Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Do I really have room for M60s?? Hoping so!

I've been doing my homework in prep for purchasing a Music/HT setup for the room below. So naturally, I'm looking at Axioms as my speaker of choice. I've also been browsing around, soaking up the collective wisdom that is in such abundance on this forum and am hoping to tap into same.



The picture shows my current thinking as to speakers and placement (it also has a lot of other info that will probably lead to a number of other questions I'll be asking advice on, but those for another day ). It's a basement room approx. 28' by 13' with a 7' dropped ceiling (older fiberboard type ceiling tiles).

What I'm concerned about is that I may be trying to cram the M60s into this setup. My usage will be approx 60/40 Music/HT, with my strong preference to optimize music listening. There is absolutely no possibility of moving any of the furniture/tv, etc. nor would I want to. I think we're pretty much maximizing the space potential as it's set up.

Realistically, there will only be about 4-6 inches from the back wall behind the left speaker and only 2-3 inches on one side of it. However, the other side is open and the back wall opens up almost immediately to an open doorway. The right speaker will be tight b/w the tv and a wall, but with the angle of the tv and speaker there's several inches on both sides and up to 2 feet to back wall, though I'm looking to fit an HSU STF-2 in the corner as well.

I've read some concerns re: bass coloration. Does anyone have experience with a similar layout? or feel that I would indeed have troubles.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

You really ought to get some expert advice for the great folks at Axiom - give them a call and find out what customer service really is.

My impression is that M60's might be pushing it a bit. Have you considered the M22s? With your HSU, they should do the job nicely for you.

You could probably get away with the M60's in that setup, but I'd personally recommend the M22ti's for that space.

Thanks guys. I definitely intend to take advantage of the customer service I've heard such good things about. But thought I'd get some pre-call insight.

I've thought of the M22s, but they'd have to fit in the same spaces on stands I guess. Hanging them from the walls would probably have a lower WAF than the floorstanders.

And I'm used to floorstanders from my previous life (i.e. when I previously listened to music semi-seriously - anyone remember the Design Acoustics brand from the 70's?).

Are the concerns that I could do with a smaller speaker or that the M22s would actually produce better sound in the environment they'd be in?

While we're at it, any thoughts on the other HT items? VP150 or is VP100 more than enough?

QS8s or are QS4s more than enough? Or with the proximity to the back wall, should I look to in-ceiling speakers such as Klipsch/Niles/Infinity, etc?

As always, thanks a bunch

I would go with that as well. Really tight space, stick with the M22s and a sub.
You can wall mount them if necessary.

Thanks chesseroo. You may be right but boy, I feel like the child whose parents are trying to talk him out of something he really, really wants!

I thought there might be issues wall mounting due to the bass port on the back?

I added a few pics below to give a better sense of the space perhaps - pardon the mess in the store room in first pic.

I could perhaps open up a little more room on the right of the tv but thought with the space behind being open i'd possibly be ok. Are we talking about the lack of back/side space or the room dimensions as a whole?

Well jaatea, i would say there could be issues with both angles and the room size.
At present, i own the M60s and we sit about 8 feet away with a max. width of 6 feet for the speakers in front.
The soundstage is hard to get right, very narrow and collapses easy from left to right within 2-3 feet on our couch.
The larger speakers really need more room to get positioned correctly.
With M22s mounted on the wallls with the Full Metal Brackets, you could tweak the angles until the cows came home. With the M60s, your floor space is limited and you still want to crunch a sizeable subwoofer in there as well no?
Worst case scenario, you change your M22s for M60s sometime in the future (Axiom has a swap plan for this) or perhaps even before the 30d trial period expires.

In reply to:

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I thought there might be issues wall mounting due to the bass port on the back?

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Not really. Axiom designed the Full Metal Bracket so that it sits the speaker a couple of inches out away from the wall. For the smaller speakers, this is not as much of a problem as it would be for floorstandings.

I noticed that in your drawing one of the speakers is something like 2 feet back further than the other, im no expert but id think that would really mess with your soundstage and everything. Have you thought about just re arranging the room to something different?

You know, I read your first post yesterday and wanted to mull it a while before responding.

I know you said that rearranging the furniture is out of the question, but I really want to talk you into it anyway.

You have a big, beautiful TV. You want to invest in really nice speakers to have a great HT experience. And you're trying to wedge the whole thing into a corner of a pretty big room.

While it is a big room, you've got a HT, a Piano, traffic patterns, a pool table and a computer. Whew! Not easy.

But honestly, if you just put the TV on the end wall and orient the speakers the long way, I think you're going to be MUCH happier whatever activity you are enjoying in that room.

If you want the M60's, get them. It is a bit harder to get them to image in a smallish space like that, but it sounds like you won't be "satisfied" unless you get them. I had them in a similar space initially, and it was wonderful. BUT I recently re-oriented everything in a different room where the seating position did not have a wall directly behind it - holy cow, what a difference!

Plus, if you put the TV and M60's on that short end wall, you'll be able to see/listen very well from the pool table area.

If you go with the TV on the end wall, I'd be surprised if you even needed the M3's that you have listed (as zone 2?). You'd certainly get much better surround from either 5.1 or 6.1 that way.

The only solution to a good HT experience in that room is to rearrange the furniture. Anything else would be too much of a compromise, IMO.

I completely agree with Tom. Rearranging the room -- as much as you may hate thinking about it now -- will lead to the best results.