Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Last Chance Living Room HT Recommendations

Contributing to the hijax .

I went to the M60s because, when listening to music, I felt a lacking in the upper bass/lower midrange (probably more in the upper bass) with the 22s and my STF-2. This lacking was really slight, but it bugged me. In all honesty, my room, and it's placement challenges, very well may have had something to do with my experience. YMMV (i.e., you might have a different experience). In my mind, the 60s completely eliminated that perceived dip in the upper bass/lower midrange. A poor recording, however, will sound like dog doo on both speakers.

There are any number of 22 owners here that have NOT had the same experience as I, and are happy as clams with their 22s. The 22s are wonderful speakers and I parted with mine with great sadness, tempered only by the presence of the M60s.

As I stated earlier, for movies, I found the 22s/VP150/QS8s/STF-2 absolutely fabulous. If the 60s provide an improvement when watching movies, it is much more subtle than the perceived improvement when listening to music

I'm unable to access that digram, but I'll second the "spend less on the receiver and more on your front speakers" suggestions. And go cheap on cables to stay under budget.

Thanks everyone for all the good advice so far!

If you have trouble accessing the image, it's my lousy Verizon web hosting. Most of the time, if you try repeatedly it will often work, I have no idea why. Maybe it's some sophisticated algorithm that limits served data volume. I guess I got the "bottom of the barrel" package.

I will definitely do the refurb if I can locate one. That saves 300 right there. Squeeze another 100 out of the turnip and I've got enough for the 60s. Something to think about for sure.

And don't anybody worry about me buying expensive wire. Hey, I won't even spring for stands!

Oh, gotta go. Gotta go call SVS about something or other...

Happy Larry

I had a situation somewhat similar to yours (lots of time to plan, a decent budget, and not an ideal room situation). In my case my family room and kitchen are one large room with average height ceilings. The family room section is about 14 x 18 with a wood stove at one end (in between the FR and kitchen), and a corner placement originally being mandated by my wife (little appreciation for HT considerations!).

You can find some pics here.

Here's what I ended up doing equipment-wise:
- Samsung HLN46W 46" & matching stand (it helped that my wife like the appearance)
- M22's front
- VP150 center
- 2 QS8's surround
- Outlaw LFM-1 sub
- Denon 2803

I started with a corner placement but was totally unhappy with it (surrounds were in front of the best seating position for the TV). Perhaps with your 6.1 setup that won't be a problem. So, I ended up switching everything around so that the TV was against one of the long walls and the couch was on the other long wall. I had to actually get it all in place before my wife was cool with it...she just had a hard time visualizing it. The surround placement still isn't perfect (they are mounted on the same wall that the couch is against) but the QS8's do such a great job that I find it works for me (thinking about a set of those QS stands which is why I haven't run the speaker wire in the wall just yet).

Some more thoughts:
- The corner placement just didn't do it for me at all. I couldn't get that surround feel with the surrounds being in front of me.
- The Denon 2803 is a great receiver; plenty of power and well built (would love to have had the 3803 or 3805 but didn't know about the refurbs at the time I picked it up; otherwise they were beyond my budget)
- I mistakenly left shelving for the components out of my budget; had to go back to the CFO (my wife) for more funds.
- The M22's sound great and are plenty loud enough in my space (FR+kitchen is about 34' long) in spite of the fact that I wish could have gone the M60 route. Perhaps I just don't know what I am missing but with a high quality sub (looks like you've got that covered) they blend really, really well. btw, my listening habits are about 70/30 in favor of music.

Update: FYI, I just finished an email exchange with Ron at SVS. He informed me that the colored PS1-ISDs won't be available again for at least 12 weeks. Black units are available now.

He also said:
"Alternatively I will say this. Our subs are NOT hard to paint. While you would be stuck on a return (we can't take one that's been painted, we would not have any qualms about supporting it indefinitely for warranty purposes (3 year bumper to bumper is a given). With a bit of masking (I would take off the baseplate and do it separately, none of which would hurt warranty coverage by the way, SVS's are designed for easy service and disassembly) you could put on virtually any color with a variety of simply household type paints."

Wow, that's a lot of parenthesis! I think one of them is missing a close-parenthesis, but there are so many of them that it's hard to say for sure!

Interesting idea about painting subs, though.

Update:
Ordered PB1-ISD Tuesday. Shipped today.
Ordered Axioms M22-VP100-QS8 today. Shipped today. 5.1 instead of the 6.1 I talked about before. Alan talked me down.
Ordered Wood Technology FGH Solid Hardwood Series 21" Speaker Stands for M22 from racksandstands. Order confirmed today.

Two things:

Mail order is a great way to go. Around here everyone knows even more advanced techniques, like refurbs and B-stock. I agree with all this stuff completely. Or at least my brain does. But today I walked into Magnolia HiFi and bought a Denon 2805 and paid full price, minus my "preferred customer" discount (more or less covers tax.) I just didn't feel good about getting the receiver mail order. My feelings won this one. Reasonable caution or irrational fear?

BTW, I got the "silver", which is really a shiny/light gun metal gray color. Salesman said typical ratio is 1 silver to 4 black.

Almost bought the tv today. I wanted to wait for the gen4 Samsung DLP, and they're in the display rooms now. I saw the Captain Kirk at both Best Buy(4100) and Magnolia today. Very sharp. The pedestal has controls and lights on it, very high wow factor. Little round speakers on each side, covered by black fabric, very dorky-looking I thought. But absolutely a room-dominating presence and pleasing lines. This tv costs floorspace too. I was waiting for this generation of tech, but the salesman said they had just gotten the skinny that morning and it wont be out in a regular shaped set until 2005. And then only in 46" and 56" models. That hurts! I didn't expect to have to wait 4 months or more. Somebody please tell me this guy is wrong!

ever though about a projector? could get a larger picture with = quality, for the same money or less... just an idea to your TV delema...