity etc.) I constantly need to boost the center up to very high levels to hear dialog from movies, which creates a somewhat harsh sound at times. I have read how the VP160 and VP180 have considerably rounded out center channel dialog and increased the sound quality of music through muti channel playback.

I think the placement of my speakers has yielded very good results but there is always room for improvement. If someone could help me get some pics on here, it may be easier for you guys to see my setup and help me with the best options to get the most out of my gear. I appreciate all the expert advice and knowledge here on the forums.

is this not you? Sorry if not, but I found these pics and thought this was your current setup.

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php/topics/230901/Re_few_pics_of_gear#Post230901

To post pics start an account for free at photobucket.com and use the link they give you to the uploaded pics for your posts. There is an option to link to a photo in the post tools called "enter an image"

Wow! that is my gear in my old house. Can't believe those pics are still floating around on this forum. I can't believe I figured out how to post those pics,lol.

A Lot has changed since that setup. I'm in a new house with obviously a different layout. Since then I purchased another set of QS8'a for 7.1 surround sound. I'm still running the 3808 and added the oppo-103 with ethernet and a pc. I also added a linksy's internet hub for internet access for all devices.

Since I set my gear up in my new home, there is not a huge difference in sound from my old setup. Besides the addition of the 2nd set of QS8's the results were almost predictable. I've had my gear for 5yrs now and I have been tweaking things ever since. While this is my first HT system, I have been into very high end car audio for about 15yrs now. I have a discerning ear for hi fidelity audio. HT is my newest hobby, now that I am a homeowner. Unfortunately, most of us hobbyists don't have the perfect room to design and setup our systems, so compromise is always a factor in the complicated equation.

Now that I think about it, I do recall using photobucket for posting pics. I'll give it a go.

img][IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/IMG_0035.jpg[/
[img]http://[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/IMG_0022.jpg[/img][/img] [img]http://[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/IMG_0020-1.jpg[/img][/img] [img]http://[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/IMG_0028.jpg[/img][/img] [img]http://[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/DSCN0286.jpg[/img][/img]
[img]http://[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/IMG_0029.jpg[/img][/img]
[img]http://[/img] [img]http://[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/IMG_0027.jpg[/img][/img] [img]http://[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x150/demetman/IMG_0026.jpg[/img][/img]

Ok! Think I figured this out.

Lol! just realised if you click the [IMG]portion of the link, you have access to all my photobucket pics. Some cool older pics from a project I did in my Dodge Magnum with JL audio amps and sub. Hope you enjoy them.

Checked out your room. Nice setup for sure. There is a lot of potential still in this space.

There are some areas for improvement, but they would involve moving your front speakers out and spreading them apart and softening up first reflection points.

If you are able to move stuff around, there is room for huge improvement. If you wish to proceed let us know.